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Job requirements
Essential
13 listedRequirements the employer expects applicants to meet.
- Knowledge and Experience
Substantial senior HR leadership experience in a large, complex organisation
- Knowledge and Experience
Expert current knowledge of UK employment law, NHS employment policy and their application to complex workforce and employee-relations matters
- Knowledge and Experience
Significant experience of advising and influencing senior leaders on workforce strategy, organisational design, service planning and major organisational change
- Knowledge and Experience
Experience of making judgements and providing authoritative advice on highly complex, sensitive and contentious workforce matters where information may be incomplete and options may conflict
- Knowledge and Experience
Experience of analysing complex workforce and financial information, identifying trends and risks, and presenting recommendations to senior governance forums
- Knowledge and Experience
Experience of leading strategic people projects, workforce planning and staff-experience improvement activity across a large organisation
- Knowledge and Experience
Experience of managing teams, service performance and delegated budgets, including development and deployment of professional resources
- Knowledge and Experience
Significant experience of partnership working, consultation and negotiation with recognised trade unions
- Knowledge and Experience
Demonstrable ability to build effective relationships and establish professional credibility quickly
- Knowledge and Experience
Strategic leadership and influencing
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Master’s level education or equivalent demonstrable knowledge and experience
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Chartered Membership of the CIPD
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Postgraduate-level specialist HR knowledge, acquired through postgraduate study or equivalent advanced training and substantial relevant experience
Desirable
8 listedAdditional qualities the employer would prefer.
- Knowledge and Experience
Senior People/HR leadership experience in the NHS
- Knowledge and Experience
Experience of leading complex medical employee-relations cases
- Knowledge and Experience
Experience of recruitment and selection assessment methods
- Knowledge and Experience
Knowledge of NHS policy, regulatory and financial planning frameworks
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Chartered Fellow of the CIPD
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Formal management or leadership qualification
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Qualified Agenda for Change job evaluator
- Qualifications, Training and Memberships
Training or accreditation in psychometric or development tools
Job overview
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to offer a fantastic opportunity to work with us.
Job Title: Head of HR Business Partnering Contract Type: Permanent
Please be advised that this vacancy may close earlier than stated if we receive a large number of applications.
Main duties of the job
At UHS our HR Business Partners work hand in hand with our clinical, operational and corporate teams to support and enable them to deliver world class care to our patients. We’re seeking a proven leader to join our excellent HRBP team, with a reputation for delivering high-quality HR advice and guidance that is pragmatic and realistic.
We’re seeking someone with excellent core HR knowledge (TUPE, ER, org change, job evaluation, policy), the ability to deal with highly intelligent and demanding stakeholders, a firm grasp of the employment law landscape and a proven background in building and developing excellent HR teams.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You’ll be looking for a role where you have a good amount of autonomy, the opportunity to contribute to wider organisational projects, goals and objectives, and the chance to influence at a senior level. This team delivers advice to our Subsidiary companies (e.g. UHS Estates Limited, UHS Hospital Pharmacy) and hosted services (e.g. Wessex Cancer Alliance, Health Innovation Wessex), who mainly work under NHS terms and conditions, as well as UHS colleagues; so you’ll need strong stakeholder engagement skills, the ability to adapt your advice to internal and external customers and to take into account commercial requirements. A key opportunity of the role is to work with the HRBP team and wider people directorate on key projects such as staff survey and experience, the use of AI and technology to improve workflows and ways of working and provide data and insight to help deliver the UHS People Plan.
This is a broad, interesting and challenging role, working with a great team. We operate hybrid working with approximately half time spent onsite, flexibility is required in order to partner with our clinical colleagues.
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Head of HR Business Partnering with University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust in Southampton, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Human resources manager role. The advertised salary is £79,504 - £91,609 per annum pro rata. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 01 Nov 2026.
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