HR Manager / People Partner (Maternity Cover)

About the Role

Location: Bermondsey, London

Working Pattern: Part-time - 24 hours per week onsite

Duration: September 2025 - July 2026 (11 months)

We’re looking for an experienced HR Manager / People Partner to join us on a fixed-term basis to cover maternity leave.

This role will maintain high legal, regulatory and organisational standards while fostering a consistent and people-focused employee experience. You will also be responsible for employee engagement initiatives and recruitment processes, and help maintain a positive, high-performance culture.

Key Responsibilities

Compliance & Employment Law

• Draft and issue legally compliant employment contracts
• Maintain up-to-date job descriptions
• Support accurate, timely payroll processing and manage statutory leaves and pay accruals
• Keep GDPR-compliant employee records
• Conduct and document right-to-work checks and monitor visa statuses
• Liaise with legal advisors for immigration and employment matters
• Update employee handbooks and policy documentation
• Stay informed on changing employment laws and implement updates as needed
• Ensure fair, consistent handling of disciplinaries, grievances, redundancies, dismissals, and appeals
• Partner with managers for early intervention and effective resolution of employee issues

HR Systems & Processes

• Administer and update the HRIS and ATS platforms
  • Automations, workflows, performance cycles, job templates, task lists
• Maintain structured onboarding and offboarding processes
  • Induction, employee handbooks, exit interviews, role transitions
• Ensure PeopleOps processes are up to date, auditable, and streamlined

Recruitment & Talent Acquisition

• Oversee end-to-end internal recruitment, including:
  • Screening CVs and conducting initial interviews
  • Coordinating interview logistics and assessments
  • Managing offer processes and compliance with hiring regulations

Compensation & Benefits

• Support salary benchmarking and review processes
• Coordinate promotion, bonus, and pay increase approvals
• Manage, communicate and administer employee benefits
• Educate employees on available benefits and manage statutory benefits programs

Performance, Development & Employee Relations

• Lead and manage the performance review cycle, calibration and any development plans
• Support promotion and progression conversations with managers
• Assist in managing underperformance, coaching managers through improvement plans
• Address employee relations challenges with empathy and pragmatism
• Build trusted relationships and foster a positive, inclusive work culture

Engagement & Culture

• Lead engagement activities, recognition, and team-building initiatives
  • Management of engagement surveys and arising actions
• Contribute to a culture of transparency, feedback, and continuous improvement

About You

• Proven track record in an HR Generalist or Business Partner role
• Experienced internal recruitment management
• Previous experience in a start-up / scale-up / SME
• Understanding of UK employment law, compliance, and policy development
• Confident handling complex people issues with sensitivity and sound judgement
• Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal skills
• Comfortable operating in dynamic, fast-paced, or scaling environments
• Passionate about creating a high-trust, high-performance workplace
• Previous experience in biotech / life sciences highly desirable

The role is required for 24 hours per week onsite , which could be 3 full time days, or spread over a 5-day working week. The incoming applicant needs to be in place by no later than the beginning of September 2025.

Tools You’ll Use

• HRIS (HiBob)
• G-Suite
• ATS (TeamTailor)
• Notion
• Slack
• CultureAmp

What you’ll receive from us

Aside from being part of our brilliant, purpose-driven team, you’ll also enjoy:

Financial 💸

• 3x Salary Life Insurance with YuLife
• Health Shield Cash Back Plan on day-to-day health expenses
• 5% pension, with an additional top up on tax savings from us
• Free Will-writing Service

Health 🍏

• Private Medical Insurance, including dental and optical (currently with AXA)
• Discounted gym membership through either AXA or HealthShield
• 24/7 access to GP Services
• Access to the Cycle to Work scheme: to make your commute cheaper, healthier and a whole lot greener
• Easy access to the on-site gym and climbing wall to break a sweat or indulge your inner monkey available at competitive rates

Time-Off ✈️

• Annual leave (plus the bank holidays)
• Paid sick leave (including mental health days - no questions asked)
• 3 days paid emergency leave so it doesn’t eat into your relaxation time
• 1 week paid bereavement leave plus 1 day to attend a funeral
• 1 day paid for moving home

Wellbeing 💛

• Employee Assistance Programme including access to coaching and CBT sessions
• Bereavement & Probate Support through YuLife

Team-building 🤝

• Regular team lunches from Feedr.
• A programme of social events both company-wide and within your own teams

Diversity & Inclusion

We believe that diversity makes for innovative, exceptional teams.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on gender, race, colour, religion or belief, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or any other protected class.

If you don't feel you don’t meet every single requirement of this role, we still want to hear from you! We encourage you to apply, have a discussion with us about the role or others that we may have at LabGenius either now or in the future, together we can build more inclusive workplaces.