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People Partner (12-Month Maternity Cover)

• Location: Ideally based around Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire (with regular travel, including to our Isle of Wight contract)
• Contract: Fixed-term, 12 months

At Thalia, we’re not just managing waste, we’re transforming it into energy and sustainable solutions. We’re looking for a commercially minded People Partner to join our team on a 12-month maternity cover contract. This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced HR professional who thrives on partnering with leaders, driving change, and shaping people strategies that make a real impact.

About the role

As People Partner, you will work closely with our People & Communications Director and business leaders to deliver proactive, value-added HR solutions. You’ll act as a trusted advisor, guiding managers through complex people challenges while supporting our growth agenda.

Key responsibilities:

• Partnering with leadership to deliver people plans aligned to business objectives
• Managing high-level employee relations matters, coaching managers, and supporting the ER Adviser in managing caseloads
• Supporting organisational design, cost-saving initiatives, redundancies, TUPE transfers and performance improvement
• Embedding inclusion and engagement strategies across contracts
• Building relationships with trade unions and ensuring employee voice is heard
• Collaborating with People Services, L&D, Recruitment, and Communications to deliver a joined-up HR offering

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Commercially focused, with proven experience as a HR Business Partner/People Partner
• Skilled in TUPE, restructures, redundancies, cost savings and Employee Relations
• Strong in Employee Relations, with the ability to mentor and support an ER Adviser
• Experienced in reward (desirable)
• Confident in partnering with senior leaders and driving organisational change
• A skilled coach and communicator who builds trust quickly
• Flexible and resilient, with the ability to travel frequently (2–3 days a week at sites)
• Ideally CIPD qualified (or equivalent experience).

Our Business

At Thalia Waste Management, we are creating a future to be proud of. We think differently, questioning everything, enabling us to develop progressive waste into energy solutions and services. Being motivated, tackling problems together, inspiring others to take responsibility, making a difference, being ambitious and contributing value.

We operate the best technology available across our four strategic sites in North Yorkshire, Milton Keynes, Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Wight. Our technology includes everything from mechanical and biological treatment, traditional mass-burn energy from waste and material recycling technologies to in-vessel composting, advanced thermal treatment, innovative small-scale energy from waste and anaerobic digestion. In a single year we process 300,000 tonnes of waste that is turned into energy. This generates the same amount of energy as approximately 600 million solar panels. Similarly we recycle circa 95,000 tonnes of waste.

Inclusion

At Thalia Waste Management, we work hard to make sure we are an inclusive and diverse place to work. This means we don’t just look at your CV, we’re focused on who you are, your skills and passion that can be brought to Thalia Waste Management. We know and understand the everyone is different and has a life outside work, so we’re happy to discuss flexible working and any adjustments that could be needed! We’ll do all that we can to support everyone from their first contact with us. For any support or adjustments needed through our recruitment process, please speak to our recruitment team who will be happy to support. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. As a Disability Confident Employer, we will make sure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable adjustments to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.