HR Governance & Operations Manager

Role Overview

This role is responsible for overseeing HR governance, HR operations, and payroll-related compliance across the UK, ensuring that people policies, processes, and practices remain legally compliant, consistent, and well controlled. You will act as the central owner of HR and payroll governance, providing assurance across statutory obligations, operational risk, and audit readiness in a rapidly evolving employment law landscape. The role plays a critical part in protecting the organization from legal, financial, and reputational risk while enabling effective, compliant people management.

Responsibilities

• Lead HR governance and operational oversight across the UK, with a strong focus on employment law compliance, payroll-linked processes, policy management, and risk mitigation.
• Translate complex legislative and regulatory requirements into clear, practical HR and payroll frameworks, ensuring they are embedded effectively across the business.
• Provide central ownership of high-risk HR and payroll processes across the employee lifecycle, including sickness absence, family leave, joiners and leavers, probation, restructuring, and statutory pay administration.
• Work closely with HR Business Partners, Payroll teams, and key stakeholders to ensure policies and supporting documentation are consistently applied, systems are correctly configured, and controls are robust and auditable.
• Play a key role in preparing the organization for ongoing UK employment law reforms, strengthening process discipline, improving documentation, and ensuring the organization remains audit-ready at all times.
• Own and maintain the UK HR and payroll policy framework, ensuring ongoing compliance with UK employment legislation and regulatory requirements.
• Translate legislative change into clear, operational HR and payroll processes, guidance, and controls.
• Drive the approach to non-financial misconduct, ensuring compliance and effective implementation and monitoring.
• Provide governance and oversight of payroll-related statutory entitlements, including sick pay, family leave, and statutory payments.
• Ensure HR and payroll processes are consistently applied, documented, and auditable across the organization.
• Act as the central point of accountability for HR operational risk, compliance issues, and process remediation.
• Support HR Business Partners and managers by providing clear guidance, frameworks, and decision-making tools.
• Oversee governance of high-risk employee lifecycle processes, including disciplinary, probation, redundancy, and restructuring activities.
• Partner with Payroll to ensure accurate data flows, eligibility rules, approvals, and system configuration.
• Lead internal reviews, audits, and compliance assessments related to HR and payroll activities.
• Maintain clear records, audit trails, and control documentation in line with regulatory and internal requirements.
• Monitor upcoming employment law changes and proactively prepare the organization for future implementation.
• Reduce reliance on reactive legal advice by strengthening preventative governance and process controls.