People & Culture Business Partner

About the Role

Central is looking for an experienced and proactive People & Culture Business Partner to join our team on a 6 month fixed term contract. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a broad range of P&C activities in a dynamic, creative higher education environment.

You will work closely with the Director and Head of People & Culture to deliver a high quality, responsive service across the full employee lifecycle. This includes employee relations, recruitment and retention, onboarding, training and development, performance management, policy development, wellbeing, and day to day operational support.

A key part of the role involves managing complex employee relations cases, advising managers, supporting investigations, ensuring compliance with employment law, and contributing to continuous improvement across P&C processes. You will also support data reporting, EDI initiatives, P&C systems accuracy, and the delivery of School wide initiatives.

We’re looking for someone with:

• Strong experience managing complex ER cases in a busy P&C environment
• Excellent knowledge of employment law and P&C best practice
• Experience working in HE, FE or a conservatoire setting
• Confident in communicating with stakeholders at all levels
• Ability to manage recruitment campaigns and support organisational development
• Strong IT, Excel and P&C systems capability
• A collaborative, resilient and solutions focused approach

How to Apply

Please ensure you have read our privacy statement before you send your application forms to us.

Please note that this role is not eligible for sponsorship of a Skilled Worker Visa. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK for us to consider your application.

Please complete our online application Section A and Section B by midday on Monday 27th April 2026.

It is anticipated that interviews and assessments will take place in person on 7th or 8th May 2026. Please note that we currently do not reimburse travel expenses.

We aim to shortlist all applications within 2 weeks of the advert closing date. If you do not hear from us within this time, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.

Disability Confidence Scheme

Central operates the Disability Confident Scheme. This is a government initiative aimed at promoting equal employment opportunities for disabled people and to create a workplace that is welcoming, inclusive and supportive.

We actively encourage disabled people to apply for our job vacancies, and we welcome applications from candidates with all types of disabilities. As part of the Disability Confident Scheme, we commit to offering an interview to applicants who declare a disability and meet all essential criteria for the job. To be considered for an interview under this scheme you must have:

• a physical or mental impairment, or a long-term health condition which has a substantial and long term (over 12 months) adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities
• demonstrated in your application that you meet the minimum job criteria as set out in the advert or person specification for the post.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, including neurodivergent candidates, LGBTQ+ and Global Majority backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented within the sector and within Central.

Please be assured that we will protect your privacy and the information provided on the monitoring form. No information is shared if there is a risk of identification