NHS AfC:
Band 8bContract18 months (Fixed Term Contract)Hours
1. Full time
2. Flexible working
3. Compressed hours
37.5 hours per week Job ref 914-BSA7309473 Site Stella HouseTown Newcastle Upon TyneSalary £64,455 - £74,896 per annumSalary period YearlyClosing 16/07/2025 23:59
Job overview
Are you a strategic thinker with a passion for people and a deep understanding of HR business partnering? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you to join us as a Senior HR Business Partner at the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) In this role, you will work closely with business leaders, providing strategic and operational advice on people-related matters, and leading on people initiatives across the business.
As a key member of our Corporate Services team, you will take full accountability for the people agenda within your business directorates. You will also play a crucial role in the development and delivery of our overarching People Strategy, ensuring that our business strategy is achieved through people initiatives. Experience in leading organisational change and influencing senior stakeholders will be particularly valuable in this role.
This position is offered on a fixed-term basis to cover a colleague seconded to a major programme of work. You will play a key role in maintaining continuity and delivering high-quality service during this important period.
Please note this advert may close early depending on the number of applicants.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior HR Business Partner, your main responsibilities will include:
4. Partnering with business leaders to create and deliver a people plan that aligns with their strategic aims and the wider business strategy.
5. Collaborating with leaders to enable people change initiatives within the business area, supporting transformation and continuous improvement.
6. Advising, guiding and supporting Directors and key stakeholders on complex employee relation matters, using your expertise to influence outcomes.
7. Leading on complex change and people initiatives driven by our business priorities, NHS Employers, employment legislation, government, and other external factors.
8. Building and maintaining active internal and external networks within the NHS and wider organisations to share best practice and stay informed of developments.
Please review the attached job description and person specification for a full list of responsibilities for the role.
Working for our organisation
Here at the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), what we do matters. We manage the NHS Pension Scheme, process prescription payments, and deliver a range of essential services that support NHS organisations, contractors, and the public. We’re proud to be part of something that touches millions of lives.
Just as we design our services around the needs of our customers, we place our people at the heart of our organisation. When you join us, you’ll be empowered and supported to grow your career in a meaningful way.
As one of the UK’s Best Big Companies to work for, we live our values: Collaborative, Adventurous, Reliable, and Energetic. We care deeply about our people, our purpose, and your progress.
We’re committed to creating a fantastic colleague experience where every voice is heard and respected. Wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion are central to our culture, supported by our Lived Experience Networks that help everyone bring their authentic selves to work.
We welcome applications from all backgrounds and are proud to be a flexible employer. Wherever possible, we’ll support working patterns that suit you whether that’s hybrid working, flexible hours, job sharing, or more.
Ready to join us on our journey to be a catalyst for better health? Apply today and see where the NHSBSA can take you.
We are people connected to care.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
In this role will work in partnership with the business leaders, providing strategic and operational advice and knowledge on people related matters in line with the needs and priorities of the business directorate to which they are partnering.
The post holder will be forward thinking, commercially minded and take an evidence based approach, pro-actively partnering their business area to ensure achievement of current objectives, but focusing to the future to ensure business strategic aims are achieved. They will take full accountability for the people agenda within their business directorates, own the relationship, and ensure effective delivery of highly complex people practise.
In addition, the post holder will lead on people initiatives for across the whole of the business. From the initial concept, through to implementation and continual development, the people business partner will ensure that the initiatives are beneficial for both colleagues and the business. Such initiatives will include talent management, workforce planning, engagement and performance management.
As well as being a partner to the business, the post holder will work collaboratively with colleagues across the HR team and will embrace a one team ethos, continually supporting team development and challenging the status quo to ensure a consistent, value adding HR provision to leaders and colleagues.
In this role, you are accountable for:
9. Partnering the leaders of specific business directorates and fully understanding their business area and future strategic aims to create, own and fully deliver a people plan to enable the achievement of these, and ultimately the wider business strategy. This people plan will incorporate appropriate elements of the People Strategy to ensure consistent approaches across the business, in addition to talent management, performance development and workforce planning.
10. Collaboration with leaders to enable people change initiatives within the business area, providing a robust framework to plan and manage the continuous process of change, including dependencies, risk, potential scenarios and mitigation. Highly complex advice will need to be provided on issues including TUPE, redundancy, department restructures and operational efficiency.
11. Having full awareness and management of the headcount, contingent labour and contractor frameworks within your business directorates, and the movement within this. Where appropriate, minimising the usage of contractors, maximising role design and ensuring overall headcount is within budget.
12. Through the knowledge you acquire within your business directorate, actively contribute to the development and delivery of the overarching People Strategy to ensure business strategy is achieved through people initiatives.
13. Advising, guiding and supporting Directors and key stakeholders on highly complex employee relation matters. This will include conduct and capability issues involving senior management and advising on complex employment legislation and NHS policy and terms and conditions.
14. Coach and build the capability of senior managers to enable the delivery of the BSA strategic goals through their teams, and to anticipate and pre-empt organisational and people issues, maximising both colleague engagement and experience.
15. Continually developing your professional knowledge and skills by keeping up to date with external trends and best practice in the areas of expertise and HR more broadly. This will include keeping up to date on highly complex employment legislation and ensuring this knowledge is cascaded within your business areas and across the wider business.
16. Working with the business Director and Senior Management Team to continually drive forward both colleague engagement and experience, taking into account colleague survey feedback.
17. Thought leader on people initiatives for the whole of the business. Working in collaboration with the Organisational Development team, from the initial concept, through to implementation and continual development, the people business partner will ensure that the initiatives are beneficial for both colleagues and the business. Such initiatives will include talent management, workforce planning, engagement and performance management.
18. Leading on highly complex change and people initiatives that are driven by NHS Employers, employment legislation, government and other external factors. Owing the full process from understanding and assessing the impact of the change, through to implementation.
Please review the attached job description and person specification for a full list of responsibilities for the role.
Person specification
Experience
Essential criteria
19. Extensive HR experience in a senior business partnering role, some at senior management level
20. Significant experience of advising on HR policy, employment law and best practice
21. Significant experience of organisational change - TUPE, restructure, redundancy
22. Significant experience of planning and delivering people initiatives
Desirable criteria
23. Experience of working with NHS or public Sector T&C's
24. Experience of working with TU
Qualifications
Essential criteria
25. MCIPD Membership educated to degree level or equivalent experience or qualification
26. Ongoing CPD
Desirable criteria
27. Masters Degree in HRM
Skills
Essential criteria
28. Substantial specialist knowledge of HR policies, procedures and associated Employment law and complex cases
29. Build effective and trusting business partnering relationships work at strategic level developing new business and hr solutions to meet business needs
30. Ability to work at a strategic level developing new business and HR solutions
31. Ability to use initiative and prioritise a diverse workload
Desirable criteria
32. Experience of HR Information systems
33. Knowledge of A4C and NHS Plan
The NHSBSA is passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive organisation, which is a great place to work and truly reflects the diversity of our customers. We welcome applications from talented people of diverse characteristics including age, disability, gender identity and expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any marginalised group. We also welcome applications from all those in the Armed Forces Community.
At the NHSBSA we pride ourselves on being a Disability Confident Leader, Stonewall Top 100 employer and we’ve recently been awarded the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion Gold Standard benchmark.
We offer an invitation to the first stage of the selection process for people with disabilities that wish to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme, and for members of the Armed Forces Community, where all of the essential criteria in the person specification are met.
A copy of our Privacy Notice is available to view at the link below:
NHSBSA Privacy Notice
Employer certification / accreditation badges