People & Culture Manager

• People & Culture Manager
• c£40-45k
• Newly enhanced benefits
• Middleton with potential travel
• Hybrid and flexible working available

Are you passionate about cultivating a positive and engaging workplace culture? Do you have a knack for balancing strategic HR initiatives with day-to-day operations?

Oakleaf Partnership are working with an innovative and diverse business in the IT and Technology sector who are looking for a standalone People & Culture Manager. This person will play a vital role in their growing team, ensuring that their values are lived across the business and that their people feel heard, supported, and inspired. Despite their smaller size, this business competes with industry giants and have ambitions to scale up over the next five years. This is a really exciting opportunity to revamp and embed HR in this business and make a real impact. The role is based in Middleton with hybrid working.

What is the role?

As the People & Culture Manager, you'll be both a strategic advisor and a hands-on contributor, responsible for the end-to-end people agenda. You'll be the go-to person for all culture and HR matters, working closely with C-suite leadership to bridge the gap between leadership and staff. This role will involve leading recruitment and retention efforts, coaching line managers, overseeing appraisals and 1:1s, and updating policies, processes, and employee handbook to reflect modern standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Culture Development: Cultivate a positive, supportive culture across the company's diverse teams, from on-site forensic labs to remote tech and commercial staff.
• Trusted Advisor: Act as a key point of contact between C-suite and employees, helping to reinforce messages, gain trust, and maintain open communication.
• Recruitment & Retention: Lead recruitment initiatives, aiming to reduce reliance on external recruiters by leveraging platforms like Indeed.
• Performance & Development: Coach and develop line leaders, ensuring appraisals, performance management, and goal-setting processes are effective and meaningful.
• Policy & Process Improvement: Refresh policies, company values, and processes, updating a framework last refreshed in 2020.
• HRIS & Automation: Leverage PeopleHR for contract management, onboarding, and process automation.

Candidate profile

The successful candidate will have a strong background in HR, ideally within a standalone role. You will have strong interpersonal skills, be able to relate well to a diverse group of professionals from technical staff to sales teams. You will have a great commercial mindset with a proactive and hands-on approach. You will be comfortable in a strategic role with day-to-day operational tasks. Experience with HR systems is essential, People HR experience is preferable. You will be able to work independently with the motivation to drive meaningful change within a high-growth environment.

Ready to apply?

If you would like to be considered for this opportunity or have any questions, please apply to for more information.