Location: Woking
Department: Human Resources
Type of contract: Permanent - Full-Time
Asahi UK (AUK), part of Asahi Europe & International Ltd, aims to enrich consumer experiences through innovation, high-quality service and an exceptional portfolio of premium beer, ale and cider brands including, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Asahi Super Dry, Meantime, Fuller’s London Pride and Cornish Orchards. Our aim is to be the leading super premium beer business in the UK, through a brand mix that creates a compelling proposition. At AUK we operate as an end to end business unit responsible for sales, marketing, customer operations, production, supply chain and wholesale operations in the UK & Ireland. For further information, visit www.asahibeer.co.uk
Asahi Europe & International is a subsidiary of Asahi Group Holdings Ltd, a global beverage and food company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japan. Employing > 12,000 people, Asahi Europe & International is the custodian for leading super premium lager brands Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Grolsch, Asahi Super Dry, plus international Czech lager brands, Pilsner Urquell and Kozel. The business has world-class brewing and production facilities in 8 markets – UK, NL, ITL, PL, CZ, SK, HU, RO. In most of these markets, we are the leading brewer with full portfolio of famous brands. Commercial operations in other parts of Europe, USA, Canada, LatAm, Africa and Asia are served through our global distribution network. With state-of-the-art facilities, some of the best brewers in the world, quality ingredients, and a culture based on innovation and collaboration, Asahi offers the best quality of beer to beer lovers worldwide. More information can be found at www.asahiinternational.com
Position Overview & Purpose:
The HR Business Partner will act as a strategic advisor to senior leaders, shaping and delivering people strategies that strengthen organisational performance, build capability, and foster a positive, inclusive culture. The role provides forward ‑ looking guidance across workforce planning, talent, organisation design, and change to ensure the business is equipped for current and future demands. The incumbent will embed world-class HR approaches and processes while ensuring the interests and needs of colleagues are met, in order to sustain a culture of high performance and high engagement. The HR BP will translate business priorities into effective, insight ‑ led people solutions and enable a consistent, high ‑ quality employee experience throughout the entire employee lifecycle.
What you will deliver (Key Deliverables & Responsibilities):
Strategic Business Partnership
Partner with senior leaders, including Executive Committee (ExCom), to translate business strategy into clear, actionable people plans that drive organisational performance.
Provide strategic insight and challenge on organisation design, workforce planning, succession and capability needs, ensuring aligned, fair and consistent reward decisions.
Anticipate people‑related risks and opportunities; use data and insight to propose interventions that strengthen performance, engagement and retention.
Lead on organisational change by aligning leaders, engaging stakeholders and ensuring clear plans and communication across structure, process, capability and culture.
Champion the colleague voice and shape a culture that supports inclusion, high performance and long‑term engagement.
Enable and coach leaders to build effective, high‑performing teams and to lead people with confidence and clarity.
Align people initiatives to core business drivers, ensuring HR activity enhances organisational effectiveness and supports commercial outcomes.
Employee Experience & Lifecycle
Partner with the HR Advisor to ensure a consistent, positive colleague experience across the employee lifecycle, enabling managers to handle people matters confidently and independently.
Oversee complex or sensitive people matters in collaboration with ER and Policy specialist, ensuring fair, compliant and commercially balanced outcomes.
Champion inclusion, wellbeing and a values‑led culture while developing leaders to build strong individual and team performance.
Use colleague insights, including Global Engagement Survey results, to shape targeted engagement and culture initiatives, strengthen connection and motivation, and continuously improve the overall colleague experience.
Lead the end-to-end coordination of the Colleague Engagement Group (CEG), including running elections and managing vacancies, preparing agendas and meeting logistics, acting as Secretary to record and circulate minutes, arranging cover when required, and collaborating with ExCom and wider business to resolve issues raised.
Performance, Talent, Succession & Capability
Lead annual talent and succession cycles with leaders, identifying critical roles, capability gaps and robust succession plans.
Support career development and mobility strategies that strengthen bench strength and internal pipelines, with a particular focus on high‑potential talent and opportunities for regional programmes and roles.
Align capability‑building priorities with strategic objectives and emerging skills needs.
Collaborate with Talent Acquisition to deliver strong hiring outcomes, informed workforce planning and targeted employer branding.
Ensure end-to-end operation of performance management processes; facilitate performance calibration to ensure fair and consistent application of the rating scale, strengthening manager capability and confidence through workshops and 1:1 coaching.
Experience & Qualification Requirements:
Previous experience of business partnering at director and senior leadership level within a multi-site/matrix organisation.
Track record of building good relationships and credibility with business managers based on solid commercial understanding and an ability to identify customer needs and go beyond just delivering defined HR solutions
Ability to quickly distil issues into clear requirements and generate pragmatic, high‑quality solutions. Acts with sound judgement, balancing speed with care to make responsible, effective decisions.
Sound familiarity with good HR specialist disciplines and how to best leverage these – talent management and career development, recruitment, performance management, organisational development and design, compensation and benefits, learning and development
Strong experience of change management projects including led or co ‑ led org redesign, strategic initiatives or transformation programs.
A relevant HR degree and/or post graduate qualification is essential
CIPD accreditation or equivalent experience
Strong knowledge of UK employment law and experience in employee relations
Experience in FMCG is preferred but not essential
Proficiency with MS Office and Outlook; proven experience with HR Systems.
Must be willing to travel to any of our UK sites as required including occasional overnight stays.
Key attributes of a successful candidate:
Brings strong business acumen and confidently translates organisational priorities into a clear, actionable people strategy that drives performance and long ‑ term value.
Builds deep, credible relationships with senior leaders; listens closely to understand their challenges and provides well ‑ judged, pragmatic HR solutions that shape thinking and influence decisions.
Puts people at the heart of decisions, designing differentiated, thoughtful experiences that respond to the needs of diverse groups and strengthen engagement and culture.
Champions transformation with empathy and structure; supports leaders and teams through change, ensuring clarity, adoption, and sustained behavioural shifts.
Anticipates the workforce needs of today and tomorrow; attracts, develops, and mobilises talent to ensure the organisation has the capabilities required to deliver its strategy.
Skilled at interpreting multiple data sources and using insight to inform, challenge, and align business decisions; embraces digital tools and analytics to drive better outcomes.
We are committed to nurturing a workplace where we celebrate and respect difference, and support everyone to be true to who they are! At Asahi Europe and International we believe you can SHINE AS YOU ARE - no matter your age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or beliefs. We want to support you to be courageous in your individuality and to know that whoever you are and whatever your circumstances, you can belong with us without having to conform.
