We are seeking Strategic HR Business Partners (x 3) for a 6‑month contract at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). This is an Inside IR35 role that will work on a hybrid basis, requiring 2–3 days of attendance at the nearest UKRI office.
UKRI is the national funding agency investing in science and research across the UK. Each year it spends £8 billion of taxpayers’ money into research and innovation and into the people who make it happen. From biodiversity conservation to quantum computing, from space telescopes to innovative healthcare, UKRI brings together people and organisations nationally and globally to create, develop and deploy new ideas and technologies.
Responsibilities
Strategic Business Partnering & Change Delivery
- Develop trusted partnering relationships with senior leaders and managers, building credibility and acting as a strategic advisor and 'critical friend'.
- Support leaders in navigating business transformation and culture change through advice, challenge, and coaching across the full range of HR services.
- Shape and deliver people change programmes aligned to organisational strategy, ensuring effective implementation of UKRI and local objectives.
- Create and deliver HR change interventions to embed transformation, support behavioural and cultural change, and improve organisational effectiveness.
Organisation Design & Operating Model Development
- Support and lead organisation design activity, including diagnostics, structural design (spans and layers), role clarity, and accountabilities.
- Work with leaders to define and implement operating models, service designs, and ways of working that align to business needs and strategic priorities.
- Provide input into target operating models and service propositions, ensuring clarity of roles, interfaces, and processes across organisational boundaries.
- Ensure organisation design solutions are evidence‑based, financially informed, and aligned with workforce planning and organisational constraints.
- Deliver restructuring and redesign activity, ensuring alignment with governance, HR policy, and best practice.
People Planning, Workforce & Capability
- Develop and deliver programmes to identify and address current and future workforce capability needs as part of the change agenda.
- Oversee people‑related planning, including workforce and budget plans, ensuring alignment with organisational design and strategic priorities.
- Work collaboratively with Resourcing and HR Operations to ensure effective attraction, deployment, redeployment, and workforce transitions.
- Support leadership development, talent, and capability interventions linked to organisational change and design outcomes.
Organisation Change & Implementation
- Support the delivery of complex change programmes, including restructures, service redesign, and improvements to ways of working.
- Contribute to change strategies, including stakeholder engagement, communication, and impact assessment.
- Ensure effective rollout of transformation initiatives, securing leadership alignment and engagement.
- Maintain oversight of employee relations activity arising from change, ensuring risks are managed and issues resolved consistently.
HR Service Integration & Governance
- Work closely with HR Operations and centres of expertise to ensure effective and joined‑up HR service delivery.
- Ensure alignment with HR lifecycle processes such as performance, reward, and workforce planning within the context of change programmes.
- Ensure organisational design and change activity complies with governance requirements, employment frameworks, and policy.
Data, Insight & Continuous Improvement
- Analyse and interpret HR data, workforce metrics, and organisational insights to inform decision‑making and track change outcomes.
- Monitor KPIs and evaluate the effectiveness of organisation design and change initiatives, identifying risks and mitigation plans.
- Use evidence and insight to influence leaders and support high‑quality decision‑making on organisational effectiveness.
Stakeholder Engagement & Influence
- Build effective relationships across leadership teams, HR colleagues, and programme stakeholders.
- Facilitate discussions on organisational design, operating model choices, and trade‑offs to support effective decision‑making.
- Provide clear, data‑driven advice and recommendations, articulating implications, risks, and opportunities.
Essential Qualifications
- CIPD membership and/or degree or equivalent professional experience.
- Public Sector experience.
- Experience of dealing with Trade Unions.
- Familiarity with Public Sector pay.
- Experience of redundancy and exit processes.
- Demonstrable experience in organisational development and organisation design, including supporting restructures and changes to operating models.
- Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively with senior leaders.
Desirable Qualifications
- CIPD or degree or equivalent professional experience.
- Experience of using Org View.
- Experience of using Oracle Fusion.
Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Disability Confident – UKRI guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.
Armed Forces Commitment – UKRI guarantees to interview veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex‑military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.
This role falls within the scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation.
