Senior HR Generalist

As Senior HR Generalist, you’ll be the go-to HR contact for our UK office, covering everything from hiring and onboarding to employee relations and payroll. You’ll lead the local HR team and work closely with colleagues across Europe & North America to ensure consistent HR processes and ways of working.

While locally focused, the role also offers broader international exposure through cross-country HR initiatives and projects, giving you the opportunity to contribute beyond the UK while remaining close to day-to-day HR operations.

This is a full-time, in-office role based in our Manchester city centre office, which is located next to Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester.

• Own the employee lifecycle for the UK office: recruitment, onboarding, probation, promotions, contract changes and offboarding

• Be the trusted HR contact for employees and line managers, advising on policies and UK employment matters and escalating complex or higher-risk cases

• Handle employee relations cases, from performance and sickness absence to flexible working, reasonable adjustments, Occupational Health referrals, and disciplinary and grievance processes

• Prepare and check monthly payroll, and support salary benchmarking, salary reviews and bonus/OKR information

• Keep HR administration accurate and compliant, including contracts, employee records, right-to-work and visa documentation, and family-related leave

• Support hiring managers with job descriptions, requisitions, offers and contracts

• Lead the local HR team: manage the HR Assistant, coordinate the HR Project Coordinator, set priorities, give regular feedback and hold one-to-ones

• Contribute to regional and global HR projects, bringing the UK perspective and supporting local rollout

• Spot ways to improve HR processes, tools and templates, with an eye on efficiency and employee experience

• Contribute to HR reporting, audits, compliance reviews and data-quality checks

• Cover for HR colleagues across Europe & North America when needed

• Handle all HR matters with confidentiality and care for data protection

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration or a related field

• A recognised HR qualification, such as CIPD Level 5 or equivalent

• A solid track record in progressive HR roles, with strong practical knowledge of UK employment law and employee relations

• Hands-on payroll processing and HR administration experience

• Experience leading a team or directly managing others, including giving feedback and handling difficult conversations (early-career managers are welcome)

• Comfort with HR systems and employee data, and advanced Microsoft 365 skills

• Fluent English with excellent written and verbal communication skills

• A proactive, ownership-driven approach, sound judgement, and strong communication skills

• Experience with HR projects or process improvement across several locations

A pioneer in scholarly, open access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI has the mission to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines.

We operate currently over 400 diverse, peer-reviewed, open-access journals supported by over 66,000 academic editors. We serve scholars from around the world to ensure the latest research is openly and broadly available.

Besides our main publishing business, we develop and maintain digital platforms and software ranging from scientific exchange platforms to article databases and search engines, all focused on empowering scholars and giving them the best possible product and service. As of the end of 2022, we count more than 6700 colleagues in 17 offices across 11…