Contract jobs for the Animal sector
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Contract:6-month fixed term contract
Hours: 28 hours per week over 4 days
Salary:£29,500 - £34,000 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Location:Burford, Oxfordshire, hybrid working with a minimum of two days per week in the office
Closing date:12 June 2026
Interview dates:19 & 22 June 2026
Are you passionate about supporting people and creating positive workplace experiences? We’re looking for a People & Culture Advisor to join our People & Culture team at Blue Cross on a 6 month fixed term basis.
This is a varied and rewarding role where you’ll work closely with managers and colleagues across the organisation, providing practical advice, guidance and support on a wide range of people matters, while helping us continue to build an inclusive and collaborative One Blue Cross culture.
More about the role
As a People & Culture Advisor, you’ll support the delivery of a high quality People service across the organisation. Working alongside the P&C Business Partners, you’ll be supporting managers through both informal and formal employee relations cases, including sickness absence, grievance, disciplinary and capability matters, ensuring these are handled fairly, consistently and in line with policy and best practice.
You’ll also play an important role in supporting volunteer managers across Blue Cross, helping to develop volunteering management solutions and providing support with volunteer systems and processes. Alongside this, you’ll contribute to people projects, management workshops, policy development and reporting, helping to continuously improve the support and services we provide to our people.
This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to further develop their HR career within a collaborative and values driven environment.
About you
You’ll be an approachable and confident HR professional with strong employee relations experience who enjoys building trusted relationships with managers and colleagues. Comfortable managing a varied workload, you’ll be able to balance day-to-day operational activity with longer-term projects and improvement work.
You’ll have strong communication and administration skills, a proactive approach and the ability to handle sensitive information with discretion. You’ll also share our compassionate, courageous and inclusive values and be passionate about creating positive experiences for both employees and volunteers.
Essential Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
- Previous experience of working in HR, gained throughout the employee life cycle
- Experience of advising managers through formal and informal Employee Relations cases including sickness absence, grievance, disciplinary and capability
- Confident in dealing with numbers and experience of analysing and reporting data
- Excellent interpersonal skills and customer-facing skills
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal
- Good attention to detail
- Great administration skills
- A proven track record of prioritising and organising work and projects within a busy and multi-functioning role
- IT literate with MS Office, web-based platforms, and databases
- The ability to demonstrate, understand and apply our Blue Cross values
Desirable Qualifications, Skills, and Experience
- CIPD Level 3
- Experience of working with volunteers in a HR environment
- Experience of managing projects and development programmes
- An understanding of the demands of the voluntary sector
How to apply
Click the apply button below and complete the online application process before the closing date. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.
We believe in a world where all pets enjoy a healthy and happy life with people who love them



The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
You will support the delivery of the People & Culture plan, ensuring the organisation has the capability, culture and capacity to achieve its strategic objectives.
You will act as a trusted partner to SMT, translating organisational priorities into people solutions and driving a high-performance, values-led culture.
Based: Hybrid (ideally 2 days in office) The Grange, Saunderton, Princes Risborough.
Contract: Fixed term until 31 December 2026.
Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week (part-time applications considered, min. 3 days per week).
Key Activities
- Lead, coach and develop the People team, line managing the People Business Partner and People Operations Manager, to deliver quality people services across the employee lifecycle
- Lead workforce planning aligned to organisational strategy and service delivery needs
- Provide expert HR advice and guidance on complex ER, risk and organisational change
- Oversee recruitment strategy and employer brand
- Ensure compliance with employment law, safeguarding and regulatory requirements
- Use people data and insights to inform decision-making and drive continuous improvement
- Develop organisational approach to pay progression and employee benefits
- Lead on the development of a new EDI strategy
Customer and Service Delivery Expectations
- Leading and developing the People Experience function (made up of People Business Partnering and People Operations teams) to be high performing
- Timely, pragmatic and risk-aware HR advice
- High-quality, consistent and fair people processes
- Clear, simple and accessible guidance for managers
- Regular data reporting and people analytics support evidence-based recommendations aligned to organisational priorities
- Proactive rather than reactive support
- Compliance maintained with minimal risk exposure
- Positive feedback from SMT and other stakeholders on quality and impact of People team effectiveness
Key Deliverables
- People services and initiatives foster an inclusive, positive and high-performance culture in line with organisational values, and are delivered on time and within resource
- Improved employee engagement scores, measurable progress and clear action plan delivery
- Workforce plans aligned to service delivery needs and budget
- Achievement Development Review process is embedded with high completion rates and quality outcomes
- EDI strategy and policy developed, with implementation plan
- Pay progression framework and updated benefits package
Benefits
- Employee Assistance Programme.
- Death in Service Payment.
- Annual leave enhancements recognising long service
- Day off for your birthday
- Defined contribution group personal pension plan
- Enhanced sick pay
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- Eye care
- Hearing tests
- Learning and Development opportunities
- Discounts on merchandise at Hearing Dog gift shops
- Pet Dog Policy
Closing date: 9th June 2026.
National charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People trains dogs to transform the lives of deaf people and provides hearing loss services – because nobody with hearing loss should feel alone.