HR Administrator

4,000+ employees.
Lending a helping hand. Core of company support
.
HR Administrator
£23,000 - £27,000 (+ Benefits)

Grade:
S2

Reports to:
People Services Manager

Contract:
18 month fixed-term contract

Hours:
Full time 35 hours per week

Location:
Stratford, London. Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

Visa sponsorship:
You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is
not
able to offer visa sponsorship.

Closing date:
28 November 2025, 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact as soon as possible.

Recruitment process:
One competency-based interview

Interview date:
From the week commencing 08 December 2025

How do I apply?
We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.
We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That's why we're looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

This is an opportunity to join Cancer Research UK's People Services Team of 10 (including Payroll) and the wider HR department, which are essential to our Sustain Strategy and HR Ops Plan. HR's purpose is to ensure and create an employee experience that enables us to be an inclusive, sustainable, and agile organisation across our large and dynamic UK workforce of over 600+ shops and 2,500+ office staff. This involves delivering process improvements and providing care and guidance for our people, who are Cancer Research UK's strongest asset in beating cancer. However, the HR department could not achieve this without the People Services team, who drive all employee lifecycle activities such as query resolution, advising on HR policy and procedures, employee administration, and many more processes that are essential to the smooth operation of HR.

As an HR Administrator, you will provide front-line support on our HR Helpdesk Service, helping all Cancer Research UK colleagues via email and phone while gaining exposure to various HR and policy-related queries. You'll own and process all transactional HR processes and employee lifecycle administration, including onboarding, contracts and pre-employment checks, reference requests, and contract changes. Furthermore, you will collaborate across the HR department with teams such as Talent Acquisition and Payroll.

If you have experience providing great customer service within a fast-paced administrative environment while delivering to SLAs with strong attention to detail, we would love for you to join our team and mission.

What will I be doing?

• Being the first point of contact for managers and employees by taking calls and responding to emails on the HR Helpdesk within agreed SLAs.
• Escalating more complex queries within the HR team and signposting to Centres of Excellence where appropriate, while ensuring managers always receive consistent advice.

• Completing administrative processes for new starters. This includes:

• Validating candidates' eligibility to work, reviewing references and other background checks, loading the correct information onto the HR system, issuing contracts, and responding to any new starter queries.

• Collaborating in partnership with the Talent Acquisition team and Payroll to:

• Ensure that all customer needs and deadlines are met (e.g. contract production and payroll cut-off).

• Identify and implement improvements to our processes and systems to ensure that they are efficient and fit for purpose.

• Owning the administration of HR processes across the employee lifecycle, such as responding to reference requests, contract extensions, variations, and leavers within agreed SLAs.

• Delivering training on our HR system (currently Workday) as required.

What are you looking for?

• Proven background in providing great customer service both via email and over the phone.
• Experience working within a fast-paced work environment while delivering to SLAs with differing priorities.
• Has experience processing a high volume of administrative tasks while remaining calm under pressure.
• Has dealt with highly confidential and sensitive information.
• Strong attention to detail as well as excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Highly organised with strong prioritisation skills.
• Confident user of computer packages (including MS Word, MS Excel, and Email, as well as Workday or similar HR/ ERP systems).
• Experience in an HR shared environment and all stages of an employee lifecycle (this is desirable, meaning we welcome applicants without this experience).

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We're looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you're interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we'd still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?
We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Additional Information
For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen. Please contact or
0
as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.