Senior People Business Partner - UK

Senior People Business Partner - UK

Department: Enabling : People and Development

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: UK - London

Description

About Anthesis Anthesis is the sustainability activator. Proud to be a B Corp, we seek to make a significant contribution to a world which is more resilient and productive. We do this by working with cities, corporates, investors and other organisations to drive sustainable performance. We develop financially driven sustainability strategies, underpinned by technical expertise and delivered by innovative collaborative teams across the world.

At Anthesis Group, we are truly committed to putting people and our planet at the heart of all we do.

Summary of Role & Key Responsibilities

Summary of Role

This is a Senior Business Partnering role, working closely with the UK Regional Market Lead and Senior Leadership team within the UK to deliver our talent and culture objectives across all of our teams in the UK. You'll bring deep HR expertise, ideally gained in both professional services and creative/agency environments, to support a diverse, fast-paced and purpose-driven team.

The role is both strategic and operational and will suit somebody who likes a broad and varied remit. You will lead people initiatives for the UK, both delivering those in partnership with our Global Centres of Excellence (Reward, Talent & Performance, Engagement, People Operations) and also designing and delivering local people strategies focused on the UK that enable high performance, employee engagement, and growth across both our consultancy and creative/agency teams.

Semi-regular travel to our offices within the UK (London, Manchester, Bristol, Oxford, Edinburgh) is required to support teams in multiple UK offices.

Key Responsibilities

• Operational and Strategic Partnering: Act as a strategic people business partner to the UK leadership team. Translate global P&D initiatives from the Centres of Excellence into UK practice, adapting and implementing for UK regulations and cultural context.
• Organisational Effectiveness: Regularly review UK processes, policies and documentation. Identifying gaps and raising the current standards so they align with global frameworks and UK regulatory expectations. Drive automation where possible.
• UK Payroll: Oversee delivery of UK payroll. Work with internal teams and external providers to maintain accuracy, compliance and timely processing.
• Employee Relations: Provide expert advice on UK employment law. Handle complex cases, maintaining a fair, consistent and legally compliant approach.
• Talent Development: Deliver globally defined leadership and capability programmes within the UK. Support UK leaders to apply these frameworks in a consistent way.
• Performance and Reward: Apply global performance and reward approaches in the UK. Align with Regional P&D Leads to ensure consistency and fairness across all regions.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Embed global DEI principles across the UK employee experience. Partner with our Global Employee Engagement Lead to support managers to apply these principles in everyday decisions.
• Team Leadership: Manage a small team of People Business Partners. Provide coaching, mentoring and day-to-day support to help Business Partners develop capability and confidence.

Key Requirements, Skills Knowledge & Expertise

Key Requirements

• Proven experience in a strategic people business partnering role, within professional services and/or brand/comms agency environments.
• Experience of collaborating effectively in a global, matrixed organisation.
• Experience of designing and driving employee engagement initiatives.
• Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Exceptional communication, coaching, and relationship-building skills.
• Strong attention to detail is essential.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving change.
• Experience of managing a small team.
• Passionate about sustainability and purpose-driven work.

Benefits

• Work within a highly motivated team in an innovative and rapidly growing global company
• Opportunity to have a direct impact and be a key part of the growth and development of the business and the team
• Work solely on projects that have an impact on the sustainability and climate change goals/challenges for clients
• Opportunity to work with, collaborate with and learn from sustainability SME's who are passionate about the work they do and the impact Anthesis can have
• Exposure to a wide range of clients and projects on a global basis
• Competitive salary in line with, experience and skills
• Competitive benefits including flexible working, 25 days holiday and two volunteering days off and the day off for your Birthday!
• An opportunity to participate in the Anthesis Employee Participation Plan (EPP), an industry-pioneering employee incentive plan that allows all employees to be rewarded for the growth in the equity value of Anthesis.
• Cooperative, supportive and open working atmosphere.