HR Change Adviser (Fixed Term)
Location: UK (Hybrid)
Contract: Fixed-term (approx. 6 months)
The opportunity:
We are recruiting three HR Change Advisersto join a dedicated HR Change team delivering a large-scale transformation programme across a complex higher education organisation.
These roles report directly into the HR Change Manager and are critical to supporting multiple, concurrent change programmes, including a major Professional Services and Schools transformation.
This is not a generalist HR advisory role. It is a hands-on change and transformation position requiring strong employment law knowledge, confidence in consultation settings, and the ability to operate independently from day one.
What you’ll be doing:
You will work at the heart of organisational change activity, supporting leaders through design, consultation, and implementation phases.
Key responsibilities include:
*Heavy involvement informal consultation meetings, providing clear, confident advice on employment law, process, and people impacts
*Preparing thoroughly for each consultation, understanding individual impacts, ringfencing arrangements, and proposed structures in advance
*Responding to employee questions during consultation meetings
*Supporting multiple change programmes simultaneously, tracking progress, upcoming phases, risks, and dependencies
*Drafting and quality-assuring critical documentation ahead of each phase, including:
*Consultation documents
*Equality Impact Assessments
*Structure charts and role mapping
*Business cases for senior leadership approval
*Supporting the HR Change Manager with risk identification and mitigation, proactively flagging issues before escalation
*Supporting the implementation phase, including:
*Preparing interview assessment materials
*Advising on selection processes
*Sitting on interview panels where required
*Supporting the preparation of redundancy calculations and settlement agreements, including mutually agreed terminations
*Collating and checking change data, working closely with HR Change Coordinators to ensure accuracy and consistency
*Attending trade union meetings alongside senior HR colleagues to build understanding of live issues and concerns
What we’re looking for:
This role requires someone who can step in fast, take ownership, and deliver with minimal oversight.
Essential experience:
*Proven experience supporting organisational change and transformation programmes
*Strong experience of employee consultation, including restructures and redundancy processes
*Excellent working knowledge of UK employment law in a change context
*Confidence operating in consultation meetings and answering complex HR questions in real time
*Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy
*Ability to manage multiple workstreams and competing deadlines simultaneously
*Resilience and confidence working in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment
Highly desirable:
*Experience in Higher Education, with an understanding of Professional Services and Schools structures
*Experience supporting large-scale or multi-programme change
*Experience liaising with trade unions
*CIPD Level 5 (or working towards)
Why this role?
*Opportunity to work on a major, high-profile transformation
*Exposure to complex consultation and implementation activity at scale
*Autonomous, trusted role with real responsibility
*Collaborative, specialist HR Change environment