NATIONAL VETERINARY SERVICES LIMITED JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: HR Business Partner Reports to: HR Director Position Band: D Business unit: Human Resources Prepared by: HRD Date: March 2026 Main purpose of the role This role balances strategic input with hands on operational delivery; coaching managers and leaders and ensuring fair, consistent, and legally compliant HR practices. You will act as a trusted advisor to the HR Team and Business Leaders/Managers, building strong relationships that enable you to understand and anticipate operational and strategic needs. Your key objectives are to embed our people strategy, improve colleague experience, drive performance and support the business in achieving its objectives. Key Responsibilities Relationships & Commercial Awareness Deliver the people strategy within designated business units using a hands-on, pragmatic approach To develop positive and effective business partnering relationships with stakeholders through the appropriate management of customer expectations and by proactively giving and seeking feedback. Provide expert advice, guidance and direction to support the effective operation of the business, identifying people related risks and implementing actions to mitigate them Develop and maintain specialist expertise and knowledge of the business in order to provide tailored solutions that meet the ongoing commercial requirements of the business. Provide expert support to the wider HR Team, advising on the application of HR policies, best practice, commerciality and effective stakeholder management. Maintain an up-to-date understanding of the wider business to support the HR Team in aligning service provision to the business’ core objectives. Be an ambassador for the HR Team, striving to build the team’s reputation in all interaction with internal customers Partner with internal stakeholders to develop and deliver people plans aligned to client and business objectives Actively promote and demonstrate the Company Values and ways of working Employee Relations Act as a subject matter expert on core HR policies, processes and procedures, providing specialist advice and direction on their practical application to key stakeholders. Lead management of particularly complex and high-profile cases, including appeals, through to conclusion, mitigating potential reputational risk and cost to the business. Act as an escalation point for the HR Advisor team, providing coaching and guidance as required. Make recommendations to the business to ensure policies and processes remain complaint with UK legislation and caselaw. Work collaboratively with the HR Advisory Pool to maintain good understanding of all ER cases, ensuring commercially-focussed advice and direction is provided on all employee relations issues, balancing the needs of the business, employee impact, risk and cost. Advise and support Managers to effectively structure and restructure their departments through effective engagement and staff consultation, including TUPE processes Culture & Engagement Proactively support the business to manage employee wellbeing and engagement, including Department Pulse surveys and business-wide Climate surveys, and actions to support employee engagement and retention. Work co-operatively with HR colleagues, give honest and constructive feedback, listening and responding positively to feedback, offering support for the ideas of others, being open and honest about concerns, reinforcing the contribution of others, working towards solutions that support the wider team, sharing expertise and seeking opportunities to strengthen team working. Ensure the Company advice, support and behaviour is aligned to the Company Values. Recruitment & Retention Proactively support the business with role design, including salary/benefits benchmarking, advising on job descriptions and job advertisements. Work with the business to ensure selection processes are fair and robust to assisting the appointment of the best candidate for the role. Benchmarking of existing roles/structures to ensure the business has relevant information for pay reviews so as to retain talent. Performance, Talent Management & Development Support the delivery of training and development programmes and initiatives, including Licence to Manage and organisational induction, as well as other projects as required to ensure colleagues and Line Managers have the necessary information, skills and experience to perform their roles effectively. Coaching and Developing Managers to improve their skills in application of HR policies and processes and to support their own development, as well as the development of their teams. Drive performance management cycles Support succession planning and development initiatives Continuous Improvement Be proactive in identifying opportunities for the continuous improvement and development of HR service provision across the business, making recommendations and playing a leading role in devising, developing and implementing policy and process improvements to drive performance, engagement and retention. Projects & Reporting Initiate, plan and deliver operational HR projects in line with strategic deliverables of the business Annual activities, including Gender Pay Gap and Modern Slavery reporting Produce monthly dashboards and people metrics Analyse data relating to turnover, absence, training, and exit feedback Use insight to make recommendations and inform decision-making Confidence with technology and using a HRIS To carry out other duties commensurate with this post. Personal attributes: Qualifications, experience, skills, knowledge and competencies required to fulfil the role Minimum of five years’ generalist HR experience, preferably in a unionised environment CIPD Level 7 qualified Demonstrable experience in managing complex cases through to successful conclusion Excellent knowledge of all areas of HR policy, process, their practical application and best practice Ability to quickly grasp commercial issues within a defined business area Ability to influence to a high level through excellent listening and questioning skills Ability to demonstrate good judgement and decision making, by identifying options and weighing up pros and cons based on risk and commercial awareness Positive, confident, articulate, tactful and professional speaking ability The ability to think creatively and critically High levels of accuracy and attention to detail An empathetic listener and persuasive, tactful speaker, with the ability to build trust, respect and credibility quickly Excellent written communication skills The ability to build business partnering relationships with key business stakeholders at all levels Fairness and objectivity The ability to plan and deliver projects Discretion with confidential information Good organisational, administrative and IT skills Strong problem-solving ability Calmness under pressure and when dealing with difficult situations A full driving licence and flexibility to travel and work from other UK sites with occasional overnight stays Desirable: previous experience of working in demanding environments, such as Retail, Distribution, Logistics or Manufacturing Desirable: past experience of Dayforce or Workday, in particular implementing a new HRIS