The posting
JOB TITLE: Site HR Business Partner (HPC) WORK LEVEL: WL2C LOCATION: Port Sunlight Factories (Site Based)
This is a senior HR Business Partner opportunity to shape the people agenda for one of Unilever’s most iconic manufacturing locations. Based at Port Sunlight Factories, the role partners with two Factory Directors and their leadership teams across a large, unionised, multi-factory environment, influencing the leadership, organisation and workforce choices that enable delivery of the factory masterplan. The role translates site, category and Supply Chain priorities into a focused people strategy that supports performance today while building future workforce readiness. It requires a commercially minded HR leader who can provide strategic challenge, insight and coaching to senior leaders, using people data, organisational diagnostics and external awareness to strengthen decision-making, leadership effectiveness and organisational health. Port Sunlight produces Home Care, Home & Hygiene and Personal Care products, including fabric washes and conditioners, bleach and surface sprays, shower gel and shampoo. The HRBP must therefore operate confidently in a fast-paced manufacturing setting, balancing operational delivery, employee and industrial relations, transformation and long-term capability building. Working through the broader HR model, including People Experience, Learning and Development, Expertise teams and employee/industrial relations partners, the HRBP ensures integrated HR delivery while personally leading the strategic people priorities that have the greatest impact on site performance, culture and transformation.
MAIN JOB PURPOSE The Site HRBP shapes and leads the people and organisation strategy for Port Sunlight Factories, ensuring the site has the leadership capability, workforce model, culture and employee relations environment required to deliver current performance and future transformation. The role acts as a senior strategic partner to two Factory Directors and their leadership teams, influencing beyond immediate HR delivery to shape organisation design, capability investment, leadership effectiveness and future workforce plans. The role converts business priorities into practical people interventions across strategic workforce planning, talent and succession, capability building, engagement, employee and industrial relations, change management and the People Development agenda under the Unilever Supply Chain System. Success in the role requires balancing day-to-day operational complexity across a unionised, multi-factory environment of over 500 employees with the longer-term organisational choices needed to deliver the factory masterplan and broader Supply Chain priorities.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES Strategy and Business Partnering • Partner with two Factory Directors and their leadership teams as a senior strategic advisor, translating site, category and Business Unit priorities into a clear people and organisation plan that enables delivery of the factory masterplan and broader Supply Chain priorities. • Use business insight, people data, external awareness and organisational diagnostics to anticipate risks, identify strategic opportunities and shape interventions that improve performance, productivity and organisational health. • Represent the site people agenda in senior forums, influencing cross-functional stakeholders and ensuring people implications are built into business decisions, investment choices and transformation plans. Resourcing, Talent and Succession • Lead strategic workforce planning and organisation design across the Port Sunlight factory environment, shaping future-fit structures, capability pipelines and leadership capacity to meet current performance demands and future transformation requirements. • Own and drive the site talent and succession agenda for critical leadership and capability roles, strengthening leadership pipelines, succession depth and development plans for priority populations. Capability and Development • Lead the People Development agenda under the Unilever Supply Chain System, including the WCM People Development Pillar and HR for Factories strategy, ensuring people priorities are embedded into site performance and continuous improvement plans. • Coach and challenge senior leaders to build high-performing, inclusive and accountable teams, strengthening leadership effectiveness, strategic decision-making, collaboration and ownership across the site leadership system. Cost and Overheads • Partner with site leaders to ensure people plans, organisation design choices and workforce interventions are commercially robust, support productivity delivery and align with agreed cost and overhead targets. • Lead annual pay negotiations alongside the Site Directors and relevant leadership stakeholders, ensuring robust preparation, clear governance, effective stakeholder alignment and sustainable outcomes. Employee and Industrial Relations • Lead the site employee and industrial relations strategy, building constructive and credible relationships with Trade Union representatives, supporting effective consultation, and ensuring risk-based, legally compliant and values-led decision-making. • Provide strategic oversight of complex ER/IR matters, organisational change, restructures, consultation activity and workforce interventions, ensuring appropriate risk mitigation and alignment with employment law, policy and business principles. Culture and Engagement • Drive culture, engagement and organisation health across the site, using insight from employee listening, leadership diagnostics and business performance data to shape practical actions that improve the employee experience and business outcomes. HR Leadership and Delivery • Partner with People Experience, Learning and Development, Expertise teams and broader HR colleagues to ensure effective delivery of HR processes, policies, programmes and employee lifecycle activity across the site. • Line manage and develop the site HR and Learning team, creating clear priorities, strong delivery discipline and an integrated HR service that supports manufacturing leaders and employees effectively. • Lead or contribute to strategic HR and Supply Chain projects that support transformation, simplification, capability building, productivity and enterprise-wide HR priorities beyond the immediate site agenda. KEY PERFORMANCE MEASURES/INDICATORS • Resourcing: Strategic workforce