Culture of professionalism. Example of leadership. Core of company support.

Retail HR Manager (South)

£36,000 - £46,000 per annum + benefits

Reports to: HR Business Partner (Retail)

Directorate: Chief Operating Office

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Home-based with 4/5 days travel per month (predominantly UK South-based and occasionally UK-wide. Eligible for travel expenses)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship. 

Closing date: 02 September 2024, 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: Two competency-based interviews with a scenario-based task included (first stage will be virtual and second stage will be onsite at Stratford)

Interview date: 1st stage on the week commencing 02 September 2024 and 2nd stage on the week commencing 09 September

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we’re looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

The HR department plays an essential role in engaging and inspiring Cancer Research UK’s large and dynamic workforce by delivering operational transformation, governance, and an employee experience that enables us to be an inclusive, sustainable, and agile organisation. As part of our Trading 10-year Growth Strategy, we are proud to have 600+ stores, 40 superstores, and 4 distribution hubs & online marketplaces across the UK which generated £127m income in 2022/23 towards the charity’s life-saving research. As our trading operations expand, so does our HR Partnering (Trading) team which was created at the start of this year to develop our HR model to allow for a more strategic partnering-driven approach across our vast retail offering.

As an HR Manager, your purpose will be to use your HR knowledge and relationship management skills to partner with our Trading teams across the South division (c.177 stores) and Superstores (c. 40 stores UK-wide, first launched in 2018).  In this role, no day will be the same – one day you will be leading on people-related issues, the next creating and implementing people plans, driving employee experience, building performance, and ensuring compliance across Cancer Research UK’s HR policies and procedures for your customer area. Furthermore, you will lead on HR-driven projects (such as inclusion and well-being, staffing models and the Trading Growth Strategy) so there is plenty for you to get involved in.

If you are a strategic HR Manager or Business Partner who has implemented people plans in a large organisation with HR generalist experience advising managers on all aspects of HR processes and policies, we would love for you to join our mission.

What will I be doing?

• Leading HR customer relationships across Cancer Research UK’s Trading (South) and Superstore divisions to deliver the HR elements of projects and initiatives that support the Trading Growth Strategy, as well as local people and cultural changes.

• Partnering with Divisional Managers to develop and execute local people initiatives to drive performance and deliver area objectives and targets.

• Collaborating with the HR Business Partner to support the delivery of the key people projects that make up the Trading Growth Strategy (e.g. Superstore openings, Distribution Centre openings, sustainable staffing model etc).

• Proactively partnering with customers to determine the people priorities in their areas and implementing strategic people plans to address these in line with the wider HR operating plan and priorities.

• Providing a proactive, efficient, and high-quality generalist HR service to your customer group to address people-related issues, drive employee experience, build performance, and ensure compliance across HR policies and procedures.

• Advising, supporting, and coaching managers within your customer group on all people processes, procedures, and guidelines to ensure compliance and mitigate risks.

• Collaborating with specialists across HR and the wider organisation to ensure a high-quality HR service is provided to your customer group. This includes:

  • Collaborating with the People Services team to review, iterate, or improve our guidance, processes, or training to line managers.

  • Collaborating with the ER team and providing feedback to the ER Manager, while championing the ER service and ensuring managers are using the service to manage cases efficiently and effectively.

  • Engaging with the Divisional Learning & Development Lead to develop and roll out manager training modules that support better management of Employee Relations.

  • Working together with all areas of HR to ensure that the service we provide is seamless and to a good standard.

• Sharing people metrics and commentary for your customer areas, highlighting any trends, pulling out relevant insights, and using this data to drive decision-making and create appropriate plans.

• Running talent sessions with Area Trading teams in line with the central approach.

• Acting as a lead for your areas to provide proactive support and guidance to address concerns or drive progress.

• Assisting the HR Business Partner to deliver change management and restructuring initiatives (including TUPE and redundancy).

• Developing and maintaining strong working relationships with line managers (this includes attending and contributing to conferences, and Business Review Meetings & HR operations meetings with Divisional Business Managers and Area Managers).

What are you looking for?

• Strategic HR Manager or HR Business Partner who has experience creating and implementing people plans in a large organisation.

  • Ideally has done this in a multi-site environment such as Retail or Hospitality (however, this is desirable meaning we welcome applicants from alternative industries).  

• Proven HR generalist experience advising middle to high-level managers on all aspects of HR processes and policies.

• Has built strong, collaborative relationships with a proven ability to work with, influence, and challenge a variety of stakeholders

  • Most of the role will be working remotely so you’ll need to be able to build and manage relationships within this environment.

• Has worked autonomously while ensuring collaboration with peers.

• Able to use judgment and distil key priorities and areas of focus when working with ambiguity.

• Excellent problem-solving abilities with a proven track record of demonstrating pragmatism, proactivity, tenacity, and initiative.

• Most of the role will be working remotely so you’ll need to be used to communicating and building successful relationships within this environment.

• Able to travel across the UK (Retail network across the South and Superstores UK-wide).

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination  

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism   

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people  

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you’re interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we’d still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Additional information

Internally, this role is known as a HR Manager. If you want to know more about this role, here is a full job description. Please note this is a generalist profile used for internal & external purposes meaning we don’t expect candidates to meet all the criteria included (we will be shortlisting based on the essential criteria advertised).

For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].  

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact [email protected] or 020 3469 8400 as soon as possible. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.