Associate People Business Partner – London
Are you a proactive HR professional who loves finding practical solutions, building trusted relationships and putting people at the heart of what you do? Are you curious about how the Museum works, confident asking great questions and willing to challenge thinking to help others find better solutions?We’re looking for two Associate People Partners to join our People & Culture team. These are new positions and will be a great fit for individuals who enjoy variety, thrive on managing multiple priorities and want to develop their career in People partnering. You’ll work closely with managers and leaders across the Museum, as a trusted source of practical, thoughtful and solution-focused advice. From helping managers navigate employee relations issues to supporting organisational change, workforce planning and wider People projects, no two days are likely to be the same.
What you’ll be doing
At the heart of this role is building great relationships and helping managers find the right way forward. You’ll manage your own portfolio of complex employee relations casework, helping deliver fair, proportionate and people-focused outcomes. You’ll know when to take ownership, when to challenge thinking and when an issue needs to be escalated. You’ll be resourceful in working through ambiguity, exploring options and helping managers move forward even when there isn’t an obvious answer.
Working alongside our People Business Partners, you’ll also:
- Build trusted relationships with managers and leaders, providing clear, pragmatic and confident advice.
- Balance the needs of our people and the organisation, keeping fairness, inclusion and employee experience at the centre of your approach.
- Support organisational change, consultations, workforce planning and recruitment activity, helping managers and teams navigate uncertainty and embrace the unknown.
- Use People data and trends to spot emerging issues and identify opportunities to improve how we work.
- Contribute ideas, challenge existing ways of working and help us continuously improve our People practices.
What we’re looking for
We’re less interested in someone who always has an immediate answer and more interested in someone who asks the right questions, applies sound judgement and works collaboratively to find the best solution.
You’ll be someone who is:
- Confident taking ownership. You anticipate issues, identify options and focus on what can be done while understanding and managing risk.
- Able to recognise that behind every policy, process and employee relations case are people. You combine empathy and fairness with the confidence to have honest conversations and make sound decisions, and understand that caring deeply doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations.
- Able to establish credibility quickly and develop positive working relationships with a wide range of people. You’re comfortable advising, coaching and, where necessary, appropriately challenging managers and senior stakeholders.
- Skilled at juggling priorities without losing sight of what matters. You’ll be organised, resilient and able to remain calm when priorities compete.
Why this role?
This is a great opportunity to elevate your HR career, building on your proven advisory and employee relations experience while developing into a true People Partner. You’ll have the opportunity to take greater ownership, broaden your experience and develop your coaching and influencing skills, while working alongside a supportive team of experienced People Business Partners and colleagues across the wider People & Culture team who share ideas, learn from each other and work together to find the best way forward.
Most importantly, you’ll have the opportunity to make a real difference: helping managers become better people leaders, supporting colleagues through important moments in their working lives and contributing to a positive, inclusive and high-performing culture. If you’re curious, collaborative, comfortable with challenge and motivated by finding practical solutions that put people first, we’d love to hear from you.
At the British Museum, we believe our people are at the heart of everything we do and have designed a benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary. Our full list of benefits can be found here, but weve outlined some highlights below:
- Free exhibition entry for you and guests, exclusive private views, ICOM and reciprocal museum access.
- Civil Service Pension Scheme defined benefit with 28.97% employer contribution.
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and 2.5 privilege days (and +5 days after 10 years).
- Social and wellbeing perks including Staff parties, social clubs, CSSC sports and leisure, and support from the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship.
- Learning and development through courses, mentoring and Athena as well as support for professional qualifications.
- Enhanced parental leave including maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave.
- Support for carers through Employers for Carers.
- Interestfree loans including season ticket, rental deposit and bicycle loans.
Our values drive everything we do, from how we handle our objects to how we work in our team to fostering a culture where everyone feels heard and empowered:
- Care Deeply
- Embrace the Unknown
- Spark Curiosity
- Value Many Voices
These are a core part of how we recruit. Throughout the application, interview and selection process, we look for examples of how candidates demonstrate these behaviours in their own work and experiences. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with our values and reflect them in your application.
If you have any additional needs that we should be aware of to support you with your application, please provide details to bmrecruit@britishmuseum.org.
Right to Work:The British Museum holds a Skilled Worker sponsor licence. Applicants are responsible for determining whether the advertised salary and role meet current UKVI sponsorship requirements and for ensuring they have, or can obtain, the appropriate right to work in the UK. The Museum cannot provide immigration advice, and eligibility should be checked before submitting an application.
Internal Applicants: We welcome internal applicants regardless of background, department or length of service but encourage you to let your manager know before applying. If you are on a permanent contract and want the fixed-term contract to be treated as a secondment, you will need to obtain your managers support before submitting an application.
The Museum also adheres to the HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) for pre-employment screening of Civil Servants.
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