Do you believe the world of work can be a force for good?
At Barnardo's, we do. We're looking for a Strategic People Business Partner who wants to help turn that belief into reality, shaping culture, capability and ways of working so our colleagues can deliver life changing outcomes for children and young people.
This is not a traditional HR role. It's an opportunity to work at the heart of one of the UK's most impactful children's charities, partnering with senior leaders as a trusted advisor and critical friend during a period of exciting transformation. You'll influence organisational design, co-create transformational ways of working, build leadership capability and energise cultural change, ensuring everything we do is values led and inclusive by design.
You'll join a People and Culture function that is intentionally evolving towards a team of teams, insight led partnering model, balancing strategic impact with excellent delivery. Curious, passionate and collaborative, we believe the People function has a vital role as a steward of our culture, champion of belonging and enabler of sustainable change.
If you're motivated by purpose, energised by transformation and passionate about creating environments where people can thrive and do their best work, this role offers both challenge and opportunity.
Help us create a Barnardo's where everyone belongs, and where our people are enabled to change lives.
What you'll be doing
In this role, you will:
- Act as a strategic people and culture partner to senior leaders, shaping organisational culture, capability and ways of working.
- Play a key leadership role in embedding a “team of teams” partnering model across the People Partnering team.
- Drive organisation design and workforce transformation, ensuring structures and roles align to strategy, values and future capability needs.
- Champion a values-led, inclusive and growth-focused culture, promoting equity, psychological safety and colleague voice.
- Lead and facilitate discovery and delivery groups within the People Strategy, ensuring co-creation and collaboration across the Charity.
- Coach, challenge and support leaders to build confident and accountable leadership, with a strong focus on performance, culture and wellbeing.
- Partner with internal teams to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion, ensuring all colleagues feel represented, supported and able to thrive.
- Shape and continuously improve people policies, processes and experiences, supporting modern, flexible and inclusive ways of working.
- Act as a credible influencer, managing people risks and strengthening the reputation of the People function as trusted, progressive and impact driven.
- Lead on specialist People areas on a rotational basis, such as Employee Relations or People Policy, as required.
How you'll work
- This is a UK-wide role, with occasional travel across the UK and some meetings or events outside standard working hours (with notice and consideration of personal circumstances where possible).
- The role is hybrid, offering flexibility to work from home and from our various hub locations required to deliver your role effectively.
- Travel and expenses will be supported in line with Barnardo's hybrid and expenses policies.
This role forms part of a central People team delivering support across the organisation. While the primary focus will be to partner with our Retail directorate, the role will operate flexibly across other directorates, providing both strategic and operational support in line with organisational priorities. Due to high numbers of applicants candidates with retail experience will be considered first.
Why Barnardo's?
You'll be joining an organisation with a strong purpose, committed to inclusion, safeguarding and continuous improvement. This is an opportunity to influence at scale, shape culture for the better, and help create an environment where our people – and the children and young people we serve – can truly thrive.
When completing your application, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification to demonstrate how you meet these.
Due to a high number of applications for some posts, please note this vacancy may close before the displayed closing date. We recommend you apply as soon as possible.
values
People & Culture
Workplace Offer: What it means for you
- The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
- Service related sick pay from day 1
- Cycle2work scheme
- Interest free season ticket loans
- 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
- Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
- Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
- Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer
*T&C's apply based on contract
- Reference number:22994
- Job Title:Strategic People Business Partner
- Location:Workplace offer: Hybrid working, Barnardo's hub/office or home address
- Contract type:Permanent
- Hours:36.25
- Salary:£52,265 - £73,927 + £312 Office at Home Allowance per annum
- Closing Date:15 May 2026
- Interview Date:1st/2nd June 2026