Head of People Partnering - HR (FTC)

Salary: £67,000 - £77,500 per annum

Employment type: Fixed Term Contract for 6 months

Hours per week: 37

Reporting into: People Director

Department: People Team

Click here to read the full job description and view our excellent benefits here

This role operates on a hybrid working arrangement that will require travel as and when required, expected to be 2 days a week to our Campus locations, and one day to our Coventry Head Office. This may fluctuate in line with business requirements. Our working model arrangements are a non-contractual benefit so please note that an Arden work location is added to our employment contracts.

Travel will be required into the following locations:

• Coventry Head Office

• Birmingham Campus

• Leeds campus

• Manchester Campus

• Newcastle Campus

• Nottingham Campus

• London area (Ealing, Holborn and Tower Hill)

About Arden University:

We are an aspirational and multi-award-winning university, delivering rapid growth with ambitious plans to disrupt the HE sector through our passion for innovation and digital education. Our vision is to become the first-choice university for career-focused lifelong learners worldwide, ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access higher education.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines, forge worldwide partnerships, and expand our locations.

About our Department:

Our People Team play a pivotal role in delivering Arden University’s people strategy, supporting colleagues across the full employee lifecycle. The team provides expert services across recruitment and onboarding, employee relations, learning and development, wellbeing, workforce planning and organisational change, helping to create a positive, inclusive and high-performing workplace culture.

About the Opportunity:

As Head of People Partnering, you will play a critical leadership role in shaping the future of the People Partnering function at Arden University. Reporting to the People Director, you will lead a team of three People Business Partners supporting Professional Services, Student Services and Academic functions, ensuring they operate as trusted strategic advisors to the business and deliver a consistent, high-quality people service across the organisation.

A key focus of this role will be strengthening the capability, impact and effectiveness of the People Partnering team. You will provide inspirational leadership, coaching and direction, creating a high-performance culture where People Partners are empowered to challenge constructively, influence confidently and deliver meaningful outcomes for their stakeholders. You will assess team capability, identify development opportunities, establish clear expectations and performance standards, and ensure the team has the skills, tools and confidence needed to support the University's evolving strategic priorities.

Working closely with your team, you will redefine and optimise the partnering model, reviewing structures, accountabilities and ways of working to ensure resources are aligned to organisational needs. You will create greater consistency across the function while encouraging innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement. Through regular coaching, mentoring and development conversations, you will build resilience and leadership capability within the team, supporting them through a period of significant change and transformation.

Beyond team leadership, you will act as a trusted strategic advisor to senior leaders across the University, providing expert guidance on organisational design, workforce planning, change management and complex people challenges. Using workforce data and people insights, you will help shape strategic decision-making, influence organisational outcomes and ensure the People function delivers measurable value to the wider business. You will also lead the delivery of a transformation roadmap for the People Partnering function, embedding a proactive, insight-led approach that positions the team as a genuine driver of organisational performance and success.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced people leader who enjoys building high-performing teams, leading through change and leaving a lasting impact on both people and organisational capability.

About You:

You will be an experienced and credible HR leader with a successful track record of leading transformation within People or HR functions. You have operated at a senior level and will be skilled in influencing senior stakeholders, navigating complexity, and delivering meaningful organisational change.

You will bring strong expertise across organisational design, workforce planning, employee relations and change management, alongside exceptional coaching and leadership skills. Comfortable using people data and workforce insights to shape strategy and decision-making, you will be equally confident rolling up your sleeves to drive delivery and support your team through periods of change.

Ideally, you will have experience within higher education or another complex, multi-stakeholder environment, coupled with experience leading and developing People Partners. CIPD Level 7 qualified, or with equivalent senior-level experience, you will be passionate about building high-performing teams, embedding best practice, and helping organisations achieve their strategic ambitions through their people.

Why Arden:

At Arden, you will become a part of a passionate and dedicated team who are committed to removing unnecessary barriers to learning and making education more accessible. Our people work hard to ensure our students journeys are the best they can possibly be, as such we want to reward our people with fantastic benefits. Employees benefit from:

• 30 days holiday + bank holidays on-top, and even a Christmas closure!

• A generous Aviva pension plan, company contributions starting from 7%

• BUPA Cash Plan

• Private Medical Insurance

• Access to Perkbox benefits

• Study any Arden course for free, with a discount for all family and friends

• Plus, other excellent benefits

• Our ‘Golden Ticket’ which allows you to gift anyone in your life a free Arden education
  

Our Values:

Stand out, Progressive, Accessible, Resourceful, Kindness, reflect who we are as an institution, a team and as individuals. If they also reflect you and you are excited by the chance to be the driving, creative force within a growing business, we want to hear from you.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines and locations.

#INDSJ

Closing Date: Sunday 11th October

We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the specified closing date should we receive sufficient applications or in order to respond to business needs. In order to avoid missing an opportunity to apply please submit your application as early as possible.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion:

Arden University is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. This means that if you have a disability, as defined by the Disability Equality Act 2010, you may be guaranteed an interview if you meet the essential criteria for the role.

If you wish to be considered under this scheme, you can indicate via the application form below. By doing so, you are also consenting for this information to be shared with the hiring team. For more details on what qualifies as a disability under the Disability Equality Act 2010, please refer to the guidance here.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Therefore, we make sure that our recruitment and selection processes never discriminate based upon people's age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances, and actively welcome applications from all groups.

Sponsorship statement:

Please be aware that some roles may not meet the points requirement for a sponsored Skilled Worker visa, or fulfil the criteria we have for providing sponsorship.  However we welcome applications from candidates who do not currently have the right to work in the UK but may be eligible for a visa through an alternative route.