plan delivered and actively governed, with measurable progress on critical role coverage, vacancy risk, skills gaps, organisation design actions and future capability requirements. • Succession: Improved succession health for critical leadership and capability roles, evidenced through succession coverage, quality of development plans, movement of priority talent and leadership pipeline readiness. • Cost: People plans and organisation choices support agreed productivity, cost and overhead targets, including workforce efficiency, commercially robust change plans and sustainable pay negotiation outcomes. • PD Pillar Assessment: Measurable progress against the People Development agenda, including delivery of agreed WCM/People Development Pillar actions, leadership capability plans, skills development priorities and assessment outcomes. • Engagement Score: Positive movement in engagement score, supported by employee listening results, leadership action plan completion, measurable progress against agreed site people priorities and a stable, constructive employee and industrial relations climate. • PROFESSIONAL SKILLS • Strategic HR business partnering with senior operational leaders in a complex, unionised manufacturing environment. • Strong business and commercial acumen, with the ability to connect people priorities to safety, quality, service, cost, productivity, innovation, sustainability and transformation outcomes. • Organisation design, workforce planning and capability building experience, including the ability to shape future-fit structures and translate business strategy into practical people plans. • Strong employee and industrial relations capability, including trade union partnership, collective consultation, negotiation and strategic risk management. • Ability to use people data, diagnostics, external insight and business intelligence to challenge leaders, anticipate organisational risks and shape evidence-based interventions. • Strong senior stakeholder management, coaching, influencing and constructive challenge skills, with credibility to operate with site and Supply Chain leadership teams. • Experience leading talent, succession, performance, engagement and leadership development agendas for critical roles and priority populations. • Change leadership capability, including experience supporting transformation, restructuring, new ways of working or continuous improvement programmes. • Strong understanding of HR processes, employment law, policy governance and the wider HR operating model. • Experience leading, developing and prioritising work through HR, People Experience or Learning teams to deliver integrated outcomes. • Manufacturing or Supply Chain experience, ideally in an FMCG or similarly complex, unionised environment.
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED Essential: • Significant HR business partnering experience in a complex manufacturing, Supply Chain, FMCG or comparable operational environment. • Proven experience partnering senior operational leaders and leadership teams to translate business, category and Supply Chain priorities into people and organisation plans. • Experience operating as a senior strategic advisor, providing challenge, coaching and insight to improve leadership effectiveness, team performance, organisational health and business outcomes. • Strong experience of employee and industrial relations in a unionised environment, including consultation, negotiation, risk management and employment law application. • Proven experience leading organisation design, strategic workforce planning, capability building and change management activity in support of transformation or business performance agendas. • Experience using people data, diagnostics, external insight and business intelligence to anticipate risks, shape interventions and improve performance. • Demonstrated experience leading talent, succession, engagement, performance and leadership development activity. • Experience working through a matrix HR model, partnering effectively with People Experience, Learning, Expertise teams and broader HR colleagues. • Proven ability to balance short-term operational delivery with long-term organisational health, capability, transformation and future workforce priorities. • Strong people leadership experience, including leading, coaching and developing HR or Learning team members. Desirable: • Experience supporting multi-factory, multi-site or large-scale operational transformation. • Experience with Unilever Supply Chain System, WCM, UMS, Lean, TPM or equivalent manufacturing excellence systems. • Experience leading the People Development pillar or equivalent capability, skills or culture agenda in a manufacturing environment. • Experience supporting strategic productivity, simplification, digitalisation or future-of-work initiatives. • Exposure to broader Supply Chain HR priorities, factory masterplanning, business unit-level people planning or enterprise transformation agendas.
TRAVEL As per job requirements
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What We Offer
Not only do we offer a competitive salary and pension scheme, we also offer an annual bonus, subsidised gym membership, a discounted staff shop and shares. You’ll have the opportunity to work directly with our renowned and exciting brands in a flexible and hybrid working environment.
Whilst the role is advertised on a full-time basis, we would be happy to discuss possible flexible working options and what this may look like for you. We are a key advocate of wellbeing and offer a variety of support for our people including hubs, programmes and development opportunities. We strive to achieve a family-friendly and inclusive workplace and to, above all, create possibilities for all.
Diversity at Unilever is about inclusion, embracing differences, creating possibilities and growing together for better business performance. We embrace diversity in our workforce. This means giving full and fair consideration to all applicants and continuing development of all employees regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity. We are also more than happy to provide reasonable adjustments during our application and interview process to enable you to be present your best self. To find out more, including about our Employee Resource Groups, please click here Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Unilever | Unilever.
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