JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Permanent, full time for 35 hours per week.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00.

Organisation structure

Chief Operating Officer, HR and Payroll.

Your line manager will be Lisa Wilks, Director of HR.

Place of work flexibility

The majority of your working week will be spent at our office in Reading and the rest at your home*. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of three working days each week in Horizons ideally on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (the office closes on Fridays). Occasionally you will attend our London site to deliver training.

*Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable – please see the ‘Working from home’ section on our Careers Site for further information.

High level summary of job role

This is a new role in which you will shape the roadmap and deliver regular and timely technical HR training, to our established yet growing line manager group. Working as part of the HR team, you will train on employment related topics across the full employment lifecycle including recruitment, induction, performance management, engagement, recognition, disputes, exits and more, to upskill our line managers, boost their confidence, and reduce risk to the University. You will also contribute to the achievement of wider team objectives and projects as part of our people strategy, working with HR colleagues. Overall, your work will positively contribute to helping the University realise its ambitions for growth and secure its ongoing success.

Our line managers have varying places of work, from office-based to remote, as well as hybrid. Working in collaboration with the HR team, you will design and deliver HR training in person (mainly Reading but occasionally London) as well as online via Teams, and you will also develop HR resources to support line managers both within and outside of the physical/virtual training room. This role is about partnering with line managers to create and build a community of strong, capable people managers who possess essential HR knowledge – in turn building trust and confidence so they can successfully and competently deliver on their overall team accountabilities and responsibilities.

As part of the role you will also take responsibility for delivering line manager induction and associated resources. You will also work closely with our Learning and Development Specialist who manages wider skills and career development activities for line managers/teams.

The demands of a line manager today are ever-growing; our line managers need more help and support from you to keep up to date with employment law and good employment practice, in order to secure high employee engagement, high performance working, and high productivity levels at our University.

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

Create, publish and commit to a calendar of technical HR training sessions for the line manager group, where initially there are a minimum of two sessions occurring each month on different HR topics – all at accessible and varied times to ensure inclusion and maximise attendance opportunities. Where sessions are delivered face to face, they must be repeated online. Sessions must be timely and repeated as frequently as necessary to minimise employment risk. Some online sessions can be recorded, as long as confidentiality for the participant group can be secured.
Deliver engaging and effective technical HR training sessions, making sure to seek feedback and requests for further HR training. HR training topics must be created (and regularly reviewed) in consultation with the HR Advisers, including using data to inform decisions (attendance, turnover and exit surveys, performance management, disputes and more). Design, develop and maintain intranet resources to support HR training.
Design and deliver information and training sessions when we are seeking volunteers from the line manager group to take on specific technical roles, e.g. Investigating Officer for grievance, disciplinary and capability matters. Subject to need/demands, organise any required external line manager training.
Support and provide cover for the HR Advisers with day-to-day matters as needed, given your subject matter expertise and HR advising/partnering experience. Discuss and refer coaching needs, or other skills development requirements, to the Learning and Development Specialist in a timely manner.
Work on wider annual team objectives and projects, which are aligned to our five-year people strategy.
Reach out directly to those managers (and their line managers) where HR flags concerns about knowledge/risk gaps, to secure attendance at technical HR training sessions. Refer any specific coaching or development requirements to the Learning and Development Specialist.
In addition to technical HR training sessions, design and deliver new line manager induction, to meet the evolving needs of the University. This covers both new line managers joining the University, as well as internally promoted staff to the role of line manager. Work with the HR Adviser to deliver training to line managers on how to deliver effective, practical induction for their own new and existing team members.
Track line manager attendance at training sessions and online training and produce quarterly reports for the operational review meetings.
Contribute to ongoing resource development and training for line managers, to support implementation of the University’s new Competency Framework; this includes the role of a line manager at the University.
Alongside HR colleagues, promote use of the apprenticeship levy to line managers as a development opportunity for their teams. This will involve running information sessions on what programmes may be suitable, where to find information, and how the levy process works.
In time, define a list of mandatory technical HR training for inclusion into future training calendars. This will require careful planning and consultation with line managers, especially around timings and mode of delivery.
Evolve with this new role over time, shifting and shaping activities to ensure they remain effective, relevant, and are always adding value.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: None.

Budget responsibility: None however you will contribute to the budgeting process.

In this role you will liaise with the following: (1) The line manager group (currently 80 staff and growing) which includes members of the Executive and Senior Leadership teams, and all operational managers. (2) HR team colleagues. (3) Senior leaders to discuss specific department or team training requirements.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement

How the person requirement will be assessed:

A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment

Please be aware that as part of onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure), and three years employment history. This is all part of our commitment to safeguarding our students. Keeping our students safe is a responsibility shared by everyone.

Qualifications and training

CIPD professional qualification (E, A) to Chartered Member level (D, A).

Previous experience

HR Business Partner or senior HR advising experience including delivering regular technical HR training to line (people) managers (E, A, I).

Ability to work with/train both small and large groups, both face to face and online (E, I, T).

Development of line manager resources to build confidence and capability in handling day-to-day HR and employment matters (E, I).

Behaviours and attitudes

Alignment to the University’s core values which reflect our culture. Refer to the specific behaviours within the Competency Framework (E, I) – summarised within the careers site.

Skills, knowledge, other requirements

Subject matter expertise in HR topics across the employment lifecycle (E, I, T).

Ability to build strong effective relationships with a client/customer group (E, I).

Ability to work across office locations to deliver training (Reading and occasionally London) (E, I).

Planning and organisation skills (E, I).

Gravitas and confidence to deliver training to all line managers, at all professional and academic job levels (E, I, T).

Understanding of confidentiality considerations for training participants (E, I).

Strong digital skills: We use MS Office which includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You should also have experience of SharePoint (intranet) and managing online resources (E, I).

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed. The University is regulated by the Office for Students and Ofsted, and we have specific requirements and expectations around safeguarding, Prevent, and anti-harassment and bullying. This is all part of our Competency Framework requirements (E, I).

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: Salary up to £50,000 per annum.

Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.

Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the People’s Pension which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether. We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.

Family-friendly policies: Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types. Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).

Wellbeing: Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.

Sustainable travel: Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.

Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.

Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).

Other valuable benefits:

Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.
You will have access to Microsoft Office 365 applications for personal use.
You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.
We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Lisa Wilks on 0118 921 4641 or email l.wilks@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk

Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.

We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.

Closing date and next steps

We will receive applications until the advert closes on Monday 25 May 2026 at 17:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.

Interview details

Dates for interview will be advised to you later in the process. We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.

Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Note for internal candidates

If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.

HR Training Partner