The Opportunity
We're looking for an experienced operational HR professional to play a key role in bringing our enabling people strategy to life. This is a true generalist opportunity where you'll support team managers across the business to deliver practical, people-centred support throughout the employee lifecycle.
Employee Relations is at the heart of this role, so you'll bring the confidence and experience to advise and guide managers through a broad range of ER matters while helping to build capable, high-performing teams.
As we continue to grow, you'll also have the opportunity to help develop people practices, improve processes and create an enabling culture where our people can thrive, perform at their best and make a real impact.
Security Vetting Information
OpenWorks Engineering operates within the defence sector. As part of our recruitment and onboarding processes, we collect information that may be required to support future security vetting and clearance requirements, should these become necessary during employment.
Who We Are
OpenWorks is a rapidly growing business operating globally with a passion for exceptional engineering and building on a legacy of defence innovation in the North East of England.
Our products provide ultra-high performance, real-time detection, tracking, identification and targeting of dynamic aerial threats. They have been deployed internationally to protect high profile military and civilian assets, and contribute towards the defeat of nuisance, misguided and maliciously deployed drones during operations.
We are very proud to have supported a wide range of law enforcement and military operators, protecting many of the most high profile sites and individuals around the world.
The amazing things we do are only possible because of a dedicated and passionate team.
Why You'll Love Working With Us
Join a high-energy, collaborative team where great ideas thrive, challenges are embraced, and people genuinely love what they do.
Here's what our benefits have to offer:
Rewarding Success - Competitive salary starting from £40,000, plus a discretionary annual bonus of up to 25% of salary alongside a structured pay progression framework.
Enhanced Pension – Up to 8% employer-matched contributions to help you plan for the future.
More Time to Recharge – 25 days' holiday plus public holidays, long-service rewards, and the option to buy up to 5 extra days.
Breakfast & Lunch on Us – Enjoy team breakfasts and freshly prepared lunches every day courtesy of Chef Mark and his team.
Health & Wellbeing – Private healthcare and life assurance for added peace of mind.
Sustainable Travel – Salary sacrifice schemes, including EV car and Cycle to Work options.
Team Socials – Regular events, from quiz nights and football to board games and more.
Learning & Growth – A culture that empowers you to challenge, grow and make an impact, plus a £250 annual learning budget to invest in the development that matters most to you.
What You'll Be Doing
- Employee Relations: Be the trusted expert for managers, leading and advising on a wide range of employee relations matters to deliver fair, consistent and commercially balanced outcomes.
- People Partnering: Build strong relationships across the business, providing pragmatic HR advice and support throughout the employee lifecycle.
- Performance & Development: Support managers with performance, probation and development conversations, helping to build capability and drive high-performing teams.
- Enabling Culture: Champion our Enabling People strategy by helping create an environment where people feel supported, empowered and able to do their best work.
- Policy & Best Practice: Develop and continuously improve people policies and processes, ensuring they remain compliant, practical and fit for a growing business.
- Employee Experience & Continuous Improvement: Use people insights and feedback to identify trends, improve the way we work and enhance the employee experience through initiatives such as our quarterly PDRs, Your Voice survey, values-based sessions and more.
- HR Operations: Maintain accurate HR data, support payroll processes and ensure our HR systems and records remain up to date and reliable.
- Projects & Growth: Contribute to people projects and organisational change initiatives that strengthen capability and support the continued growth of the business.
What We're Looking For
- HR Generalist Experience: Proven experience in a People Partner, HR Advisor, HR Generalist or similar role with broad exposure across the full employee lifecycle.
- Employee Relations Expertise: Strong experience managing employee relations cases and coaching managers with confidence, balancing commercial, legal and people considerations.
- Trusted Partner: An exceptional communicator who builds credibility quickly and develops strong working relationships with stakeholders at all levels.
- Employment Law Knowledge: A sound understanding of UK employment legislation and HR best practice, with the ability to apply practical, commercially focused advice.
- Systems & Data: Comfortable using HRIS systems, Microsoft Excel and people data to support informed decision-making and maintain data integrity.
- Professional Qualification: CIPD Level 3 qualified (or above) with strong practical HR knowledge.
- Personal Attributes: Organised, proactive and adaptable, with excellent judgement, integrity and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
More About Us
Vision
Help protect the territory and airspace of NATO countries and their allies.
Mission
Be a world-leading provider of autonomous technology for Surveillance applications and Defence
Values
Be a Good Egg: Earn respect, have mutual trust and be honest.
Do cool stuff: We develop cool tech with an awesome team, and we get stuff done.
Be empowered: We are autonomous, reliable and take personal responsibility.
We are one team: Look out for each other and the team.
Things go wrong: Fail fast, learn and move on.
Have fun: We're doing amazing things with passionate people.
