Senior Advisor

Circa:

Are you a seasoned HR professional who believes great employee relations go beyond compliance? We're looking for a Senior People Advisor to join our People & Culture team — someone who combines deep ER expertise with genuine care for people and a drive for improvement.

In this role, you'll be the primary point of contact for all employee relations matters, advising and coaching people managers with confidence and empathy. You'll manage a varied ER caseload, shape our people policies, and partner across the organisation to build a culture where great people practices are embedded at every level.

This is a role for someone who is an excellent communicator, solutions focused, and genuinely passionate about enhancing the employee experience — from the everyday to the complex.

What You'll Be Doing

• ER Case Management — Lead ER activity including disciplinary, capability, grievance, and appeals cases, acting as primary escalation point and working with external providers where required to reach effective, compliant outcomes.

• Expert Advice & Coaching — Deliver legally compliant, commercially focused ER guidance to people managers, coaching them to build confidence and capability in handling people challenges independently.

• Policy & Compliance — Create and maintain people policies that reflect our culture and values, proactively reviewing practices to stay ahead of employment law changes and ensure organisation-wide compliance.

• Absence & Performance — Support managers to proactively address absence and performance issues, facilitating positive outcomes for both the individual and the organisation.

• Engagement & Change — Lead an employee forum to drive meaningful engagement, and provide thoughtful change management support that keeps our values at the heart of how we evolve.

• Data, Records & Global Consistency — Maintain accurate employee data and high-quality case records, while contributing to a consistent international P&C framework alongside the Business Partnering team.

At the RSC we embrace flexibility and offer hybrid working, which means our teams come together when they need to collaborate. This role is contractually based at our Cambridge office. It is expected that you will attend the office once per week, and as and when required to facilitate meetings. If you need flexible working arrangements, please outline this in your application.

Essential:

• Significant experience of managing a varied ER case load with confidence and independence.

• Up to date employment law knowledge, with commitment to ongoing personal development.

• CIPD Level 5, or equivalent proven experience.

• High level of attention to detail

• Proven experience in managing complex situations with calmness and clarity, articulate in responses, and with an appropriate level of empathy.

• Ability to mediate and negotiate balancing fairness with the aim to achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.

• Ability to clearly articulate advice and solutions in both one-to-one and group settings. Presenting information in a way that is easy to understand to inform discussions and decisions with various stakeholders.

• Outcome focussed approach; with experience in assessing data and feedback to identify trends, issues, and root cause analysis.

• Ability to identify line manager skills gaps in relation to people management and implement targeted training, took kits, and support packages to upskill.

• Able to deal with ambiguity and periods of deadline driven pressures.

Desirable:

• Experience of ER case management systems.

• Experience in developing and enhancing the quality-of-service delivery to ensure that it meets stakeholder expectations and aligns with RSC priorities.

• International employment experience in USA, Japan, China, Germany or India would be advantageous

If you are interested in this role, please apply before the end of the closing date. When applying, you will need to provide an up-to-date CV and as a cover letter (in no more than 500 words) telling us about your relevant knowledge, skills and competencies and why you are applying for this role.

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