People Business Partner

People Business Partner (HR Business Partner)

Contract: Fixed Term / Secondment, until December 2027

Hours: Full Time, Hybrid working (40-60% of their time on site)

Salary: £45,100-£60,400 per annum

Location: Cambridge 

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced People Business Partner to join a passionate, fast-paced People and Culture environment. You will play a key role in supporting leaders through complex employee relations, organisational design and change activity, helping our people and managers deliver world-class assessment and learning solutions around the world.

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation, and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

About the role:

You will play an important role in delivering our transformative People and Culture Strategy. Reporting to the Senior People Business Partnering, English, and embedded within our English product group, this is a complex and varied role. You will build trusted partnerships with leaders and managers in the UK and across multiple international territories within a complex matrix organisation.

You will work as a proactive partner to the business, translating people strategy into practical plans and advising on organisational effectiveness, workforce planning, change and employee relations. You will collaborate closely with colleagues across Centres of Expertise, including Reward, Learning and Development, EDIB and Talent Acquisition, to shape and deliver people products and services that are pragmatic, consistent and fit for purpose for your business areas.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.  

About you

To be successful in this role, you will bring a strong generalist People/HR Business Partnering background, with demonstrable experience operating at a credible advisory level in a complex matrix organisation. You will have solid experience managing complex employee relations cases, supporting organisational design and change, and navigating diverse processes, procedures and legislative frameworks with sound judgement and discretion.

International or multi-territory experience would be advantageous. Using your developed communication and influencing skills, you will be confident articulating complex ideas clearly, establishing credibility with a culturally diverse range of stakeholders, and offering pragmatic, risk-aware solutions to people-related challenges.

You will also:

• Bring sound judgement, resilience and confidence in advising on sensitive, complex and high-risk people matters.
• Have experience supporting organisational design, restructuring, transformation or change programmes, ideally within a complex or multi-layered organisation.
• Possess good business acumen and be confident using data, insight and evidence to identify themes, inform recommendations and support decision-making.
• Be able to build influential relationships across functions, geographies and reporting lines, balancing consistency, commercial awareness and empathy.
• Have strong knowledge of UK employment law and good practice, with some knowledge of international employment considerations being beneficial.

We are keen to hear from experienced HR professionals who are ready to bring their business partnering expertise to a role with meaningful complexity, autonomy and stakeholder reach. You will be supported by a collaborative People and Culture team while having the opportunity to influence, challenge and help shape effective people outcomes across a dynamic international business area.

For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site. 

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the gov uk website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.

Rewards and benefits

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible rewards package, featuring family-friendly and planet-friendly benefits including:  

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays  

• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance   

• Discretionary annual bonus   

• Group personal pension scheme  

• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary   

• Green travel schemes   

We are a hybrid working organisation and we offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options from day one. It is expected that most colleagues will spend 40-60% of their time on site in their dedicated office or location.  We will consider any work arrangements if you wish to work more flexibly or require adjustments due to a disability.

Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.   

We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent. The closing date for all applications will be Friday 21st August 2026.

In the event a suitable applicant is sourced, we reserve the right to close the advert early. Please apply early to avoid any disappointment.

If you are shortlisted and progressed through the stages, you can expect:  

• A 15-minute screening call with the Hiring Manager
• In-person interview at our Cambridge offices, which may include an interview task or assessment. Any materials or instructions will be provided in advance where applicable.
   

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process due to a disability or a long-term health condition, there will be an opportunity for you to inform us via the online application form. We will do our best to accommodate your needs. 

Please note that successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory background checks including DBS due to working in a regulated industry. 

We are committed to an equitable recruitment process. As such, applications must be submitted via our official online application procedure. Please refrain from sending your CV directly to our recruiters. If you experience technical difficulties or require additional support with submitting your online application, contact the Recruiter. 

Why join us  

Joining us is your opportunity to pursue potential. You will belong to a collaborative team that is exploring new and better ways to serve students, teachers and researchers across the globe – for the benefit of individuals, society and the world. Sharing our mission will inspire your own growth, development and progress, in an environment which embraces difference, change and aspiration. 

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background.  

We believe better outcomes come through diversity of thought, background and approach. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and communities, actively seeking to employ people from a wide range of different communities.  

People Business Partner (HR Business Partner) - Apply now.