Senior HR Business Partner

About the role

Thought Machine is currently seeking an experienced, commercial, and hands-on Senior HR Business Partner to step into a 12-month maternity cover role jointly partnering the Engineering Division. This position is pivotal to ensuring the continued delivery of best-in-class employee experience within one of our most critical technical domains. The successful hire will own the strategic alignment of people initiatives with the ambitious goals of the Engineering leadership teams. You will be instrumental in navigating complex UK employment legislation to protect the business and support our staff. This role requires a proactive mindset capable of driving engagement and fostering a high-performance culture under significant responsibility. You will leverage your expertise to coach managers and guide them through intricate organisational change. Ultimately, this is an opportunity to leave a substantial mark on a high-growth fintech that is redefining the foundations of modern banking.

Key facts

What you'll do

You will partner closely with assigned Engineering leadership teams and managers to understand, measure, and improve employee engagement, organisational structure, capability, and culture. You will own the subject matter expertise for all UK Employee Relations, managing complex absence cases, disciplinary processes, and grievances with a professional, solution-focused, and pragmatic approach. You will act as a proactive coach and guide for line managers across the team, supporting them through organisational change, difficult conversations, and leadership development. You will own key elements of the People Plan and work closely with the wider HRBP team on strategic projects including talent & performance management, pay & benefits, L&D, career progression, and culture during periods of headcount growth. You will continuously review and modernise HR processes across the employee lifecycle, leveraging AI-powered HR tools, automation, and best practices to streamline workflows, enhance employee experience, and ensure practices remain agile, culture-aligned, and fit for business requirements. You will provide the Senior Management Team with insightful HR metrics (MI) to inform decisions and measure the impact of HR initiatives. You will drive end-to-end talent management and succession frameworks that cultivate and embed a high-performance culture, partnering with Engineering leaders to identify critical roles, map succession risk, and turn exit data into actionable talent retention strategies.

Requirements

You must possess exceptional, up-to-date knowledge of UK employment legislation with proven experience resolving complex ER cases. You must bring 4+ years of generalist HR experience at HRBP / Senior HRBP level, demonstrating strong stakeholder management, resilience, and business acumen. You must have a proven track record of business partnering with technical or engineering divisions, showing an understanding of technical team dynamics and rhythms. You must be experienced in developing and supporting line managers through change, with a coaching qualification or willingness to undertake one being a significant advantage. You must exhibit exceptional communication skills with the ability to build rapport quickly, exercise diplomacy, and handle confidential matters with complete discretion. You must hold a CIPD accredited qualification (or equivalent demonstrable experience). You must be self-motivated, resourceful, and capable of working independently while maintaining close alignment with the CPO.

Nice to have

You will have international HR experience in one or more of the following countries APAC including Singapore and Australia, AMER including the US, and EMEA including Portugal. You will have HR Operations experience, designing and implementing standard operating procedures for the people team, focused on delivering excellent employee experience. You will have experience working in a fast-paced, high-growth scale-up environment.

Practical notes

This is a 12-month fixed-term contract designed to cover a maternity absence. The successful candidate must be able to start at the earliest possible opportunity. Relocation is not provided for this role.