Hr Business Partner

Here at Alexander Steele Recruitment we continue to work exclusively with a well-established food manufacturing business to recruit an experienced HR Business Partner to join their site leadership team at their site in Surrey.

This is a broad and highly visible role combining hands-on HR business partnering with responsibility for helping coordinate the site’s Health & Safety agenda.

You’ll work closely with operational leaders and managers across the site, supporting everything from employee relations and workforce planning through to engagement, organisational change, leadership capability and safety improvement.

It’s a great opportunity for someone who enjoys being close to the operation, building strong relationships on the factory floor and having a genuine influence on both the people and safety culture of a site.

What will you be getting involved in?

• Acting as a trusted HR partner to site leaders and managers, providing practical advice and coaching across a wide range of people matters
• Managing complex employee relations cases including performance, absence, disciplinary, grievance and capability
• Supporting managers with workforce planning, recruitment and the effective use of temporary labour
• Driving employee engagement, wellbeing, retention, inclusion and colleague communication initiatives
• Identifying development needs across the site and supporting manager capability, talent development and succession planning
• Supporting restructures, consultation processes and other organisational change activity
• Working alongside the wider H&S team to help coordinate site safety priorities and improvement plans
• Supporting risk assessments, safe systems of work, incident investigations, audits and corrective actions
• Using HR and H&S data to identify trends, highlight areas for improvement and support better decision-making
• Maintaining a visible presence across the operation, building strong relationships with employees and managers across different shifts

The position combines operational HR leadership with practical responsibility for helping strengthen the site’s health and safety culture.

What are we looking for?
I’d be keen to speak with HR professionals who have:

• Strong generalist HR experience, ideally gained within food manufacturing, FMCG, manufacturing, warehousing or another fast-paced operational environment
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and confidence managing complex ER cases
• Experience coaching and influencing operational managers and senior leaders
• Practical exposure to Health & Safety, including areas such as risk assessments, incident investigation, audits or action management
• Experience supporting change, manager development, wellbeing or wider people projects
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills, with the confidence to challenge where appropriate
• CIPD Level 5 or equivalent relevant experience

A NEBOSH General Certificate would be advantageous, but candidates who have relevant H&S exposure and are willing to work towards the qualification with company support will also be considered.

The opportunity

This is not a desk-based HR role. You’ll be expected to be visible across the site, understand what is happening operationally and build credibility with everyone from production colleagues through to senior leadership.

For someone who enjoys a genuinely hands-on HR Business Partner role and wants to broaden their exposure across both People and Health & Safety, this is a fantastic opportunity within a fast-paced food manufacturing environment.

📩 Interested?
Apply directly or message me for a confidential conversation and further information.