Ipsum Utilities Limited • Berkshire, Reading, Berkshire
About this role
HR Business Partner
Location
Home based with regular travel to our South based locations
Travel
Regular travel across the South of England required
Employment Type
Full‑Time, Permanent
Working Hours
Monday – Friday
What’s in it for you…
We believe in looking after our people, and it shows. When you join Ipsum, you’re not just taking a job — you’re starting a career with real support behind it.
25 days annual leave plus bank holidays with the option to buy more
Hybrid working
Group Personal Pension Plan
Car allowance
Career development & progression with the opportunity to earn professional qualifications
24/7 access to a virtual GP and Mental health support & counselling services
Cycle to Work scheme
Discount club - supermarkets, phone bills, gyms & more!
Life assurance cover
Long service recognition
Active local social committees
Regular social events
About the Role
We’re looking for an experienced and commercially minded HR Business Partner to join our Power division, partnering closely with Senior Leadership Teams and operational leaders to deliver impactful people solutions.
In this role, you’ll act as a trusted advisor, owning the full employee lifecycle and ensuring that our people strategy drives performance, enhances culture, and builds long-term organisational capability. This is a highly visible role where you will balance hands-on operational delivery with strategic, data-led insight.
Working alongside the Head of HR, you’ll play a key role in delivering the divisional people agenda, aligned to the wider HR strategy. You’ll influence workforce effectiveness, strengthen leadership capability, enhance engagement, and support critical business change initiatives.
This role also provides the opportunity to lead on the people aspects of growth activity, including acquisitions, TUPE transfers, and integration programmes, ensuring they are delivered smoothly, compliantly, and with strong commercial outcomes.
What You’ll Be Doing
As an HR Business Partner, you will
Partner with leaders to develop robust workforce and succession plans, ensuring effective performance management frameworks are in place
Use people data and insights to drive performance improvements and enhance employee engagement
Lead and support organisational design, transformation, and change initiatives end-to-end, including TUPE and acquisitions
Act as a trusted voice within SLT and management forums, providing pragmatic HR and employment law guidance
Support the delivery of key HR initiatives, including engagement surveys, culture programmes, and leadership development
You’ll also provide hands-on support across the full employee lifecycle, including
Attraction, onboarding, and induction
Probation reviews and performance management
Employee relations (disciplinaries, grievances, absence, and performance concerns)
Flexible working requests
Reward, pay reviews, and benefits
Restructures, redundancy processes, and offboarding
Alongside this, you’ll
Coach and empower managers to build leadership capability and accountability
Drive consistency and best practice in people management across the business
About You
You’re a confident and credible HR professional who thrives in a fast-paced, matrix environment. You may already be operating at HR Business Partner level, or you’re an experienced Senior HR Advisor ready to step up into your next challenge.
You’ll bring
A strong generalist HR background with solid experience across the employee lifecycle
Proven experience of leading complex change initiatives, including restructures, TUPE, and contract variations
A strong working knowledge of employment law and its practical application
The ability to build relationships and influence stakeholders at all levels
A track record of delivering commercially focused, strategic HR solutions
You’ll also be
CIPD qualified (Level 5 minimum)
An excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills
Resilient, adaptable, and comfortable navigating change
Proactive in your approach to both business challenges and your own development
Our commitment to Equal Opportunities...
We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and experiences, and we’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive
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