People Operations Specialist - (14 month FTC - Maternity Cover)

Job Title: People Operations Specialist (14 month FTC - Maternity Cover)
Salary: £45,000 - £50,000
Location: Hybrid (2-3 days per month in London office)

As our People Operations Specialist, you'll play a pivotal role in delivering an exceptional employee experience across every stage of the employee lifecycle. Combining operational excellence, systems expertise and a people-first mindset, you'll help ensure our processes, payroll and people systems run smoothly while continuously looking for ways to improve how we work.

Here's what our People Operations Manager had to say:

"At Pod, we believe exceptional employee experiences are built through great processes, smart systems and people who genuinely care. This role is a fantastic opportunity to take ownership of key People Operations activities, improve the way we work and make a meaningful impact across the entire employee lifecycle. We're looking for someone who enjoys solving problems, finding efficiencies and creating experiences that help people thrive. If that sounds like you, we'd love to welcome you to the team."

‎What You'll Do:

‎ Deliver an Outstanding Employee Lifecycle Experience - You'll coordinate and manage key employee lifecycle activities, ensuring every employee receives a professional, positive and consistent experience. This includes:

• Managing onboarding and offboarding processes
• Preparing contracts, offer letters and employment documentation
• Coordinating promotions, salary changes and contractual amendments
• Maintaining accurate employee records and documentation
• Supporting employees and managers with People-related queries
• Assisting with family leave and absence management administration
• Ensuring compliance with employment legislation and company policies.

Support Payroll and Benefits Administration - You'll work closely with Finance and external providers to ensure payroll and benefits are delivered accurately and efficiently. This includes:

• Preparing and processing monthly payroll changes
• Managing new starter, leaver and employee data updates
• Supporting employee benefits administration
• Resolving payroll and benefits queries
• Maintaining accurate and compliant payroll records.

Own and Enhance HiBob - HiBob sits at the heart of our People Operations function, and you'll play a key role in ensuring it delivers the best possible employee experience. You’ll:

• Manage the day-to-day administration and maintenance of HiBob
• Maintain employee data accuracy and integrity
• Build and optimise workflows, automations and approval processes
• Produce people reports, dashboards and insights
• Support employees and managers with system queries
• Identify opportunities to improve functionality and user experience
• Support new feature rollouts and system enhancements.

Drive Process Improvement - We're always looking for smarter ways to work. You'll help us build scalable, efficient and effective People Operations practices as Pod continues to grow. You’ll:

• Identify opportunities to improve existing processes
• Support automation and efficiency initiatives
• Create and maintain process documentation
• Contribute to wider People team projects
• Recommend improvements that enhance employee experience and operational effectiveness.

What You'll Bring:

People Operations Experience

• Experience working in a People Operations, HR Coordinator or similar role
• Strong understanding of employee lifecycle processes
• Experience supporting payroll administration
• Knowledge of HR administration best practice.

Systems and Data Experience

• Experience working with employee data, reporting and HR systems
• Hands-on experience using HiBob (ideally) or a similar HRIS platform
• Strong attention to detail with excellent data accuracy
• Confidence handling sensitive and confidential information.

Employee Experience Focus

• A passion for creating seamless and positive employee experiences
• A people-first approach, with the ability to balance operational excellence with empathy
• An understanding that great People Operations is about more than process, it's about making employees' lives easier
• A genuine desire to improve the moments that matter across the employee lifecycle

Communication and Stakeholder Management

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to build trusted relationships with employees, managers and stakeholders
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills
• A proactive, solutions-focused approach to problem solving.

Continuous Improvement Mindset

• Passion for improving processes and finding more efficient ways of working
• Confidence challenging existing approaches and recommending improvements
• Ability to balance operational detail with the wider employee experience.

Other Valued Experience

• Experience building workflows and automations within HiBob
• Experience administering employee benefits programmes
• Knowledge of UK employment legislation and HR compliance requirements
• Experience implementing process improvements or HR system enhancements
• Experience creating people dashboards or management reporting.