Network Rail
Senior Human Resources Business Partner
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Who We Are
At Network Rail, We're Part Of a Large Family Serving Millions Of Passengers And Freight Users Throughout The UK Every Day. Our Service Impacts Millions Of People And We Strive To Become More Efficient As We Enhance, Maintain And Operate Our Network. Now Is a Fantastic Time And Join Our Team In Wales And Western Region As We Finalise The Reforms To Our Maintenance Organisation Which Will Deliver
- A safer and more reliable and punctual service for passengers and employees - quicker fault fixes by more agile multi-disciplined response teams.
- Individual rostering - enabling us to send the right number or people to fix a fault.
- Multi-skilling - investing in the knowledge and skills of our people so they are better equipped to fix the most common faults themselves.
- Accelerated and improved technology deployment - we have a raft of labour and life-saving technology ready to be rolled out.
Our passengers and freight users are at the heart of everything we do. We help connect people to their friends and families and get goods to their destination safely and efficiently. We're an organisation where people matter. When you're part of our team, you matter to us and you matter to millions. Watch our video to find out more!
About our people and the recruitment process - We're an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone! We look for opportunities to offer great opportunities to learn and grow through personal and professional development.
We want to help deliver a railway which is safe, reliable, affordable and that provides great customer service to everyone. For more information about Network Rail click here
About the role
A Senior HR Employee Relations and Industrial Relations Business Partner serves as a strategic advisor to the business, leading on complex and high risk employee relations cases through to employment tribunal where required. The role combines deep expertise in employment law, internal policy, and organisational processes to provide pragmatic, commercially focused guidance to senior leaders. With a strong emphasis on industrial relations, they act as the organisation's lead expert on union engagement, collective bargaining, and workforce strategy, proactively managing relationships with trade unions and employee representatives to maintain a stable and constructive industrial climate. They provide strategic oversight and hands on leadership during collective disputes, including ballots, negotiations, and potential industrial action, ensuring risks are anticipated, mitigated, and managed in line with legal and reputational considerations.
The role involves analysing ER and IR data to identify emerging trends, hotspots, and systemic risks, translating insight into targeted interventions that strengthen organisational resilience and employee experience. They advise on and shape IR strategies aligned to business objectives, including organisational change, restructures, and transformation programmes, ensuring effective consultation and compliance with statutory obligations. Acting as a trusted partner, they coach and influence senior leaders on complex people matters, balancing commercial priorities with legal risk and employee impact. Through deep knowledge of internal processes and governance, they ensure consistent, fair, and legally compliant practices while driving continuous improvement in how the organisation manages complex employee and industrial relations challenges.
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Your Main Responsibilities Will Be To
- Working closely with the supported business area/s to develop, drive and implement the HR Strategy/People Plan to include; talent, succession planning and change management, in order to support the delivery of business objectives and drive a high performance culture.
- Act as an integral member of the business leadership team, building strong relationships with senior business leaders and other relevant stakeholders. Coach, advise and challenging thinking in addition to co-development, design and execution of integrated medium to long term people initiatives to meet current and future business needs.
- Act as a change agent; lead, support and contribute to change programmes, driving and championing the implementation of HR solutions within the supported business area, gaining acceptance from key stakeholders.
- Proactively manage trade union relationships, working with the Employee Relations team, appropriate HR Business Partners and managers across the business.
- Reinforce and support the ownership of people management by the business and line managers and the HR Business Partner model.
- Influence the centres of expertise development of strategy and policy through sharing business/functional requirements and inputting into development and execution planning.
- Work in collaboration with; Centres of Expertise, HR Shared Services, HR Direct and HR Business Partner teams to proactively identify and influence changes that improve HR service.
- Liaise with HR Business Partners in other areas of the business in order to work collaboratively on cross business/geographical issues.
Pay and Rewards
- Salary: This role is a Band.3.C. -£55,596 - £65,966 per annum.
- As a Network Rail employee, you will enjoy a wide range of benefits!
- Privileged staff travel - Leisure travel discount of 75% on all leisure travel and includes family members.
- A subsidy of up to 75% on rail and underground season tickets if you travel to work on the train.
- GWR ticket alliance, Heavily discounted all day passes for you and up to 3 friends and family to use across the GWR network (48 passes per year)
- Benefits package including healthcare offers, a cycle to work scheme, discounted healthcare club membership, and a discounted offers and benefits including childcare, healthcare and online shopping site.
- A range of Pension schemes to choose from
- Effectively manage work-life balance with a 35hrs per week contract, hybrid working, flexible working, flexible leave, and enhanced family friendly support.
- 5 days paid volunteering leave.
- 2 weeks paid reserve leave for the Armed Forces community.
- In Wales and Western region, you will have the opportunity to join PROUD, our reward and recognition scheme where you can say thanks and recognise colleagues across the region who have demonstrated outstanding values and behaviours.
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To find out more about the benefits at Network Rail, click here.
More About The Role And Your Application
- Closing date: 7th August 2026. Late applications will not be accepted.
- This role requires working in the office for a least 60% of the working week, and requires some travel across the Wales Route from time to time.
For tips to help you prepare and apply click here
We want to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity. Therefore, should you require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please do let us know by contacting Elisabeth Holmes on 07395 387432
Should you wish to have a chat about this role, please contact Gemma Thomas on 07922 009777
Your Experience And Skills
- Demonstrates strong business/commercial approach and understanding of business needs.
- Proven experience of working in partnership with senior business leaders in order to improve people management.
- Passionate about customer service with ability to articulate previous achievements through business deliverables.
- Knowledge and experience of implementing best practice HR solutions to drive a high performance culture.
- Ability to establish professional credibility quickly.
- Experience of coaching, influencing and building strong working relationships with senior business leaders.
- Excellent communication skills and ability to negotiate and influence effectively with all levels of an organisation.
- Experience of working with senior leaders to identify, develop and retain talent.
- Excellent technical HR Knowledge - CIPD qualified or relevant experience to demonstrate level of competence.
- Proven track record of operating in a complex working environment.
- Broad experience of managing organisation change programmes e.g. TUPE, Organisation re-design, redundancy programmes, etc
- Graduate calibre
- Experience of working within a highly unionised environment (Essential for roles supporting Maintenance & Operations Functions).
Keeping people safe on the railway is at the heart of everything we do. Safe behaviour is therefore a requirement of working for Network Rail. You should demonstrate your personal dedication to safety within your application.
What Could Set You Apart
- MCIPD/post-graduate human resources qualification.
- Understanding of project management principles and experience of managing complex projects to successful conclusion.
- Experience of working within a unionised environment.
Not sure if you meet all the requirements? Let us decide. Some of these criteria may be learnt in role. Therefore, if you do not meet all the criteria, please submit your application. We will screen your application against these criteria to assess the best match.
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