HR Business Partner - 18-Month FTC
Evotec
Summary
We are seeking an experienced and commercially focused HR Business Partner to join our team. This role will partner closely with business leaders, managers and employees, providing expert HR support across the full employee lifecycle. The successful candidate will combine strong business partnering capability with extensive employee relations experience, delivering pragmatic, solutions-focused advice that supports both business objectives and employee engagement.
Job description
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced and commercially focused HR Business Partner to join our team. This role will partner closely with business leaders, managers and employees, providing expert HR support across the full employee lifecycle. The successful candidate will combine strong business partnering capability with extensive employee relations experience, delivering pragmatic, solutions-focused advice that supports both business objectives and employee engagement.
Key Responsibilities
Business Partnering & Employee Relations
- Partner with business leaders and line managers to align people priorities with business objectives.
- Provide expert advice and coaching on a broad range of employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, absence, capability, conduct and performance issues.
- Lead and manage complex and sensitive employee relations cases from investigation through to resolution.
- Support fair, consistent and legally compliant decision-making across the organisation.
- Identify recurring people issues and recommend practical solutions to improve organisational effectiveness and employee experience.
Leadership Coaching & Manager Capability
- Act as a trusted advisor to managers, supporting effective people management and leadership decision-making.
- Coach and develop managers to strengthen capability in performance management, employee engagement, communication and change leadership.
- Support leaders in enhancing team effectiveness, role clarity and organisational performance.
Workforce Planning & Organisational Effectiveness
- Partner with managers to understand current and future workforce requirements.
- Support workforce planning, succession planning and organisational design activities.
- Identify capability gaps and assist in the development of appropriate resourcing and development plans.
- Collaborate with Talent Acquisition to ensure recruitment activity aligns with business requirements.
HR Operations & Process Improvement
- Work closely with HR Operations to support the effective delivery of key HR processes, including onboarding, probation, performance management and offboarding.
- Review and improve HR policies, procedures and processes to drive consistency, efficiency and compliance.
- Ensure accurate and timely HR documentation, reporting and record keeping.
- Contribute to HR projects and continuous improvement initiatives.
Organisational Development & Global People Initiatives
- Support the delivery of local people priorities and organisational development initiatives.
- Collaborate with global HR colleagues and Centres of Excellence to implement and embed global people programmes.
- Contribute to leadership development, talent management, succession planning, employee engagement and organisational effectiveness initiatives.
- Promote a culture of continuous learning, professional development and inclusion.
- Support organisational change activities, including restructures, consultations, business transformation and change management programmes.
Governance, Compliance & People Insights
- Provide authoritative advice on employment legislation, HR policies and best practice.
- Ensure HR practices comply with legal, regulatory and internal governance requirements.
- Analyse people data and trends to identify risks, opportunities and areas for improvement.
- Use data and insights to inform decision-making and support workforce planning activities.
- Support the review, development and implementation of HR policies and procedures.
Requirements
- Significant experience in an HR Business Partner, Senior HR Advisor or similar HR generalist role within a complex organisation
- Extensive employee relations experience, including the management of complex and sensitive cases
- Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice
- Experience partnering with managers and leaders at multiple organisational levels
- Proven ability to influence, coach and challenge constructively while building strong stakeholder relationships
- Experience supporting organisational change, restructuring or transformation initiatives
- Experience using people data and insights to support business decision-making and workforce planning
- Demonstrated ability to improve HR processes and drive best practice
- Experience working collaboratively with HR Operations, Talent Acquisition and specialist HR functions
- CIPD Level 5 qualification, or equivalent knowledge and experience
- Strong technical knowledge of employment law and HR practices
Company overview
Evotec SE is a leading German drug discovery and development partnership company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Founded in 1993 by Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen and other scientists, Evotec operates as a contract research organization (CRO) that collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, academic institutions, and government agencies to advance therapeutic innovations. The company employs approximately 4,788 professionals worldwide and specializes in small molecule drug discovery across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, neurological disorders, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular conditions, inflammation, pain, and respiratory diseases. Evotec's comprehensive service portfolio encompasses target identification and validation, hit identification, in vitro pharmacology, integrated CMC services, and proteomics. With facilities across Europe and the United States, the company has established long-term strategic alliances with major pharmaceutical partners including Bristol Myers Squibb, Bayer, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Eli Lilly. Evotec's innovative Pipeline Co-Creation model represents a flexible, multi-modality approach to drug development, leveraging data-driven disease understanding and AI technologies to accelerate the delivery of quality drug candidates.