Lead HR Business Partner

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

About the Role

The Open University is seeking a strategic and values-led Lead HR Business Partner to join People Services. In this pivotal role you will partner with senior leaders across your portfolio to translate university strategy into a people agenda that strengthens organisational performance, culture and employee experience.

Working in a matrix model and closely with Centres of Expertise (CoEs), People Operations and wider Professional Services, you will shape and deliver workforce, talent, leadership, reward, inclusion and change priorities. You will use insight and data to diagnose issues, design interventions and ensure measurable impact aligned to the University People Plan.

With responsibility for multiple Faculty and/or Professional Services units of significant complexity, you will provide trusted, evidence-based challenge and coaching to leaders. You will lead multi-disciplinary virtual teams to deliver agreed priorities, improve leadership capability and embed sustainable ways of working.

Key Responsibilities

• Co-create and deliver the people plan for your portfolio, aligning workforce priorities to strategy, financial plans and operating model requirements.
• Lead and chair multi-disciplinary virtual teams, partnering with CoE and operational support to design and deliver solutions at pace.
• Act as a trusted adviser and ‘critical friend’ to senior leaders, providing constructive challenge, options and risk-based recommendations on complex people matters.
• Build strategic workforce plans (capability, capacity, cost) and drive execution through recruitment, internal mobility, resourcing models and skills development.
• Use people data, insight and external benchmarking to identify trends, diagnose root causes and measure the impact of interventions (e.g., engagement, retention, performance, inclusion and wellbeing).
• Build strong, credible relationships with leaders and stakeholders, enabling effective decision-making and ensuring timely access to the right expertise and resources.
• Enable a high-performance culture through leadership coaching and practical solutions across performance, talent, succession, learning and development, and reward.
• Lead the people aspects of change, including organisation design, consultation, capability building and adoption of new ways of working.
• Embed inclusive leadership and equitable practices, partnering with leaders and CoEs to remove barriers and improve outcomes.
• Partner with leaders to strengthen engagement, wellbeing and organisational health, using listening channels and action planning to drive improvement.

About You

Skills and Experience:

• Degree in HR, business, law, organisational psychology or a related discipline or equivalent professional experience.
• Significant HR partnering experience at a senior level, with demonstrable impact across workforce planning, talent and succession, performance, employee relations, change and organisational development.
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a matrix environment, partnering across CoEs and shared services to deliver consistent, high-quality outcomes.
• Strong influencing and coaching skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and navigate ambiguity and competing priorities.
• Demonstrated change leadership with a delivery mindset - able to set direction, mobilise stakeholders and translate plans into outcomes.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility at senior level.
• Strategic and commercially aware, with strong execution, governance and risk awareness (including employee relations and policy compliance).
• Confident communicator with strong consultancy skills, able to simplify complex issues and influence decisions through clear narratives and insight.
• Able to secure commitment and alignment across diverse stakeholder groups, bringing credibility, pragmatism and sound judgement.
• Able to translate the people agenda into improved organisational outcomes, with a focus on measurable impact and continuous improvement.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, comfortable working with data and translating insight into action.
• Advanced skills in MS Office (especially PowerPoint and Excel) and experience using HR systems and dashboards to inform decisions.
• CIPD Level 5/7 (or equivalent) is desirable.

Key Attributes:

• Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.
  • Ensures that own efforts meet the needs and requirements of internal and external stakeholders.
  • Works to identify all relevant issues and satisfy the interests of multiple stakeholders during the decision-making process.
• Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
  • Knows what to prioritise for the greatest strategic impact on the Organisation. Takes industry and market trends into account in decisions.
  • Explores possibilities that may impact the team or Organisation in the future.
• Builds partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives. Readily involves others to accomplish goals; stays in touch and shares information; discourages "us versus them" thinking; shows appreciation for others' ideas and input.
• Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
  • Looks at complex issues from multiple angles.
  • Explores issues to uncover underlying issues and root causes.
  • Sees the main consequences and implications of different options.
• Applies knowledge of organisation and sector to advance the Organisation's goals.
  • Clearly understands how own activities relate to critical business drivers.
  • Monitors business news and market changes for impact on the business or on own expertise area; uses this to shape decisions.
• Holds self and others accountable to meet commitments.
  • Accepts responsibility for own work, both successes and failures.
  • Handles fair share and does not make excuses for problems. Usually meets commitments to others.
  • Holds constructive dialogue with the team regularly; takes multiple perspectives into account when making decisions.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be at least four to five times per month. 

Next steps in the Recruitment process

We anticipate that interviews for this role will be taking place during the week commencing 1 June 2026.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications has been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented. If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following documents:

• CV
• A personal statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the criteria for this role as detailed above within the job description.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.

Information at a Glance

Contact us

If you have any queries or questions about the recruitment process, or regarding your application, please contact: Careers@open.ac.uk.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential.  We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.  We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.