Network Rail

Part-Time Human Resources Business Partner

Location

Preston, GB

Department Name

OU HR Business Partner - North West (109016) G3

About Network Rail

We're proud to be recognised as one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equity for the fourth year running. Find out more from our people here.

Network Rail operates and maintains the railway infrastructure 24/7 365 days a year. Our purpose is to connect people and goods with where they need to be and our vision is for a simpler, better, greener railway.

The North West route is part of the North West and Central region and runs from Cheshire in the south to Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, and Cumbria in the North, with the two Northern Powerhouse cities of Liverpool and Manchester on the route, as well as the tourist destinations of Blackpool and the Lake District.

Major stations across the route include Crewe, Liverpool Lime Street, Preston, Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly.

We're a very busy region, with 1.3 million passengers travelling on our rails every weekday and 700,000 tonnes of freight moved a week. With 571 stations in the North West & Central region, we make up a quarter of Britain's railway system.

For us, ‘Diversity' means recognising differences between people while valuing the contribution they make. ‘Inclusion' means creating safe and welcoming workplaces with fair cultures that encourages innovative and fresh ways of thinking.

We value the commitments you may have outside of work and will consider flexible and hybrid working applications. If we can make it work – we will! Please click here for more information.

Brief Description

This role is a 12 month fixed-term contract, 21 hour per week job share, working on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and travel is required to Carlisle, Carnforth, Whitehaven, Appleby & Preston.

The HR Business Partner delivers a holistic, influential, and proactive value add HR support service. The role works alongside the business leadership team, under the direction of the Head of HR and Senior HR Business Partner to deliver the business aligned People Plan/HR strategy and provide front line support, coaching and advice to members of our management teams

This position manages client groups in the Lancs & Cumbria area based within North West route. You will provide geographical, face to face support to line managers in relation to highly complex employee relations cases, in line with formal Human Resources policies and procedures in addition to targeted line manager development. As such you will be expected to travel between client sites around the Lancs & Cumbria area.

About the role (External)

Every day will be different, but you can expect to be involved in the following activities:

The role involves partnering with the business to deliver the HR strategy and support high performance. Key responsibilities include advising leadership on HR issues, managing employee relations and organisational change, delivering cost-effective people solutions, collaborating with HR teams and union reps, and working with other HR Business Partners across the organisation to address broader issues.

In order to be successful in this role, we would like you to have/to be:

• Demonstrates strong business/commercial approach and understanding of business needs.
• Proven experience of working in partnership and building strong working relationships with senior managers in order to improve people management.
• Passionate about customer service with ability to articulate previous achievements through business deliverables.
• Employee relations experience, including supporting and advising line managers on disciplinary, grievance and sickness cases.
• Knowledge and experience of implementing best practice HR solutions to drive a high performance culture.
• Experience of coaching and influencing senior managers.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to negotiate and influence effectively with all levels of an organisation.
• Understands how to work with the business to identify, develop and retain talent.
• Excellent technical HR Knowledge - CIPD qualified or relevant experience to demonstrate level of competence.
• Proven track record of operating in a complex working environment.
• Involvement in organisation change programmes e.g. TUPE, Organisation re-design, redundancy programmes, etc
• Graduate calibre

Desired:

• MCIPD/post-graduate human resources qualification.
• Understanding of project management principles and experience of managing complex projects to successful conclusion.
• Experience of managing projects to successful conclusion.
• Experience of working within a unionised environment.

How to apply (External)

We are a Disability Confident Leader and want to make the most of the skills and talents disabled people bring to the workplace - skills and talents we need in our business Click here for more information.

Salary and benefits:

• Band 4C, starting at £43,588 and increasing to £50,018 pro rata FTE
• Pro-rata annual leave entitlement (28 days)
• My benefits – our discounted online shopping site
• A range of discounted offers including, childcare vouchers, healthcare offers – cycle to work, healthcare club discounted membership and other benefits
• Subsidies of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets
• 75% discount on leisure travel
• A choice of contributory pension schemes
• 2 weeks paid reserve leave for our Armed Forces community

Want to find out about what fantastic benefits we offer? Find out here

Network Rail adheres to a structured pay framework, any salary offered will be within the pay range advertised.

All offers of employment are conditional upon satisfactory completion of pre-employment checks. Click here for more information.

Closing date: 3rd July 2025. Late applications will not be accepted.

This role is for a 12 month fixed-term contract, working 21 hours per week.

Click ‘apply now' to apply.

Safe behaviour is a requirement of working for Network Rail. Applicants should be able to demonstrate their awareness of our safety vision

We will endeavour to offer a diverse interview panel wherever possible.