Senior People Partner, Warner Music UK

Job Description:

At Warner Music Group, we’re a global collective of music makers and music lovers, tech innovators and inspired entrepreneurs, game-changing creatives and passionate team members. Here, we know that each talent makes our collective bolder and brighter. We are guided by four core principles that underpin everything we do across all our diverse businesses:

1. Music is Everything : Music is our passion, and we can never get enough. Tastes, trends, and tech will change, but great artists and songwriters will always be our driving force.
2. Global Growth, Local Expertise : Music is a global language. Through communication and collaboration, our success can come from anywhere and translate everywhere.
3. Innovation and Insight : Pushing the boundaries requires the best information and the boldest imagination. We use both to create the future.
4. Empowered by People : Like the artists we serve and the music they make, our differences make us stronger. This is a place where every talent can belong and build a career.

We remain committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We know it fosters a culture where you can truly belong, contribute, and grow. We encourage applications from people of any age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, and any other characteristic or identity.

A little bit about our team:

The People team is a key part of Warner Music Group and is focused on attracting, retaining and developing exceptional people, enabling them to be the best they can be to drive Warner’s continued success in the market place. The team designs, implements and facilitates People programs around Recruitment, Management and Development, Employee Engagement, Compensation and Benefits and People Processes & Policies, to enable the people leaders within the business to execute best in practice. Our team also partners with the business to support key organisational initiatives.

Our People team is evolving – we are looking for a creative, curious and commercially orientated leader to partner with our business and drive the people Agenda. This is a generalist role, operating as a Senior People Partner to designated client groups local and international client groups, providing support on operational issues, effectuating the delivery of People strategy and informing and challenging senior management thinking. The role partners with specialist teams to deliver people initiatives.

Priorities

1. Partner and build relationships with senior leaders, executives and label presidents and their teams. Helping determine strategic people plans and address priorities.
2. Understand their leadership style. Challenge them to continually grow and bring the best out of their team, and coach them through any people decisions.
3. Work with a commercial mind-set, with the maturity and confidence to push back to the business when required.
4. Advise and influence stakeholders on issues related to workforce planning, organisational design and talent planning.
5. Manage the high potential (Hi-Po) process. Ensure that senior leaders have clarity on who their top talent is and coach them through development plans, ensure that this data is added to Workday.
6. Manage succession planning with the business leaders. Support them in establishing what this might look like, and provide clarity on what needs to happen and by when.
7. In conjunction with department heads, independently plan, action and deliver restructures, including the management of any redundancy consultation in accordance with commercial and legal requirements.
8. Lead, manage and inspire dedicated People Advisor. Ensuring their involvement and professional development by coaching them and supporting their impact and growth.

Responsibilities

1. Provide excellent business partnering in terms of day to day advice and support for leaders and managers.
2. Manage employee relation issues both informal and formal with the business. Make recommendations for the best approach in handling and managing.
3. When required, take ownership of investigations by method of coaching the manager and supporting on the collection of documentation in partnership with the People Advisor.
4. Update colleagues across the function about business developments to aid their understanding of what is taking place in the business.
5. Provide supportive feedback in a timely manner and ensure that style and approach is flexed to their specific needs and way of working.
6. Manage and advise on policy, process and Employment Law, and where required input on any policy change.
7. Work with line management to manage performance management processes, grievance, disciplinary, and change management.
8. Support people leaders in dealing with any short and long term absence issues; from advising on policy to work force planning.
9. Be able to review and understand the headcount forecasting documents used by the finance managers to review year on year costings.
10. Collaborate with the wider People team to successfully deliver programs, initiatives and cycles, for example our performance review cycle, AMP, which takes place in Jan, April, July and Oct Bonus, Budgeting, Diversity & Inclusion, Data & Analytics, Compliance, Wellness etc).
11. Review notes from the exit interviews, and where appropriate escalate feedback to leaders and support in any change required.
12. Partner with UK communities of excellence and where appropriate other regional HR resources to leverage existing practices.
13. Deputise, when necessary the VP, People Partnering at meetings or at other project teams.

About you:

1. Demonstrable experience of working in a rapidly changing environment.
2. Maintain a high tolerance of ambiguity and offer a flexible approach.
3. Apply critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills to cut through complexity.
4. Graduate level and ideally CIPD Qualified (or international equivalent).
5. Demonstrate a data driven approach – you are highly analytical and able to draw insight from data and use/promote technology enablement.
6. Advocate the talent agenda and act as a culture champion.
7. Experience of the following processes; talent management, talent development, performance management, discipline & grievance, change management including restructuring and redundancy.
8. Experience of working relatively autonomously with designated client groups and of working closely day to day with senior management, coaching where appropriate.
9. Good knowledge of employment law and strong previous experience of applying knowledge when providing day to day advice.
10. Project management and delivery capabilities.
11. Culturally curious, inquisitive networkers who leverage insight from the external world.
12. Driver of change.
13. Proven track record in generalist advisory/manager role.
14. Good conflict management, negotiation and influencing skills.

We’d love it if you also had:

Experience working within the music, tech or media industry, although certainly not essential. Experience of HR systems (Workday).

About us:

As the home to Asylum, Atlantic, East West, Elektra, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Rhino, Roadrunner, Sire, Warner Records, Warner Classics, and several other of the world’s premier recording labels, Warner Music Group champions emerging artists and global superstars alike.

Together, we are Warner Music Group: Music With Vision & Voice.

Thanks for your interest in working for WMG. We love it here, and think you will, too.

WMG is committed to inclusion and diversity in all aspects of our business.