Location
London

Hours
Full Time (hours not specified)

Salary
Negotiable

About the Role
The People Advisor at Financial Times is a trusted partner to managers and employees, providing expert advice across the employee lifecycle while driving continuous improvement in People Services. This role blends strong employee relations expertise with a passion for operational excellence, technology, and innovation. Working within a global People Services team, you will leverage data, digital tools, and AI-enabled solutions to simplify processes, enhance the employee experience, and support managers in making informed people decisions. The role suits an experienced HR professional who enjoys problem-solving, identifying improvement opportunities, and collaborating in a fast-paced environment. Alongside delivering high-quality operational support and advice, you will contribute to evolving the People function through automation and scalable ways of working.

Key Responsibilities
Employee Relations & People Advice: Provide pragmatic, commercially focused advice and guidance to managers and employees across the full employee lifecycle. Lead and support employee relations matters including disciplinary, grievance, capability, performance, absence management, flexible working, and family leave. Coach managers to build confidence in handling people issues effectively and consistently. Ensure fair application of People policies in line with employment legislation. Manage probation processes and conduct consultations on statutory leave arrangements.

Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement: Collaborate with People Operations, Payroll, and People Systems teams to deliver an outstanding employee and manager experience. Identify opportunities to simplify and standardise People processes. Challenge inefficient practices and implement scalable improvements. Contribute to global People Services standards and promote a culture of continuous improvement.

Digital, Automation & AI: Champion digital tools, automation, and AI to enhance People Services efficiency and effectiveness. Identify manual activities suitable for automation or AI enhancement. Collaborate with People Systems to implement new technologies responsibly, maintaining governance, confidentiality, and data security.

Data & Insight: Use people data and operational metrics to identify trends, risks, and opportunities. Produce insights to support business decisions and continuous improvement. Ensure accurate management information is available to support decision making.

Projects & Change: Lead or contribute to global People initiatives including organisational change, reward, benefits, wellbeing, policy development, process redesign, and HR technology projects. Support delivery of the FT People Strategy and organisational priorities.

Stakeholder Management: Build trusted relationships with managers and leaders, providing balanced, commercially focused advice. Influence decision making through credible recommendations and evidence-based insight. Promote diversity, inclusion, and belonging through everyday interactions and project work.

Experience
Demonstrable experience as a People Advisor or HR Advisor in a generalist HR environment. Proven ability managing a broad range of employee relations cases from advice to resolution. Excellent understanding of UK employment legislation and its practical application in commercial settings. Experience identifying and implementing HR process improvements. Strong digital capability with confidence using HR technology, AI tools, and data analytics. Experience managing projects or contributing to cross-functional change initiatives.

About you
Strong commercial judgement with confidence to influence and challenge constructively. Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate information into practical recommendations. Highly organised with the ability to prioritise competing demands and work effectively under pressure. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Strong relationship-building and collaboration skills. Collaborative, adaptable, and committed to delivering an exceptional employee experience. High levels of integrity, discretion, and professionalism when handling confidential information. A proactive, curious, and continuous improvement mindset.

Qualifications
Desirable: CIPD Level 5 or Level 7 qualification (or equivalent experience). Experience working within a global or multinational organisation. Experience using Workday or other enterprise HRIS. Experience supporting HR technology implementations or process automation initiatives. Familiarity with AI-enabled workplace technologies and their practical application within HR. Experience analysing HR metrics and using data to influence decisions.