People & Culture Manager (Operations)

People & Culture Manager (Operations)

Location: Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent

Contract: 12-month fixed-term contract

Reports to: People & Culture Director

We’re looking for an People & Culture Manager to join our fantastic People & Culture team on a 12-month fixed-term contract.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced HR professional who loves being close to the business, building trusted relationships and making a genuine difference to people and culture.

As our HR Manager, you’ll play a key role in the day-to-day leadership and delivery of our People & Culture operation, working closely with our People & Culture Director, managers and colleagues across the organisation.

You’ll lead and develop our HR team, coach and support managers through the challenges of people management, and make sure our HR processes are effective, compliant and, most importantly, reflect the experience we want our people to have.

At Emma Bridgewater, culture matters. We’re looking for someone who will embrace who we are, understand what makes our business special and become a trusted person of support and advice for colleagues and managers alike.

If you’re an HR professional who combines strong technical knowledge with warmth, sound judgement, emotional intelligence and a real passion for people, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll be doing

Leading and developing our HR team

You’ll provide day-to-day leadership to our People & Culture team, creating a supportive, collaborative environment where everyone can do their best work.

You’ll:

• Lead, coach and develop the People & Culture team.
• Allocate and prioritise workload, ensuring a responsive and high-quality HR service.
• Provide guidance and support on complex and sensitive people matters.
• Identify opportunities to develop capability within the team.
• Lead by example and help create a positive, trusted and people-focused HR function.

Coaching and supporting our managers

A big part of this role will be working alongside managers across the business to build their confidence and capability in managing people.

You’ll be a trusted adviser, helping managers navigate everything from everyday people challenges to complex employee relations matters, always balancing fairness, good judgement and commercial awareness.

You’ll:

• Coach managers on effective people management.
• Provide expert advice on employment legislation, policies and best practice.
• Support managers through disciplinary, grievance, capability, absence and organisational change processes.
• Help managers find constructive solutions to workplace challenges.
• Build strong, credible relationships across the organisation.

Employee Relations

You’ll take the lead on complex employee relations cases, ensuring matters are handled fairly, consistently, sensitively and in line with legislation and our policies.

You’ll also identify themes and trends within ER activity and use these insights to help us prevent issues and improve the employee experience.

HR Operations, Payroll & Compliance

You’ll ensure the smooth running of our core HR operation, with oversight of key processes including:

• Weekly and monthly payroll.
• HR systems and data.
• Recruitment and onboarding processes.
• HR policies and procedures.
• GDPR and employee data.
• HR compliance and legislative requirements.
• Internal and external HR-related audits.

Accuracy and attention to detail will be important, but so will the ability to make HR processes feel straightforward and supportive for our managers and people.

People Data & Continuous Improvement

We want our People & Culture function to keep evolving.

You’ll use people data and insight to identify trends, understand what’s happening across the organisation and recommend improvements.

You’ll:

• Produce and analyse people metrics including absence, turnover, recruitment and employee relations.
• Develop and maintain People dashboards and management reporting through our HR System Bob.
• Identify opportunities to improve HR systems, processes and ways of working.
• Support the People & Culture Director with the delivery of the People Plan and wider organisational projects.

Learning & Development

You’ll play an important role in developing capability across the business, including supporting the rollout of our training programme.

You’ll work with managers and colleagues to identify development needs, support learning initiatives and help create opportunities for people to grow and progress.

You’ll also monitor training completion, maintain accurate records and help us understand the impact of our learning and development activity.

Engagement, Wellbeing & Culture

Our people and culture are at the heart of what we do.

Working alongside the People & Culture Director and leadership team, you’ll help create an environment where people feel supported, valued and able to thrive.

You’ll contribute to:

• Employee engagement initiatives.
• Wellbeing activities and support.
• A positive, inclusive and supportive workplace culture.
• Listening to our people and turning insight into meaningful action.
• Promoting initiatives that improve the employee experience.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who is confident, approachable, commercially minded and genuinely passionate about people.

You’ll ideally have:

• CIPD Level 5 or Level 7 qualification, or equivalent HR experience.
• Solid experience working in a broad HR role, ideally with experience of operating at HR Manager level.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment legislation and HR best practice.
• Experience managing complex employee relations cases and workplace investigations.
• Experience coaching and developing managers.
• Experience leading or developing an HR/People team.
• Good understanding of HR systems, processes and payroll.
• Strong organisational and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritise in a busy environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong attention to detail and a high level of accuracy.
• Confidence using Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
• Experience handling sensitive and confidential information with discretion.
• The ability to build positive relationships and influence at all levels.

But most importantly…

We’re looking for someone who gets people.

Someone who listens, uses good judgement and can be relied upon.

Someone who can have the difficult conversations when needed, but does so with empathy and respect.

Someone who can challenge constructively, coach with confidence and build strong relationships with managers and colleagues.

And someone who will embrace the Emma Bridgewater culture — bringing energy, authenticity, warmth and a genuine desire to make a difference.

You’ll be a person of trust within the organisation and an important part of our People & Culture team.

Why join us?

This is a brilliant opportunity to join a passionate and talented team at an exciting time for our business.

You’ll have the opportunity to make a real impact, develop our HR operation, support our managers and help shape the experience of our people.

No two days will be the same, and you’ll have the opportunity to work across all areas of HR while being part of a team that genuinely cares about its people and its culture.

If you’re an experienced HR professional looking for an exciting 12-month opportunity where you can make a real difference, we’d love to hear from you.

Come and be part of the Emma Bridgewater story.