People Services Team Lead at Coastland College

About the role

Lead Operational Excellence. Strengthen Compliance. Shape the Employee Experience.

At Coastland College
, our people are at the heart of everything we do.

We are investing in our people, culture and capability to create an exceptional place to work, learn and grow. We believe that by supporting our colleagues to thrive, we can inspire excellence in every learner, strengthen our communities and help shape a confident, resilient and future‑ready Dorset.

We are looking for an exceptional People Services Team Lead to join our People Team and play a key role in delivering a modern, customer‑focused and compliant People Service across the College.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the operational delivery of People Services at Coastland College.

The People Services Team Lead will be responsible for leading and developing the People Services Team, ensuring the highest standards of customer service, compliance, accuracy and operational efficiency.

You will oversee the delivery of employee lifecycle administration, safer recruitment, safeguarding compliance, workforce administration, policy implementation and payroll‑related processes, ensuring managers and colleagues receive an excellent service.

This role is central to strengthening governance, improving processes, embedding consistency and creating a People Service that supports both organisational success and an outstanding employee experience.

• Lead, coach and develop the People Services Team, creating a culture of high performance, continuous improvement and excellent customer service.
• Oversee the delivery of employee lifecycle processes, ensuring all contractual changes, probation reviews, onboarding, fixed‑term contracts and leaver processes are managed accurately and efficiently.
• Ensure all payroll‑related employee changes are processed accurately, fully authorised and submitted within agreed payroll deadlines.
• Take operational ownership of safeguarding compliance, including the management and maintenance of the Single Central Record (SCR).
• Lead and monitor safer recruitment processes, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and College policies.
• Support the implementation, communication and ongoing review of People policies, procedures and guidance.
• Drive service excellence by continually reviewing customer service standards, operational performance and the overall employee experience.
• Monitor compliance, workforce administration processes and audit requirements, ensuring records remain accurate, compliant and audit‑ready.
• Identify opportunities to improve systems, processes and ways of working, supporting a modern and efficient People Service.
• Produce and analyse workforce metrics, compliance reports and management information to support operational decision‑making.
• Build strong working relationships with People Partners, Finance colleagues and managers across the College to deliver a joined‑up approach to people management.
• Support the development of a positive, inclusive and high‑performing culture that reflects the College's values.
• Oversee the management of the HR and Recruitment inboxes, ensuring colleagues, managers and candidates receive a responsive, professional and customer‑focused service.
• Establish, monitor and continuously improve service standards, ensuring enquiries and employee lifecycle transactions are completed accurately and within agreed timescales.
• Oversee the coordination of induction programmes, mandatory training requirements and workforce compliance activities, ensuring colleagues are supported from day one.
• Lead operational compliance activities and support internal and external audits, inspections and quality assurance reviews.
• Act as the key operational contact for…