Lead People Partner

Why Greencore?
Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we're one of the UK's leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make every day taste better.

As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we're proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn.

Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.

What you'll be doing

As a Lead People Partner, you will provide senior HR leadership across our Kiveton (S26 5PF) and Consett (DH8 7NU) sites, partnering closely with site leadership teams to drive a people agenda that supports performance, engagement, capability and compliance.

This is a role for a highly capable, experienced People Partner who can operate confidently in complex, fast-paced manufacturing environments. You'll build trusted relationships with senior operational leaders, bringing sound judgement, practical guidance and appropriate challenge to help leaders make strong people decisions.

You'll oversee employee relations activity across the sites, ensuring cases are managed consistently, fairly and with appropriate pace and rigour. You'll use people data to understand what is happening locally, spot trends early and turn insight into action that improves the colleague experience and supports operational performance.

A key part of the role will be building leadership capability. You'll coach and guide managers through people issues, support engagement activity, and help create working environments where matters are addressed early, consistently and effectively.

The two sites each bring their own operational context, so you'll need to balance priorities, adapt your style and maintain strong visibility across both locations. You'll bring a calm, credible HR presence, staying close to site reality while helping align local people plans with the direction of the wider business.

As Greencore and Bakkavor continue to build one business together, our sites are central to that change story. You'll help ensure Kiveton and Consett move in step with the wider business, supporting change, strengthening local leadership and helping build a more consistent colleague experience.
The role will primarily be based at Kiveton with travel to Consett approximately one day per week (with occasional flexibility).

What we're looking for
You're a strong, experienced operational HR professional who has built credibility in demanding, fast-moving environments. You'll ideally have:

CIPD qualification, ideally MCIPD or working at an equivalent level through experience
A substantial background in operational HR or people partnering, ideally within manufacturing, logistics, food production or another complex operational environment
Strong employee relations experience, including the confidence to oversee complex cases and coach managers through them
Credibility with senior operational stakeholders, including site leadership teams
The ability to use people data to identify trends, challenge thinking and drive action
Experience supporting colleague engagement, manager capability and local people plans
Confidence operating across more than one site, balancing priorities and adapting your style to different environments
The judgement, resilience and pace needed to succeed in a high-change, high-volume operational business
A practical, hands-on approach, with the ability to move between strategic site partnering and day-to-day operational supportWhat you'll get in return

Competitive salary and job-related benefits
Matched company pension contributions
Life insurance up to 4x salary
Company share save scheme
Greencore Qualifications
Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform
Access to a full Wellbeing Centre platform
Enhanced parental leave and menopause policiesThroughout your time at Greencore, you'll be supported with on-the-job development and the chance to leave a lasting impact on site capability and compliance.

If you're looking for a role where you can roll up your sleeves, take ownership and help shape a stronger future, join us and grow with Greencore