Better places, thriving communities.
Director of People Operations & Partnerships
Location: UK-wide
A career-defining opportunity to shape the future of People Operations for 70, colleagues.
Join us at a pivotal moment of growth and transformation. As our Director of People Operations & Partnerships, you'll lead the engine that powers our people experience—driving operational excellence, digital innovation, and high‑performing partnerships across one of the UK's largest workforces.
The opportunity has arisen due to an internal secondment of the incumbent who moves to lead on broader HR transformation. Therefore, the role holder will benefit from this retained knowledge and expertise whilst having the full accountability and empowerment to lead People Operation into the next chapter of Mitie and HR.
This is a rare opportunity to step into a truly influential role at scale, shaping how People Operations evolves to support a fast‑paced, high‑volume, commercial environment.
Why this role matters
Following significant business expansion, our People function is evolving to deliver greater commercial impact, a consistently excellent colleague experience, and a future‑ready HR operating model.
You'll lead the full “Run” element of our Run–Change–Grow model—ensuring every HR interaction works smoothly, efficiently, and in a way that helps both the business and our colleagues thrive.
With a team of over (onshore, offshore and outsourced partners), you'll shape the strategy, service model, and culture of People Operations for the years ahead.
What you'll lead
A high‑performing, multi‑disciplinary HR operations ecosystem covering:
1. HR Services, Employee Relations, Payroll, Resourcing, HR Systems & Data
2. Major partnerships with our offshore HR & Payroll provider, technology vendors, and recruitment partners
3. Transformation initiatives to digitise, automate and modernise the full colleague lifecycle
4. End‑to‑end HR service delivery for 70, colleagues, including 20, hires and 24, ER cases annually
5. Data, insights and analytics to support strategic decision-making across the business
Above all, you'll champion simplification, automation, and a friction‑free colleague experience.
What you'll bring
We're looking for a seasoned, collaborative leader who thrives in scale and complexity. You will have:
6. Extensive senior HR Operations/Shared Services leadership in a large, multi‑site organisation
7. Experience managing offshore delivery teams, large vendor ecosystems, and complex commercial performance
8. A track record of digital transformation, HRIS implementation, and automation
9. Deep understanding of UK employment law, payroll compliance and HR governance
10. Strong commercial acumen, analytical capability, and the confidence to influence across all levels
11. A low‑ego, high‑EQ leadership style that inspires teams, builds trust, and drives continuous improvement
This is a role for someone who loves pace, embraces complexity, and knows how to deliver excellence at scale.
What you'll impact
Your leadership will help us:
12. Modernise HR through technology and automation
13. Deliver a seamless, high‑quality colleague experience
14. Strengthen commercial performance and compliance
15. Build an empowered, innovative People Operations function
16. Enable a stronger, more efficient organisation as we continue to grow
Ready to shape the future of People Operations?
If you're energised by leading large-scale operations, partnering at a strategic level, and delivering meaningful impact for tens of thousands of colleagues, we'd love to hear from you.
Our market-leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.
We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.
When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days’ holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!
We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).
We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,!
Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.
We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing Gemma Parry at .