Head of HR Operations

Head of HR Operations

Contract: Full-time, 2-year fixed term with potential for extension

Salary: £65,000 plus £6,900 car allowance

Hours: 40 hours per week, Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 5:00pm

Location: Remote (home‑based) with extensive nationwide travel required

This role demands a significant on‑site presence across multiple business locations, ensuring regular face‑to‑face engagement with operational leaders, employees, and stakeholders

As Head of HR Operations and a senior member of the HR leadership team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the Group People Strategy. This includes ensuring effective local implementation through strong leadership of people management practices. You will lead the provision of expert, customer‑focused HR Business Partnering, delivering a best‑in‑class service that supports operational leaders.

At Mears Group, we employ over 5,000 people and are responsible for repairing and maintaining more than 700,000 social homes across the UK, as well as delivering housing with care and regeneration services. With this scale comes a responsibility to our customers, communities, and workforce. In this role, you will drive excellence in HR service delivery with a continuous improvement mindset, enabling managers to build capability, strengthen employee engagement, and achieve business objectives. By embedding equality, diversity, and inclusion into every aspect of HR operations, you will ensure our people strategy reflects Mears’ wider commitment to transparency, trust, and social value.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Shape and deliver the Group People Strategy, ensuring effective local implementation through strong leadership of people management practices
• Partner with senior leaders to embed HR priorities into operational decision‑making, promoting knowledge‑sharing, transparency, and trust across the business
• Lead and coach HR Business Partners to provide expert, customer‑focused HR support, driving improvements in engagement, retention, and workforce capability
• Take a proactive lead in managing individual and collective employee relations issues, ensuring timely resolution in line with Mears values, policies, and procedures
• Build and maintain strong, constructive relationships with trade unions, demonstrating credibility in unionised environments and ensuring effective negotiation that balances workforce needs with business objectives
• Act as a confident influencer and challenger of senior stakeholders, using evidence‑based HR insights to shape decisions, drive change, and embed a culture of accountability and fairness
• Provide strategic HR input to the Bid Team, supporting tenders and preparing for new contract wins, ensuring HR readiness and smooth mobilisation
• Lead on TUPE transfers, ensuring compliance with legislation and effective communication with employees and unions throughout the process
• Deliver HR support across multiple sites and sectors, including local authorities, housing associations, central government departments (MOJ/MOD), and facilities maintenance contracts
• Co‑ordinate the production of documentation for Executive Board, Workforce Development Group, and ESG Board meetings, ensuring timely delivery and effective cascade of HR updates
• Lead organisational change programmes to achieve timely, compliant outcomes aligned with business objectives
• Deputise for the Group HR Director, taking ownership of critical HR and business projects as required

Role Criteria:

• Proven experience in a senior HR role with responsibilities comparable to the principal accountabilities outlined
• Broad, current expertise across the full HR function, with a strong grasp of both strategic and operational delivery
• Skilled advisor, able to provide clear, practical HR guidance both remotely and face‑to‑face to managers at all levels
• Cross‑sector experience, having worked within both public and private sector environments, bringing varied perspectives and adaptability
• Demonstrated success in leading large‑scale restructure programmes and complex change management initiatives
• Ability to work to tight deadlines while managing multiple workstreams effectively
• Line management experience across both in‑person and virtual teams, with a track record of coaching and developing HR professionals
• Extensive senior management HR experience, with the confidence to challenge, influence, and persuade senior leaders on complex employee relations issues
• Up‑to‑date knowledge of employment law and its practical application across diverse business contexts
• Significant regional and multi‑site HR experience, including exposure to local authorities, housing associations, central government departments (MOJ/MOD), and facilities maintenance contracts
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with the ability to engage, persuade, and build trust at all levels
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving abilities, using data and insight to inform decision‑making
• Customer‑focused mindset, driven to deliver high‑quality service and measurable improvements in people outcomes
• Collaborative team player with effective negotiation skills
• Extensive experience working within unionised environments, with proven ability to build constructive relationships with trade unions and manage collective issues with confidence
• Ability to work effectively in a remote environment
• Full driving licence, with flexibility to travel nationwide and undertake occasional overnight stays

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Life Assurance: 3 × salary
• Private Medical: Family cover
• Permanent Health Insurance (PHI): 50% of salary
• Leading pension scheme – 5% employee / 8.5% employer contribution
• Annual Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organised as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work!
• Volunteering Leave Mears supports employees to undertake paid volunteering in the community, in support of our social value commitment
• Staff perks with Mears Rewards - discounts of up to 10% weekly groceries, holidays, eye test vouchers, Share save scheme, plus much more
• Family friendly policies

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK, Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

Candidates should be aware that all our roles are subject to relevant Background, Identity & Security checks before commencement of employment.

Apply below or to discuss your application further; contact:

If you need any help with your application process, we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.

At Mears Group, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, we are a Disability Confident employer, valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this, we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership, recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility, we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.