HR Administrator

ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY

Join the Harris Federation as an HR Administrator and play a key role in delivering an outstanding onboarding experience for new employees across our Head Office functions. As part of a collaborative, supportive and fast-paced HR Operations team, you will be responsible for coordinating pre-employment checks, managing onboarding activities and ensuring every new starter experiences a seamless, professional and compliant journey from offer acceptance through to induction.

Working closely with hiring managers and stakeholders across the organisation, you will help uphold the highest standards of safer recruitment while providing an exceptional candidate experience. Your attention to detail, organisational skills and commitment to service excellence will be essential in ensuring onboarding processes are managed efficiently, accurately and in line with regulatory requirements.

This is an excellent opportunity for a highly organised and proactive administrator with an interest in HR to further develop their career within one of the country's leading education trusts. You will gain exposure to a broad range of HR processes, contribute to continuous service improvements and play an important role in supporting colleagues across the Federation.

If you are customer-focused, detail-oriented and motivated by delivering a high-quality service, we would be delighted to hear from you.

The founder and sponsor of the Harris Federation, Lord Harris of Peckham, opened our first school in 1990. We have, over the past thirty years, implemented ideas and initiatives that have transformed the opportunities of pupils from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Harris academies are widely recognised as a force for social mobility. We are immensely proud of the role that our alumni are now beginning to play in the world and of what we believe our current generation of pupils will go on to achieve.

We now have over 50 schools educating more than 40,000 young people across London and Essex, and employ over 5,000 staff across our academies and head office. With the majority of our academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils we serve.

As a provider of employment and education, we value the diversity of our staff and students, and all our staff are equally valued and respected. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment for our students and staff.

Our work will impact many generations to come, and our staff come from all backgrounds and walks of life, coming together to inspire young minds. We promote an inclusive culture that embraces the valuable and enriching contribution that all of our community make. We continue to be proactive in uplifting and supporting all voices at Harris.

To discover more about our culture, ethos and what it is like to work here, visit the Why Work For Us page.

Your responsibilities will include:

Onboarding Administration

• Coordinating the onboarding process for Head Office appointments including reference requests, new starter forms, right to work checks, qualification verification, and Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) screening.
• Initiate online medical checks, ensuring any declared disabilities or health concerns are appropriately escalated to the line manager.
• Drafting employment contracts to ensure accuracy, consistency and compliance with organisational policies.

HR Administration

• Compiling personnel files for Head Office employees.
• Updating the Head Office Single Central Record (SCR) for all new starters.
• Inputting of new starters onto the external payroll portal.
• Submitting DBS invoice payments to the Finance team ensuring that prior approval is obtained.
• Assisting with the maintenance of the probation monitoring process for Head Office.
• Acting as the first point of contact for onboarding queries, liaising with academies and internal and external providers, and escalating issues where appropriate.
• Support with projects and initiatives, while contributing to the development of training resources for new academy HR staff.

For a full list of responsibilities, please download the Job Pack.

We would like to hear from you if you have:

• Qualifications to A Level or above
• Experience in a busy administrative role
• A keen interest in HR and Employment Law
• The ability to understand and support hiring manager needs and challenge managers where needed
• The ability to be trusted with highly confidential information
• The ability to think creatively and outside the box
• A results driven and proactive attitude, without compromising on quality
• The ability to use data analytically to drive decision making and track progress
• A passion for HR and ensuring outstanding candidate experiences
• A resourceful, meticulous, and organised way of working, with the ability to multitask

For a full job specification, please…