Job vacancy: Head of HR Business Partnering, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Milton Keynes

Job summary

Main area: Human Resources
Grade: 8b
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref: 430-CORP26-589A

Employer: Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: HR - Business Partners (Dept)
Town: Milton Keynes
Salary: £66,582 - £77,368 Per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 07/09/2026 23:59
Interview date: 16/09/2026

Head of HR Business Partnering

8b

At Milton Keynes University Hospital, you will be welcomed into a friendly and supportive environment where teamwork and respect are at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to live our Trust values and behaviours every day, creating a culture where everyone feels heard and valued.

MKUH staff's Motivation and Involvement scores are among the highest in our peer group, showing that our people feel inspired and included in decision-making (Staff Survey, 2024).

Our benefits

We believe in recognising and rewarding the amazing contribution of our staff and that is why we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your wellbeing, work-life balance, and professional growth, including:

Free on-site parking including EV charging
Complimentary refreshments
Flexible working arrangements
Discounted gym membership
Salary sacrifice car scheme
Generous annual leave, with the option to bank holiday entitlement
Membership of the NHS Pension Scheme
On-site nursery (charges apply)
A wide-ranging staff health and wellbeing programme including EAP
VIVUP products to support your mental, physical, and financial Wellbeing

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Deliver the Strategy

Work with the Divisional HRBPs to support and lead them in developing a workforce strategy aligned to the Trust’s Business Plan ensuring workforce solutions are centred on patient safety, patient experience and staff experience

Work with the Divisional HRBPs to ensure a high standard of workforce plans and talent management strategies are created and aligned to current and future business requirements.

Managing Services

Lead on people aspects of change management across the corporate areas, assisting with the development of consultation papers, advising Executive Directors and senior managers on the consultative process and manage the effective delivery of all programmes.

Be accountable for consistency of approach for Employee Relations, ensuring best practice is applied, that national changes to standards and processes are quickly and successfully adapted by the Trust.

Improving Services

Contribute to the analysis of the results of the annual staff survey and develop and support the roll out of an agreed action plan for the Trust and corporate areas of influence.

Lead and role model on working in partnership with staff side/trade unions to ensure that employee relations issues are managed constructively and with effective outcomes.

Please refer to the Job Description for further details

Person specification

Qualifications and knowledge

Essential criteria

Degree level education or equivalent, CIPD Level
Chartered CIPD member; relevant postgraduate qualification
In depth knowledge of Agenda for Change and medical and dental terms and conditions of employment.
Up to date knowledge of employment law and best practice including TUPE, equality etc.
An advanced understanding of core employment policies and practices to enable the training and coaching of others
Knowledge and appreciation of strategies to overcome resistance to change.

Experience

Essential criteria

Significant generalist HR management experience in a large, complex and unionised organisation
Demonstrable experience of independently managing complex and sensitive cases of poor performance, ill-health, attendance and misconduct, including disciplinary procedures up to dismissal.
Experience of Job Matching in the NHS
Demonstrable experience of supporting executive and non-executive directors at appeal and grievance hearings
Experience of policy consultation, development & implementation.
Demonstrable experience of preparing and presenting cases at employment tribunals
Experience of acting as a change agent, working proactively to make departmental and organisational change happen
Experience of designing, supporting and implementing HR interventions at a strategic level.
Experience of HR information systems and reporting, including ESR.

Skills

Essential criteria

Highly numerate, with the ability and analyse and interpret numerical and/or statistical workforce data.
Ability to write coherent reports, policies and policies.
Evidence of effectively interpreting and implementing national initiatives and changes to policy and process
Evidence of the development of services, using own initiative to identify areas of improvements and successfully make change on an organisational level
Able to deliver results through successful collaboration

Desirable criteria

Ability to effectively design training and development programmes using interactive approaches to aid learning.

Personal and people development

Essential criteria

Significant line management experience
A positive approach to working with others in a team environment

Communication

Essential criteria

Excellent communicator - using a range of media across different levels.
Strong influencer, able to contribute to shaping service strategies.

We believe success lies in the diversity of our employees and are committed to promoting equality, encouraging diversity and embracing inclusion. We welcome applications from everyone interested in working for us.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

MKUH uses identification scanning technology to confirm the authenticity of documents; all prospective employees of MKUH will have their original documents verified using this technology.

By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that information from your application will be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Record (ESR) system. Your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers.

Applications, offers of employment and contracts may be withdrawn or terminated if it is found that fraudulent statements were made or fraudulent documents provided during the recruitment process. Additional possible consequences include referral to professional bodies or criminal sanctions.