HR People Operations Officer

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is an important one - to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

At the Food Standards Agency (FSA), we are committed to delivering a professional, customer-focused people service that supports managers and employees throughout every stage of the employee lifecycle. We are looking for a proactive and organised HR People Operations Officer to join our People Operations team and play a key role in delivering high-quality HR and recruitment support. This is an excellent opportunity for someone with strong administrative and customer service skills who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment and making a positive impact on the employee experience.

The HR People Operations Officer will provide a customer-focused advisory service to line managers and employees across the FSA on a wide range of employee lifecycle matters. You will be responsible for processing HR and payroll changes through our HR systems, providing guidance on operational policies and procedures, and escalating more complex queries when required.

The successful candidate will support the delivery of end-to-end HR processes, including recruitment, contractual changes, family-friendly policies and other employee-related transactions, ensuring all activity is completed accurately and within agreed service levels. A significant aspect of the role involves supporting recruitment campaigns, including preparing candidate packs, advertising vacancies, managing recruitment administration and ensuring hiring managers complete the required paperwork for sifting and interview activities.

The successful candidate will also support onboarding activity, ensuring all pre-employment checks are completed and new starters are set up for success from day one. You will maintain accurate employee records, ensure documentation is retained in line with policy requirements and monitor temporary arrangements, working proactively with managers to arrange extensions or end dates with the appropriate approvals.

Working collaboratively across the People Operations function, you will provide flexible support to different directorates as business needs require. You will also act as a note taker at formal meetings and serve as a subject matter expert for key operational processes, providing advice, coaching and training to colleagues where appropriate.

In addition, you will contribute to the continuous improvement of HR services by reviewing and developing operational processes to ensure they remain compliant with employment legislation, reflect best practice and support the wider strategic priorities of the FSA