As the standalone HR Manager, you’ll be joining a long‑established manufacturing business with a loyal, longstanding workforce. This is a business that values stability, communication, and someone who can genuinely make an impact. As the standalone HR Manager, you’ll be the go‑to expert for all things HR, owning the HR agenda. This is a role for someone confident, experienced, and ready to bring structure, ideas, and modern HR practice into the organisation. The culture is friendly and down‑to‑earth. The successful candidate will need to be approachable, comfortable pushing back where required, and able to build relationships with staff at all levels. Responsibilities: Generalist HR leadership — own the full HR remit across the employee lifecycle. Recruitment & onboarding — manage hiring. Employee relations — handle day‑to‑day ER, including sickness, disciplinaries, conduct, and informal issues. Policy development — create and implement policies from scratch. Training & development — support capability building across factory and office teams. Employee benefits & engagement — review, improve and embed benefits and engagement initiatives. HR systems & processes — bring structure, consistency and best practice to HR operations. This is a blank canvas role that offers an exciting opportunity to work autonomously, shaping the function, introducing structure, and modernising HR for the future. What You’ll Need to Succeed Strong experience as a standalone HR Manager or senior HR generalist Confidence working autonomously and advising staff and managers Thick‑skinned, pragmatic, and comfortable in a traditional factory environment Ability to influence, challenge, and modernise ways of working Experience in manufacturing or similar blue‑collar environments is highly desirable. Someone who brings ideas, solutions, and a proactive approach Benefits 25 days holiday bank holidays Death in service – 4× salary bonus Annual bonus – currently £1,450 (performance based) Pension (age‑banded): offering between 5 – 8% Christmas vouchers – starting at £80 and increasing with service Enhanced full sick pay 35‑hour week What you need to do now If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now. If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career. Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk