People Partner (Maternity Cover)

Our purpose 🌍

Inspiring and empowering our people to create a positive difference for themselves, our clients and the planet. Sustainable Energy First is an energy and sustainability consultancy, founded to solve energy management problems in very large, complex commercial estates.

This remains the core of our business driven by a commitment to sustainability and the goal of reducing our clients’ carbon footprint.

The Role in a Nutshell 🐿️

This is a 12‑month maternity cover opportunity.

At Sustainable Energy First, we’re redefining what a People Partner looks like. This isn’t traditional HR, it’s about a genuinely people‑first mindset, rooted in the belief that one size never fits all.

We’re evolving how we work, with a strong commitment to inclusivity, sustainability, and high performance. In this role, you’ll be a key player in that journey, working closely with leaders and teams to bring our people strategy to life in ways that are practical, human, and genuinely impactful.

You’ll partner with managers across the business to deliver meaningful outcomes across performance, engagement, talent planning and inclusion, always keeping the employee experience at the heart of what you do. From supporting cultural alignment to improving collaboration across hybrid and remote teams, you’ll help turn our people ambitions into real, lived experiences.

Turn strategy into action

• Translate company strategy into practical people plans that are tailored and business-focused
• Work closely with leadership teams to align structure, talent, and capability to future needs

Coach and enable managers

• Be a trusted coach to leaders, helping them grow their people leadership confidence and impact
• Support managers in performance conversations, career development, and team health

Talent planning

• Help leaders ensure we’ve got the right people in the right roles at the right time
• Assist in building a pipeline of skills and capabilities for future growth

 Data-led decision-making

• Use people and commercial data to pre-empt issues, drive engagement, and measure outcomes
• Identify hotspots and partner on initiatives to improve team dynamics, performance, and retention

Change enablement

• Support the design and launch of change programmes across the colleague lifecycle
• Help teams adapt and move through transition successfully
• To work on key business/people projects as needed

Embed equity, diversity & inclusion

• Embed inclusion and belonging across all people practices, from onboarding to performance
• Be intentional in amplifying underrepresented voices and challenging status quos

Operational and cultural touchpoints

• Collaborate with People Operations to ensure seamless moments in the employee lifecycle
• Promote a culture of feedback, recognition, and personal development
• Help create clarity in our evolving remote-first/hybrid culture, ensuring consistent connection