At TJC and Ideal World, people are central to our success. As our UK business continues to evolve, we are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Senior HR Business Partner to lead the people agenda across both brands.
Job Overview
This is the most senior HR role within the UK business, responsible for partnering with the leadership team to deliver business outcomes through exceptional people practices. Reporting directly to the Group CHRO, you will act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders while leading a distributed HR team across the UK and India.
The role offers a unique opportunity to influence organisational performance, leadership capability, culture, and employee experience across two established retail brands. It also comes at an exciting time as our UK headquarters transitions from Feltham to a new office in Staines, where you will play a key role in leading the people aspects of this change and helping shape the next chapter of our workplace culture.
Responsibilities
- Strategic Business Partnering
- Partner closely with the UK leadership team to align people strategy with business priorities and commercial objectives.
Leadership & Team Management
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of HR Advisors based in the UK.
- Provide functional leadership and direction to the India-based HR team responsible for supporting UK HR administration, documentation, reporting, and shared services.
- Foster a collaborative “one team” culture across geographies, ensuring seamless delivery of HR services and consistent employee experience.
Employee Relations & Employment Law
- Lead complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability, absence management, redundancy, and organisational change consultations.
- Ensure compliance with UK employment legislation while balancing commercial outcomes with fairness and employee wellbeing.
- Provide expert guidance to managers on employment law, policies, and best practice.
Talent & Organisational Development
- Drive talent management, succession planning, and leadership development across both brands.
- Partner with leaders to strengthen organisational capability and build high-performing teams.
- Support learning and development initiatives that improve leadership effectiveness and employee growth.
Culture & Employee Experience
- Champion initiatives that enhance employee engagement, wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Continue building a workplace culture where colleagues feel connected, empowered, and able to perform at their best.
- Lead the people aspects of the relocation to our new Staines office, ensuring a smooth transition and positive employee experience.
Performance & Continuous Improvement
- Lead annual people processes including performance reviews, salary planning, talent reviews, and workforce planning.
- Use HR metrics and people analytics to identify trends, recommend improvements, and influence business decisions.
- Continuously improve HR processes, policies, and service delivery while leveraging technology and shared services effectively.
What You’ll Bring
We’re looking for an experienced HR leader who combines strategic thinking with a practical, hands-on approach.
You’ll ideally have:
- Around 10 years of progressive HR experience, including significant experience as a Senior HR Business Partner or HR Manager within a fast-paced commercial environment.
- Proven experience partnering with senior business leaders and influencing organisational decisions.
- Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice.
- Extensive experience managing complex employee relations cases and organisational change.
- Demonstrated success leading and developing HR teams.
- Experience working with geographically distributed or shared-service teams, ideally across multiple countries.
- Excellent coaching, influencing, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
- Strong commercial acumen with the ability to balance people priorities with business outcomes.
- Confidence using HR data and insights to inform decision-making.
- CIPD Level 7 (or equivalent) is highly desirable.
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role will be measured by your ability to:
- Build trusted partnerships with business leaders across both brands.
- Develop capable managers and high-performing teams.
- Lead a collaborative UK and India HR team that delivers a consistent, high-quality employee experience.
- Successfully navigate organisational change while maintaining engagement and business continuity.
- Deliver pragmatic, commercially sound solutions to complex people challenges.
- Foster an inclusive, high-performance culture aligned with our organisational values.
Why Join Us?
This is more than an HR Business Partner role—it’s an opportunity to shape the future of the people function for two recognised retail brands.
You’ll work directly with the Group CHRO and senior leadership team, influencing strategic decisions while leading a talented HR team across the UK and India. With the transition to our new Staines office and continued evolution of our business, you’ll have the opportunity to make a visible and lasting impact on our people, culture, and organisational success.
If you’re an experienced HR leader who thrives on partnering with the business, developing people, and driving meaningful organisational change, we’d love to hear from you.
- Act as a trusted coach and advisor to senior leaders on organisational effectiveness, leadership capability, workforce planning, and organisational change.
- Influence strategic business decisions by bringing a strong people perspective supported by data and insights.
Pay: £85,000.00-£90,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Canteen
- Company events
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Discounted or free food
- Employee discount
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Store discount
- Transport links
Work Location: In person
