HR Change Consultant

Your new company
We are seeking an experienced HR Change Consultant to support a major organisational change programme at a leading London university. This role will play a key part in shaping and delivering people-related change activities across academic and professional services functions.The ideal candidate will bring proven experience operating within highly unionised environments, strong knowledge of higher education structures and academic frameworks, and hands-on expertise in managing restructures and redundancy processes in a compliant, sensitive, and collaborative manner.

Your new role

• Partner with senior HR leaders, change leads and faculty/department heads to design and implement people-focused change interventions.
• Lead on end-to-end organisational change activities, including consultation planning, restructuring, selection processes, and redundancy management.
• Develop and deliver change plans, impact assessments, communications, and engagement strategies aligned to university policies and employment legislation.
• Build strong working relationships with recognised trade unions; manage formal and informal consultations, negotiate where required, and support constructive dialogue.
• Provide expert advice to senior stakeholders on academic structures, grading frameworks, career pathways, workload models and associated policy implications.
• Ensure all change activities follow best practice, employment law, and university governance processes.
• Support managers through change conversations, capability building, and HR decision-making to ensure consistent and fair outcomes.
• Analyse workforce data, organisational design proposals, and role profiles to identify risks, opportunities, and areas requiring further refinement.
• Prepare documentation including consultation packs, FAQs, meeting notes, business cases, and outcome letters.
• Support post-implementation activities such as transition planning, embedding new structures, and capturing lessons learned.

Essential Experience & Skills

• Extensive experience as an HR Change Consultant, HR Business Partner, or similar HR role delivering large-scale organisational change.
• Strong background working within unionised environments, with proven ability to navigate complex industrial relations.
• Understanding of higher education or academic settings, including academic frameworks, career pathways, and governance structures.
• Demonstrable experience managing redundancies, restructures, and consultation processes in compliance with UK employment law.
• Skilled at stakeholder management, particularly with senior leaders, academic governance groups, and employee representatives.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, organisational design proposals, and role requirements.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and negotiation skills.
• Ability to work at pace on multiple workstreams within a large, evolving change programme.

If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.

Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk