Senior People Partner

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS

Sadler’s Wells is a world leading creative organisation, dedicated to presenting, producing and touring dance made today in all its forms. Sadler’s Wells commissions, presents and produces more dance than any other theatre in the world – from tango to hip hop, ballet to flamenco, Bollywood to cutting-edge contemporary dance.

With an innovative, year-round programme of performances and learning activities, this is the place where artists come together to create dance, and where we welcome everyone to experience dance and be inspired.

Our aim is to reflect and respond to the world through dance, enabling artists of all backgrounds to create dance that moves us and opens our minds, sharing those experiences with the widest possible audiences to enrich their lives and deepen their understanding of what it means to be human.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This new role will work in close partnership with Executive Team members, senior leaders and Heads of Department to provide strategic HR insight while delivering high-quality operational support across the full employee lifecycle.

They will develop strong, productive and positive relationships across a unionised environment, acting as a trusted advisor and constructive challenger to senior stakeholders and managers.

As a senior member of the People team with a CIPD qualification (or demonstrable senior experience), the postholder will be an experienced People/HR Business Partner with sound generalist HR experience, and a specialism in employee relations and engagement.

Working within a cross functional and collaborative team, they will have a broad portfolio of departments to support from both a strategic and operational perspective.

The postholder will provide bespoke people focused solutions and advice including complex casework, senior appointments, reward, workforce planning and organisation design.

They will act as a trusted adviser, building strong working relationships with key senior stakeholders, and our recognised unions.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ROLE

• Work with the Director of People & Culture to uphold values and standards; ensuring all colleagues can be authentically present in doing their best work.
• Act as a strategic partner to senior leaders; supporting workforce planning, organisational design, change management, diversity and inclusion, and complex employee relations.
• Lead and support cross organisational projects such as change initiatives, workforce transformation, management development and succession planning.
• Work with the People Operations Manager to use people analytics and workforce data to create engaging reports and presentations to inform decisions, assess risks, track progress and support strategic people focused interventions.
• Lead on complex employee relations matters, collaborating with trade union representatives and colleague groups to maintain positive and constructive working relationships.
• Act as a credible and knowledgeable advisor on employee law across the organisation, providing expertise and support to the Director of People & Culture and People Partners as needed.
• Continuously review our policies and procedures in practice, and work with the People Operations Manager to streamline, improve and embed these in the organisation.
• Lead and contribute to initiatives that build leadership capability, strengthen accountability, increase employee voice and build a more diverse workforce.
• Facilitate resolving workplace concerns and conflict, and build capability across manager level to address issues early, sensitively and proactively, reducing the number of formal escalations.
• Support leaders to manage the people aspects of organisational and cultural change, ensuring engagement, two way communication and wellbeing are embedded from the beginning.
• Design and deliver learning opportunities to upskill managers and colleagues on the employee lifecycle and professional skills, including investigations, inclusion, managing conflict and capability.
• Support the development and delivery of the departmental strategy in line with the organisation’s mission and vision, and ensure team objectives met to a high standard.
• Use knowledge of employment law and Sadler’s Wells policies and procedures to make appropriate and fair recommendations.
• Lead and deliver projects around neuroinclusion, equality, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, and advising managers on reasonable adjustments.
• Collect, create, maintain, and store information and data correctly, and implement ways of working to streamline processes and ensure we are a data-led team.
• Design and deliver programme and process improvements using automation for an iterative and efficient service delivery.
• Contribute to the development of a positive candidate and colleague experience through delivering a transparent and inclusive recruitment and onboarding process (including sourcing, shortlisting, interviewing and induction).
• Design and deliver engagement initiatives and communications, lead all colleague sessions and forums as well as inputting into interactive learning solutions.
• Regularly review and improvement of the recruitment and onboarding process, ensuring these are inclusive, neuroinclusive and catering to different accessibility needs.
• Enhance and manage the leaver process and develop actions for retention.
• Identifying learning needs through business interactions and working with the Learning & Development Manager, assist with learning delivery and promoting a culture of learning, including performance review processes.
• Take an active role in enhancing work experience and creative and cultural careers activity.
• Contribute to public body audits and payroll activity e.g. HMRC, UKBA.
• Ensure the fair and equitable treatment of all Sadler’s Wells’ colleagues, and advancing our diversity and inclusion strategy.
• Maintain up to date knowledge of industry challenges, workforce trends and sector specific requirements within the performing arts environment.

CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

Essential Skills & Experience

Experience and knowledge

• Level 7 CIPD qualification (or equivalent senior experience) with CIPD membership.
• Significant, up-to-date experience in employee relations within a unionised environment, including complex. casework, investigations, disciplinary and grievance procedures.
• Deep knowledge of UK employment and equality legislation, with confidence acting as a subject matter expert.
• Experience delivering both strategic and operational people interventions in a complex, multi-site organisation.
• Proven ability to partner with and constructively challenge senior leaders.

Leadership and relationships

• Strong coaching capability with a track record of developing manager confidence and effectiveness.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills.
• Ability to build trusted, effective relationships across diverse teams and stakeholders, including trade unions Inclusion, values and culture.
• Strong alignment with Sadler’s Wells’ values, mission and artistic purpose.
• Demonstrable commitment to equality, inclusion and anti-racist practice, with experience embedding inclusive approaches across people policies and practice.
• High cultural and emotional intelligence, with curiosity, empathy and an open mindset.

Ways of working

• Strong organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and exercise sound judgement.
• Digital confidence, including experience using HR systems (e.g. HRIS, ATS) and working with people data responsibly.
• High standards of integrity, professionalism and confidentiality.
• Right to work in the United Kingdom.

Additional, desirable

• Neurodiversity Workplace Needs Assessor (Level 4) qualification.
• Coaching qualification or accredited coach.
• Ability to facilitate young people and/or adults in the work environment.
• Experience working with Trade Unions such as BECTU and Equity.
• Experience of working with budgets and controlling expenditure.
• Experience of designing and delivering effective and engaging learning activities.
• Experience of TUPE.
• Understanding of the social impact and benefit of arts and culture on society and the communities we are part of.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Please consider the Job Description and the Personal Specification when applying.

TO APPLY, PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR (up-to-date) CV ALONG WITH A BRIEF STATEMENT OUTLINING WHY YOU ARE APPLYING FOR THE ROLE AND THE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE THAT MAKES YOU SUITABLE FOR THIS POSITION. PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR CV CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION.

1. Personal Profile (Ensure this section is tailored to the specific role you are applying for)
2. Employment History (List in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent role)
3. Education, Training, and Qualifications (List in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent, and including secondary school education)

Closing date: All interest must be submitted by 12 pm 30th April for pre screening.

Interviews: First round interviews will take place on 14th May 2026.