HR Advisor – Full Time or Part Time

HR Advisor – Full Time or Part Time

Salary: £33,000 - £36,000 based on a working 35 hours per week (dependant of breath of experience)

Hours of Work: 30 – 35 hours per week

Darwin is a welcoming community of postgraduate students and academics. Our beautiful riverside location provides a home in central Cambridge for students from over 80 different countries, studying for the full range of postgraduate degrees.

Founded in 1964, we were the first exclusively postgraduate College in Cambridge, and the first to admit both women and men. For over 60 years Darwin has offered an egalitarian, inclusive space within which research can flourish. Our members and alumni are at the forefront of innovative responses to global challenges, from the climate crisis to emerging viruses.

We are looking for a proactive and highly organised HR Advisor to join our small HR Team, reporting to the HR Manager. You will have proven experience of working at HR Co-ordinator level or above with minimum supervision and be passionate about delivering a high quality HR service to the college community.

The role requires you to work at the Darwin College site in the centre of Cambridge 5 days per week, it is ideally a full-time role working 35 hours per week (plus a 30 minute unpaid lunch break), however, there is some flexibility to reduce this to 30 hours per week.

The full job description below outlines the requirements of the post.

Benefits

• Free meals during working hours and college kitchen opening hours
• 33 days' annual leave a year (inclusive of bank holidays) (pro rata for part time workers). After 5 years' service your annual holiday entitlement will be increased by one day
• Non-contractual annual bonus
• Defined contribution Pension scheme
• Free access to the College gym
• Free on-site parking on a first come first served basis
• Training and Professional Development
• Access to the Cambridge University Library

To apply, please submit a CV and a covering letter.

Closing Date: 15th December 2025

Full Job description

Job Purpose

The Advisor will support the HR Manager in delivering efficient HR services across the college. This role is pivotal in maintaining accurate HR records, supporting the employee lifecycle, and ensuring compliance with UK employment law and college policies. The successful candidate will be a good communicator, organised, detail focussed, and passionate about people and continuous improvement.

Specific Duties

· Act as the first point of contact for general HR queries from employees and managers, including; recruitment, family friendly policies, training, pay & benefits, absence management and other general employee relation queries.

· Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee records.

· Assist with the full employee lifecycle including onboarding, contract creation, induction, changes to terms and conditions, and offboarding.

· Assist managers with the recruitment process including, review of job descriptions, creating interview questions, attending interviews and producing the new starter paperwork, references and right to work checks.

· Support payroll processes by preparing monthly employee changes and liaising with payroll.

· Producing HR correspondence such as; offer letters and employment contracts, end of employment letters, references, and annual salary review letters.

· Support employee relations casework, including disciplinary, grievance and other performance capability related matters.

· Provide support to managers and employees with the performance review process to ensure that they are undertaken annually.

· Organise annual training and development initiatives and maintain accurate records of attendance.

· Organise and promote staff wellbeing and work life balance initiatives.

· Ensure hard copy filing, electronic filing and archiving is up to date and in line with GDPR and HR Policies and procedures

· Contribute to HR projects and continuous improvement initiatives.

· Support the HR Manager with reviewing and updating HR Policies and procedures.

· Monitor long term sickness absence cases.

· Ensure that the latest policies, procedures, guidelines, benefits and forms are available on the College intranet and easily accessible to all staff.

· Provide a high level of administrative duties.

· Support your colleagues in other departments as required.

Experience

· A minimum of 3 years experience of working in an HR department at HR Co-ordinator level or above, where you have been a key contact for the staff and management.

· CIPD level 3 qualified or equivalent qualifications/skills gained through experience

· Well rounded experience of all aspects of HR including; induction, HR Policy and procedures, employee relations and payroll and benefits administration.

· Proven experience of the end to end recruitment process, including online recruitment and interviewing.

· Have a good practical understanding of current employment law and HR best practice.

· Experience of setting up and maintaining accurate employee records.

· Experience of organising employees training initiatives and associates record keeping.

Skills

· Highly organised with excellent attention to detail and accuracy.

· Good initiative and able to work with minimum supervision.

· Confident and proactive in liaising with people at all levels and working as part of a wider team.

· An interest in promoting a supportive and inclusive working culture.

· Proficient in Microsoft Office and experience with HR systems.

· Able to compose appropriate, grammatically correct correspondence.

· A pro-active approach to workload planning and managing competing priorities.

· Able to make a positive contribution to the smooth working of the team and wider College.

· Ability to appreciate what constitutes confidential information and the need to keep matters confidential.

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: £33,000.00-£36,000.00 per year

Application question(s):

• What is your current/ last salary and benefits package?
• Where do you live?
• Can you work 5 days a week in the centre of Cambridge?

Experience:

• HR Co-ordinator level or above: 3 years (required)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person