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Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 31 July 2026

Welsh Language: Not Applicable

Job Description:

About the Role

You will lead the people/HR advisory support and administration teams to deliver service excellence to all colleagues across the University.

Reporting to the Senior Operations Manager and working with First Line Support and Recruitment Operations Managers, this role supports the PS Hub leadership team in leading and managing the HR Shared Service operation.

Key Responsibilities

The key themes are:

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and develop a team of Team Managers and Advisors to ensure high performance, engagement, and capability.
• Foster a culture of trust, learning, and continuous improvement through coaching, communication, and performance management.
• Conduct regular team meetings, one-to-ones, and development activities.

Service Delivery & Operational Oversight

• Oversee daily operations of Tier 2 HR Advisory services, ensuring timely, accurate, and policy-aligned support.
• Manage workload allocation, resource planning, and service coverage across multiple channels (email, phone, etc.).
• Act as a senior escalation point for complex HR issues, applying sound judgment and risk assessment.

Continuous Improvement & Change Management

• Drive service enhancements through process improvement, automation, and user-centered design.
• Support the rollout of HR systems and strategic projects, ensuring smooth adoption and integration.
• Regularly review and update SLAs, service standards, and documentation.

Governance, Data & Compliance

• Ensure data accuracy, GDPR compliance, and robust audit controls.
• Analyse performance data and service insights to inform decisions and improve efficiency.
• Maintain up-to-date process documentation in a central library.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Culture

• Build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to align services with business needs.
• Promote a high-trust, customer-focused culture and professional service delivery.
• Collaborate across People Services and the wider university to ensure seamless support.

Please see the full Job Description here: Job Description , for the complete list of responsibilities.

Skills and Experience

You will demonstrate extensive experience and expertise in leading and managing HR Shared Services or Operational teams. A people and customer centric, inspirational leader who engage, develops and motivates teams and individuals. An effective communicator, who can build strong and effective stakeholder relationships with the ability to work across boundaries, influence people and outcomes, and achieve agreed deliverables and solutions to problems to ensure they stay solved.

Essential:

• Experience and expertise in leading and managing operational advisory teams in a HR Shared Services environment.

• Strong working knowledge and understanding of UK employment legislation and HR best practice.

• Experience driving performance and service improvements.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to utilise performance data and metrics to identify trends, areas for improvement.

• Customer centric – experience of designing and developing candidate and/or employee centric processes across the end-to-end employee lifecycle with a focus on automation and self service.

• Driven to make a difference; is delivery and outcome focused.

• Able to adapt and respond to a change in direction effectively.

• Able to add value and make an impact despite uncertainty and ambiguity.

• Stays calm and delivery-focused despite multiple tasks, priorities, and deadlines.

• Thinks ahead, prioritises, aligns necessary resources and plans as necessary.

• Demonstrates behaviours aligned with the OU’s Values: Inclusive,Innovative, Responsive.

Desirable:

• Experience with SAP Success Factors

• Experience in Higher Education or public sector environment

Essential Requirements

Flexible working:We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Work location:It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where you can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be approximately twice per month in line with team on site presence.

How to apply: To apply for this role please submit your CV clearly outlining how you meet the skills and experience for the role.

Early closing date:We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.

If you have any queries or questions about the recruitment process, or regarding your application,please contact:Careers@open.ac.uk .

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The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.