The posting
Optime Group, recognised in the Recruiter Hot100 and Fast50, is an award-winning specialist recruitment business providing temporary workforce solutions across the UK aviation sector.
We are looking for an experienced, commercially minded HR Manager to take ownership of HR across our business, with a particular focus on the day-to-day management and compliance of our large temporary workforce.
This is a hands-on role. While you will support our permanent employees and leadership team, a significant part of your responsibility will be ensuring that our employment practices, processes and policies remain robust and compliant across a fast-moving temporary staffing operation.
You will work closely with our Operations, Compliance, Payroll and Recruitment teams to manage employee relations, temporary worker matters and the practical implementation of employment legislation.
What We Offer
- A key management role within a growing specialist recruitment business.
- Flexible working arrangements, working 20 hours per week.
- Significant responsibility and autonomy across HR and temporary workforce matters.
- The opportunity to shape how Optime responds to a rapidly changing employment and agency-worker landscape.
- A competitive salary of £60,000 per annum. (Pro-Rata).
Key Responsibilities
- Temporary Workforce HR – Provide day-to-day HR support across our temporary workforce, advising operational teams on absence, conduct, capability, grievances, complaints, assignments and worker-related issues.
- Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) – Take ownership of Optime's approach to AWR compliance, including qualifying periods, comparator information, pay and working conditions, ensuring our processes remain accurate and auditable.
- Fair Agency & Employment Law Compliance – Keep Optime ahead of legislative and regulatory developments affecting recruitment businesses and temporary workers, including Fair Agency proposals and wider employment law reform, translating changes into practical operational processes.
- Employee Relations & Case Management – Lead complex grievances, disciplinary matters, investigations and other employee and worker relations cases, ensuring they are handled fairly, consistently and commercially.
- Contracts & Worker Documentation – Regularly review employment contracts, terms of engagement, assignment documentation and associated HR processes to ensure they remain legally compliant and operationally effective.
- Right to Work & Employment Compliance – Support robust Right to Work and employment eligibility processes, ensuring changes in legislation or Home Office requirements are correctly reflected in operational procedures.
- Operational HR Support – Act as the principal HR adviser to managers across the business, providing practical, commercially sensible guidance that enables them to resolve issues quickly and correctly.
- Policy & Process Management – Own and maintain Optime's HR policies, ensuring they reflect current legislation and, importantly, work effectively within a high-volume temporary staffing environment.
- Risk & Audit – Identify HR and employment-related risks across the temporary workforce and ensure appropriate controls, records and audit trails are maintained.
- Client Support – Support the operational and commercial teams where clients require HR guidance, employment-law interpretation or evidence of Optime's workforce practices and compliance.
- Permanent Employee HR – Oversee core HR activity for Optime's internal employees, including employee relations, performance management, recruitment support and general HR advice.
- HR Reporting – Develop meaningful reporting around employee relations, absence, turnover, temporary worker issues, AWR and other key HR risks and trends.
- Team Management – Lead and develop the HR Coordinator, ensuring effective day-to-day HR administration and case management.
About You
- CIPD Level 5 qualified or above.
- Strong practical knowledge of UK employment law and employee relations.
- Ideally experienced within recruitment, staffing, outsourcing, logistics, aviation or another business operating a significant temporary or hourly-paid workforce.
- Strong working knowledge of the Agency Worker Regulations and the legal framework surrounding temporary workers.
- Comfortable managing complex grievances, investigations and employee relations cases from start to finish.
- Able to interpret legislation and turn it into simple, workable processes for operational teams.
- Commercially minded – able to balance legal compliance, worker fairness, client requirements and the realities of running a fast-paced staffing business.
- Highly organised and comfortable managing a significant volume of operational HR matters.
- Confident working with senior leadership, operational managers, payroll and compliance teams.
- Proactive and hands-on; this is not a purely strategic HR role.
How to Apply
If you're an experienced HR professional who enjoys being close to the operation and solving real workforce challenges, we'd love to hear from you.
Please submit your CV outlining your experience, particularly where you have supported temporary, agency, outsourced or high-volume workforces.
