People and Culture Business Partner

Reporting to: Chief Operating Officer

Contract type: Permanent/1-year renewable FTC as per local labour laws

Hours: Full time, 40 hours per week

**Salary**: Salary and employment benefits will be set according to market compensation rates in your location and therefore it is not possible to include full details here. However, as an indication if this role was based in the UK, for example, the range would be £43,000 - £53,000 per annum on a full-time employment contract

**About ARK**

ARK is a social enterprise, empowering local communities through the provision of agile and sustainable interventions to create greater stability, opportunity and hope for the future.

We believe that strong, resilient communities are the foundation of local, national, regional and international development and stability - and ultimately a safer, peaceful and more prosperous world. At ARK, we have delivered research and programmatic interventions validating this approach in over twenty countries since 2008. As a social enterprise we work in partnership with communities, our donors, and other implementers to build local capacities, generate opportunity and bring about sustainable change.

**About the Role**

ARK’s HR Department is responsible for the employee lifecycle across the organisation, supporting business strategy and project delivery. We focus on fostering a culture that reflects our organisational values, aiming to build an engaged and motivated workforce that drives success across all of ARK’s international development projects and internal initiatives.

ARK is now expanding, and we’re looking for an experienced People and Culture Business Partner to join the HR team, reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer. In this exciting new role, you’ll oversee employee engagement, performance, learning and development, workforce planning and talent management. As People & Culture Business Partner, you will work closely alongside the Senior Management Team, Project Managers, and the wider HR Team to build strong relationships, understand business priorities, and create an engaged workforce. Your strategic insights will help anticipate and meet our resourcing needs.

**What you'll be doing as People and Culture Business Partner**

Workforce Planning and Organisational Design
- Drive a culture of high performance, identifying skills gaps and developmental needs and requirements through review of organisational design and workforce planning.
- Partnering with managers to identify future recruitment needs and skills gaps, to ensure effective staffing of their teams.
- Promoting equity, diversity and inclusivity in how we recruit and develop staff, working closely with HR Team and Talent Acquisition Specialist.
- Lead on organisational design, designing roles and structures to enable better organisational performance
- Maintain a standard bank of role profiles and leadership and competency frameworks to support recruitment and employee development, ensuring behaviours and skills are consistent with organisational culture.

People Development
- Regularly review with COO and Talent Acquisition Specialist organisational strategy for talent acquisition and employee development.
- Lead on training and development, identifying the current and future skills requirements of the organisation, and creating flexible learning interventions (through digital and other means) to meet the diverse needs of the workforce.
- Working closely with different project managers, and departmental leads, to organise and manage training content on the HRIS platform
- Collaborate with HR Operations and Internal Audit on the design of annual compliance training and reporting for audit and donor requirements
- Responsible for the design of the annual performance review process on the HRIS platform in collaboration with HR Operations and Compliance Manager, ensuring employees receive regular feedback and coaching.

Employee Relations and Organisational Culture
- Lead on employee engagement surveys and action plans with relevant teams and departments.
- Build leadership capabilities to ensure line managers are accountable for the well-being and productivity of their teams and provide coaching and support on all ER issues.
- Identify HR trends so that attention can be directed to key issues and resources.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders across the business to achieve high levels of trust, respect and professionalism
- Develop and maintain extensive external network to stay updated on industry and sector best practice, trends and developments

Reward
- Lead on the organisation’s Reward strategy and annual salary review process, liaising with HR Operations and Compliance Manager and COO.
- Provide recommendations on Reward and Benefits in new markets, in collaboration with Talent Acquisition Specialists and HR Operations and Compliance Manager.
- Lead on job evaluation process for new and existing roles.

**Require