All Locations
Cambridge, Central England, Norwich
All Departments
HR

About The Role

We are seeking an experienced and confident HR Business Partner to be based in one of our East Region offices (Cambridge, Northampton, London, Norwich) where you will have a regular presence. This is an autonomous role, supporting a number of legal teams across the firm which will be suited to an individual with HR Manager or junior HRBP experience who is comfortable working independently and building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders.

Working as part of a small, collaborative team of HR Business Partners and reporting into the Head of HR, this role offers the opportunity to be involved in the full employment lifecycle, from talent management and strategic workforce planning to daytoday advisory and employee relations. You will play a key role in supporting the firms continued growth while ensuring a consistent, commercial and peoplefocused approach.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic HR Partnership

  • Build strong, credible relationships with Partners, Heads of Team and managers across the East Region, acting as a trusted advisor on people matters.
  • Provide commerciallyaware HR advice aligned to business objectives and the firm’s people strategy.
  • Contribute to and support strategic people initiatives, enabling effective decisionmaking at senior level.

Employee Relations & Advisory

  • Lead and manage a wide range of employee relations matters, including performance management, capability, absence, disciplinary and grievance processes.
  • Provide clear, pragmatic and legally sound advice on UK employment law and best practice.
  • Coach and support managers to build confidence and capability in managing people issues effectively.

Talent & Performance Management

  • Support talent identification, succession planning and career development across supported legal teams.
  • Partner with managers on appraisal cycles, promotion processes and performance calibration.
  • Contribute to retention strategies and engagement initiatives within the region.
  • Work closely with Recruitment to support workforce planning, hiring decisions and senior hires.

HR Projects & Continuous Improvement

  • Support firmwide HR initiatives and projects, contributing ideas, insight and practical delivery.
  • Ensure HR policies and processes are applied consistently, while allowing for regional and team nuances.
  • Identify opportunities to improve ways of working and enhance the employee experience.

 

 

About You

Person Specification
  • Proven experience in an HR Manager, Senior Advisor or junior HR Business Partner role, ideally within a professional services or similarly commercial environment.
  • Strong, handson experience managing the full employment lifecycle.
  • Experience of working with senior stakeholders and supporting matrix or geographically dispersed teams.
  • Demonstrable ability to work independently and manage a regional remit.

Skills & Attributes

  • Strong interpersonal and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively.
  • Able to use data to support business decisions and confident in the changing role of technology to support the development of HR in supporting the business.
  • Commercially minded, pragmatic and solutionsfocused.
  • Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise and manage competing demands.
  • Comfortable working remotely from the wider HR team while remaining collaborative and connected.
  • Willingness to travel regularly across both the allocated region, as well as other locations to support teams as needed.

About Us

Benefits of working with us as a HRBP include:

  • 28 days annual leave (plus public holidays)
  • Bonus scheme
  • Life Assurance
  • Scottish Widows Pension Scheme
  • Private healthcare
  • 1/3 gym membership contribution
  • Electric vehicle scheme
  • Happy People/Perks at Work benefits portal
  • Cycle to Work scheme
  • Flu vaccinations
 

Is HCR the smart move for you?

HCR suits people who love a challenge and want to work in an environment where careers thrive on the back of hard work and personal merit. Our people enjoy feeling part of something bigger than themselves, and whilst our clients drive our development, it is our people who bring their energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial mindsets together to solve problems and help our clients succeed.

Why HCR people love their jobs

Our people tell us they enjoy working on good quality, interesting matters from a wide variety of our clients, because they get the experience they want to develop their careers. We will give you responsibility early, the mandate to make things happen and we’ll back your good ideas. Our “Passion for People” lives and breathes every day throughout the firm as our peoples’ energy and sense of fun create a warm environment in which to thrive.

What career progression will HCR offer you?

HCR’s growth constantly creates opportunities for people who want to go places and make a difference, your career plan can become part of our growth plan. At HCR you can expect to work with friendly, energetic, ambitious people, who love getting stuck into a client problem, and enjoy celebrating a good outcome. Our people value the sense of community provided by the individual personality of each office and the collegiate approach across all our service and sector teams.

What does HCR believe, achieve and stand for?

As a Times Best Law firm, among the UK Top 60, we provide the full range of services that you would expect to organisations, business leaders and individuals. However, in our mission to give everyone the opportunity to experience a different kind of legal service we take an entrepreneurial approach. We’re flexible and responsive to the needs of our clients, delivering the best outcomes for them. We have more than 800 lawyers and support staff, including more than 150 partners, and have been awarded the Law Society’s Lexcel quality mark in recognition of our compliance and client care standards.

With ten offices in England and Wales our well-established presence stretches from west to east, ensuring clients can access a full-service legal offering no matter where they’re located. We’ve expanded significantly in Birmingham, Cardiff and the Thames Valley, and our merger with Hewitsons resulted in a full service regional hub being established in the heart of the Waterside innovation area centre of Northampton. Our London and Cambridge continue to grow apace.

With solid connections in the communities we work in, and a track record of delivering legal advice to businesses and individuals throughout the areas we base ourselves in, our clients continue to value our approach to providing legal advice, in the way they need, when they need it.

 

As HCR is an equal opportunities employer, we don’t just accept differences, we celebrate them. We want to attract a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and skills to create a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and which works together to achieve the best outcome for our clients. We are privileged to be an armed forces-friendly organisation.

We also want you to achieve your absolute best during the recruitment process.  Please let us know of any changes we can make at any point that will help support your application.  If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV. 

A note for recruitment agencies – The HCR Resourcing Team is responsible for recruitment across the firm, and where possible will use direct hiring methods. We do work with a Preferred Supplier List, and where appropriate, we will release vacancies to those agencies who we deem most appropriate to support us. Only those agencies will be invited to submit candidates via our recruitment portal. Any speculative or unsolicited CVs sent to any employee or Partner of HCR will not be considered an introduction, and no fees will be applicable. Furthermore, we retain the right to pursue these candidates without query of ownership


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