Lead People Advisor

We support peace and prosperity by building connections understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education arts culture language and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

Lead People Advisor

Role Purpose

The Lead People Advisor will lead the people solutions agenda in the hub supporting delivery of our employee value proposition and delivering legally and culturally compliant advice and guidance to all stakeholders on all aspects of the People function employee cycle

This role will ensure the proactive management and mitigation of legal and operational risk relating to Human Resources including adherence and advice on policies and processes and coaching and guidance for line managers to enable early resolution of workplace conflict and grievances. This will require reviewing analysing and driving the People function advisory model using a systematic integrated approach with a focus on continuous improvement and conflict resolution as well as a service orientation that delivers a seamless employee experience in line with our EVP.

Role Context

The British Council Professional Services are undergoing significant transformation. For People function this means significant change to the delivery of People function services to business leaders line managers and employees.

The People Solutions (PS) team exists to enable business leaders to make good decisions within policy and process frameworks and to ensure that the fundamentals of people administration are delivered efficiently and effectively for all colleagues in partnership with the MSP.

The People Solutions hubs ensure compliance with local legislation as well as meaningful interpretation of global policy to local context. The team has a key role to play in developing organisational capability in people management through advisory services and building a continuous improvement approach to delivery of advisory services.

The Lead People Advisor is a member of the Hub leadership team and leads a team of People Advisors. The role will work closely with country and regional leaders and managers the managed service provider and the wider People function team across the hub.

Main accountabilities but not limited to the following:

Leadership & management

• Provide people solutions to support the implementation of business plans across the regions. Work in partnership with people business partners to support local management to identify the people implications of strategic and business growth plans across defined organisational areas providing local insight relating to market conditions legal context etc.
• Lead the team of geographically dispersed Advisors responsible for providing expertise advice and specialist support building the capacity and capability required to deliver the agreed services.

Relationship & stakeholder management

• Manage the relationship with key stakeholders and develop an in-depth knowledge of the businesses by understanding their financial positions short midrange and long-term plans and the culture being driven in order to advise on people implications of the business plans.
• Manage Union /legal relationships with the Country Directions. Support CDs with their relationship with unions.
• Manage the relationship with People Solutions and ER resources within the hub and relevant resources with People Experience and Insight to ensure consistent use of frameworks and processes.

Subject Expertise

• Apply advanced HR functional knowledge to solve a range of complex business issues across the regions.
• Support understanding of complex problems and enable informed business-planning decision-making and/or the development of new or improved policies and practice by providing local knowledge and insight.
• Manage low risk ER cases within hub and uses standard methodologies and frameworks to drive consistency across the team. Works with ER /caseworkers where necessary.
• Build management capability through delivery of advisory services that build management confidence to address people-related challenges and encourages early resolution in the case of workplace conflict.

Service improvement

• Takes an employee centric and service focused approach to the delivery of Advisory Services. Work closely with People Operations lead to review all aspects of the service provided to stakeholders.
• Actively champion and review organisational compliance with policies and practices understanding reasons for non-compliance and making recommendations to address this.

Strategy and Planning

• Feeds into the development of the hub People Plan for PS and leads on key People activities.

Role-specific knowledge and experience:

Essential requirements:

• Experience of leading a geographically dispersed team delivering People function solutions across multiple geographies and time zones
• Demonstrable experience of working at a senior level with a People function team and understanding of and ability to use core HR policies and processes within a legal context
• Experience of working within external legal providers and internal CoEs in particular Employee Relations

Further Information

• Pay Band: 8
• Contract Type: Indefinite Contract
• Location: London United Kingdom
• Additional information
• Language requirements:Strong written and oral English communication skills.
• The Role holder must have existing rights to live and work in the UK.
• Closing Date: Applications will close on 26 October at 21:59 UK Time / 23:59 East Africa Time.

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19 UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Councils Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application please email