HR Advisor

Position: HR Change Advisor (Contract)
HR Change Adviser (Fixed Term)

Location:

UK (Hybrid)

Contract:

Fixed-term (approx. 6 months)

The opportunity:

We are recruiting three HR Change Advisers to join a dedicated HR Change team delivering a large-scale transformation programme across a complex higher education organisation.

These roles report directly into the HR Change Manager and are critical to supporting multiple, concurrent change programmes, including a major Professional Services and Schools transformation.

This is not a generalist HR advisory role. It is a hands-on change and transformation position requiring strong employment law knowledge, confidence in consultation settings, and the ability to operate independently from day one.

What you'll be doing:

You will work at the heart of organisational change activity, supporting leaders through design, consultation, and implementation phases.

Key responsibilities include:

Heavy involvement in formal consultation meetings, providing clear, confident advice on employment law, process, and people impacts
Preparing thoroughly for each consultation, understanding individual impacts, ringfencing arrangements, and proposed structures in advance
Responding to employee questions during consultation meetings
Supporting multiple change programmes simultaneously, tracking progress, upcoming phases, risks, and dependencies
Drafting and quality-assuring critical documentation ahead of each phase, including:
Consultation documents
Equality Impact Assessments
Structure charts and role mapping
Business cases for senior leadership approval
Supporting the HR Change Manager with risk identification and mitigation, proactively flagging issues before escalation
Supporting the implementation phase, including:
Preparing interview assessment materials
Advising on selection processes
Sitting on interview panels where required
Supporting the preparation of redundancy calculations and settlement agreements, including mutually agreed terminations
Collating and checking change data, working closely with HR Change Coordinators to ensure accuracy and consistency
Attending trade union meetings alongside senior HR colleagues to build understanding of live issues and concerns

What we're looking for:

This role requires someone who can step in fast, take ownership, and deliver with minimal oversight.

Essential experience:

Proven experience supporting organisational change and transformation programmes
Strong experience of employee consultation, including restructures and redundancy processes
Excellent working knowledge of UK employment law in a change context
Confidence operating in consultation meetings and answering complex HR questions in real time
Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy
Ability to manage multiple work streams and competing deadlines simultaneously
Resilience and confidence working in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment

Highly desirable:

Experience in Higher Education, with an understanding of Professional Services and Schools structures
Experience supporting large-scale or multi-programme change
Experience liaising with trade unions
CIPD Level 5 (or working towards)

Why this role?

Opportunity to work on a major, high-profile transformation
Exposure to complex consultation and implementation activity at scale
Autonomous, trusted role with real responsibility
Collaborative, specialist HR Change environment