People Partnering Director - Operations

This is a senior partnering role responsible for the relationship between the People function and the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and the Operations  Leadership Team (LT). The role leads the creation and delivery of people strategies that support current and emerging business objectives, aligning People products and plans with business strategy. The role champions company culture, leads people initiatives, and acts as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on performance, engagement, talent management, organisational design, Reward, and DEI, ensuring the client group receives effective, joined-up partnering support at all times – whether delivered personally or coordinated through People Partners, the Centres of Excellence (COEs) and the Shared Service Centre.

In this job, I am accountable for:

• Owning and managing the strategic relationship with the COO and Operations LT, acting as their lead partnering contact within the People function
• Ensuring the COO and Operations LT receive effective, joined-up partnering support at all times, whether delivered personally or coordinated through People Partners, the COEs and the Shared Service Centre
• Leading the creation and delivery of people strategies that support current and emerging Operations business objectives, e.g. strategic people topics such as talent, employee experience and engagement, and organisational design and development
• Translating business strategy into a clear, prioritised people plan, working closely with the COO and LT to sequence and resource initiatives
• Partnering with the People team COEs to ensure solutions are tailored to Operations and implemented effectively
• Working with the global Shared Service Centre in Bulgaria to ensure high-quality, efficient delivery of transactional and operational HR services to the client group, meeting agreed SLA targets
• Providing expert coaching and challenge to the COO and LT on strategic people topics, e.g. organisational design, driving a high-performance culture, workforce planning, leadership capability and succession
• Using workforce data, insight and trend analysis (e.g. attrition, engagement, absence) to identify risks and opportunities and to inform evidence-based recommendations
• Leading, sponsoring and embedding major organisational change programmes within Operations (e.g. optimising operating models, new business initiatives such as SBA, AI-led initiatives, integration activity), ensuring robust employee relations management and legal compliance
• Representing the needs of the Operations client group within the People function, influencing wider People strategy, policy and priorities
• Building strong, collaborative relationships with other People Partnering Directors to ensure consistency of approach and share best practice across the business
• Acting as an escalation point for complex or high-risk employee relations matters within the client group
• Role modelling and embedding Ocado's culture, values and inclusion agenda within the client group

What skills, experience and qualifications are key to succeeding in this role?

• Significant senior HR/People leadership experience, ideally at Director level, gained within a large, complex and matrixed organisation
• Proven track record of building and managing senior stakeholder relationships at COO/Executive Committee level
• Strong strategic thinking, with the ability to translate business strategy into a coherent, prioritised people plan
• Experience leading a strategic people agenda 
• Experience partnering through Centres of Excellence and/or Shared Service Centre models, coordinating specialist support to deliver an integrated client experience
• Strong employee relations and change management experience, including large-scale organisational change
• Experience operating in an operational, logistics, manufacturing or similarly fast-paced environment (desirable)
• Excellent influencing, communication and relationship-building skills, with credibility at senior executive level
• Strong commercial and data-driven mindset, comfortable using people metrics and insight to inform decisions
• Genuine curiosity about AI and emerging technology, with an instinct to explore how it can enhance organisation performance and effectiveness, the employee experience and People function; bring an open, opportunity-focused mindset to new tools and ways of working 
• Resilient and adaptable, comfortable operating with ambiguity in a fast-changing environment
• Willingness to travel to other Ocado sites as required

Business Competencies: 

• Strategic thinking and business acumen
• Senior stakeholder management and influencing
• Strong communicator, written and verbal
• Change leadership
• Commercially astute
• Data-driven decision making
• Embrace AI and new technology as an opportunity (curious and adaptable)
• Collaborative team player
• Tact, discretion and confidentiality
• Resilience and adaptability

DISCLAIMER: This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, requirements or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned.

What we offer:

We believe in supporting our people with meaningful, flexible benefits that prioritise well-being and work-life balance. Here’s a snapshot of what you can expect:

• Time to recharge:
  25 days annual leave (rising to 27 after 5 years), plus the option to buy more – and 30 days a year to work from anywhere in the world.
• Health & wellbeing:
  Private Medical Insurance from your first month, wellbeing support through specialist apps and EAP, plus Income Protection and Life Assurance.
• Family-first policies:
  22 weeks paid maternity/primary carer leave and 6 weeks paid paternity leave
• Financial support:
  Pension with employer matching up to 7%, share schemes (Sharesave & BAYE), and interest-free loans for train tickets.
• Commuter perks:
  Cycle to Work Scheme and free shuttle buses to/from Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City stations.
• Exclusive discounts:
  15% off at Ocado.com with free delivery (starting in your first month).

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