Team Leader People Operations

About Us

The Sheffield College is a thriving further and higher education community, empowering around 13,000 learners each year to achieve their goals. Driven by our mission to transform lives through learning, we foster an inclusive environment — recognised through our 2026 Investors in Diversity Gold award and 3rd ‑ place ranking in the National Centre for Diversity’s 2025 Top 100 Most Inclusive UK Employers.

About The Role

As People Operations Team Leader, you will lead the team that runs the College's day-to-day people administration service across the whole employee lifecycle — from recruitment and onboarding through to contractual changes and leavers.

Your focus is simple but crucial: a fast, accurate and friendly service that managers can rely on, delivered through a confident, well-supported team.

You will set the pace and standard, working closely with the teams across the service so that together, you give managers across the College a genuinely great experience whilst achieving the College’s KPIs.

Main Responsibilities

Reporting to the Director of People Services, you will lead the day-to-day delivery of the College's people administration service. To achieve this, specific duties include, but are not limited to:

• Lead the day-to-day operations of the People Operations team across the full employee lifecycle — including recruitment and selection, pre-employment checks, onboarding, contracts and variations, changes to personal details, mileage and expenses, absence and other leave, and offboarding leavers.
• Ensure the Single Central Record is complete, accurate and up to date at all times, with all required checks completed and recorded in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education.
• Provide a proactive, customer-focused service to managers and staff, resolving queries promptly and escalating more complex matters to the right colleague.
• Take ownership of data quality, making sure information is accurate and complete at the point of entry, with simple checks in place to prevent errors reaching payroll or reporting.
• Work closely with the People Analyst and People Support Analyst to keep the core people system (iTrent) accurate, and to make the most of reporting, dashboards and opportunities for automation.
• Work with the Recruitment Business Partner to deliver a smooth recruitment and onboarding experience, with clear handovers and agreed service standards.
• Support the People Business Partners and Advisors by guiding managers and staff to the right policies and processes, and providing reliable administrative support to casework.
• Support the Payroll team by providing accurate, timely information and ensuring familiarity with the process to support with the running of payroll and post processing returns as required.
• Ensure orders, requisitions and invoices are processed within agreed timescales.
• Develop, document and continuously improve standard operating procedures, championing simpler, leaner ways of working.
• Use data and key performance indicators to assure the quality of core processes and to identify and act on opportunities to improve the service.
• Set clear standards and priorities for the team, allocating and balancing workloads so the service remains responsive during peak periods and staff absences.
• Carry out regular team and individual performance reviews, supporting training, development and a positive, high-performing team culture.