Job Description

People Business Partner – Retail (South Region) - 12 months FTC

Field Based | Frequent Regional Travel (company car is provided) | South Region

Comprising c230 Pet Care Centres your territory spans the entirety of the South, from southern Midlands (Malvern) to Cornwall (Penzance), and includes the Isle of White and Guernsey.

At Pets at Home, we're passionate about creating a better world for pets and the people who love them.

At Pets at Home, we're passionate about creating a better world for pets and the people who love them.

We're looking for an experienced, data driven and commercially minded People Business Partner to join our Retail People Team. If you are passionate about developing people, have the confidence to challenge constructively, lead through change and build trusted relationships with senior leaders across our South Region that help deliver business performance while creating a great colleague experience, then this role might be for you!

About the role

As People Business Partner, you'll act as a trusted advisor to our Regional Operations Director and support a network of Area Managers and Store Leadership teams across the South Region. You'll play a key role in shaping and delivering our people strategy, ensuring our colleagues are engaged, high-performing and equipped to deliver exceptional experiences for customers and their pets.

This is a true business partnering opportunity where you'll combine strategic thinking with practical delivery, influencing senior stakeholders, driving positive change, and translating business priorities into people-focused solutions. Working closely with our Centres of Expertise, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Reward and Colleague Relations teams, you'll help build an inclusive, high-performing culture that supports both current and future business needs.

What you'll be doing

• Partnering with senior retail leaders to deliver the Retail People Strategy across the South Region.
• Using people data and insight to drive productivity, retention, succession planning and leadership effectiveness.
• Coaching and challenging leaders to create a culture of accountability, performance and continuous improvement.
• Leading talent and succession planning activities to build strong internal pipelines for the future.
• Supporting transformational change initiatives, helping leaders and colleagues navigate periods of change and ambiguity.
• Championing Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, ensuring inclusive practices are embedded across recruitment, development and decision-making.
• Leading colleague listening and engagement initiatives, turning feedback into meaningful action.
• Collaborating with specialist People teams to deliver impactful, consistent and scalable people solutions.

You'll bring:

• Proven experience in a People Business Partner or HR Business Partner role.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and challenge at all levels.
• Experience balancing strategic priorities with operational people matters.
• Excellent planning, organisation and prioritisation skills.
• High emotional intelligence, sound judgement and excellent decision-making ability.
• A passion for colleague engagement, wellbeing, inclusion and culture.

Desirable experience includes:

• Retail sector experience.
• A strong HR and Employee Relations background.
• Experience partnering at Director level.
• CIPD qualification.

Important Information

• You must live within the South Applicants must live within the region, from Oxford to the South Coast, including Cornwall and Dover
• Region to be considered for this role. (From Oxford down south to the coast including Cornwall and Dover )
• Frequent regional travel is required, along with occasional national travel and overnight stays.
• Regular visits to our Handforth Support Office and Stafford Distribution Centre will be needed.
• The role includes participation in a rotational emergency weekend cover arrangement.

Why Pets at Home?

We're a business built on care, collaboration and a shared love of pets. You'll have the opportunity to influence business-critical decisions, shape the future of our people agenda, and make a genuine difference to thousands of colleagues across our retail estate. If you're looking for a strategic People role where you can challenge, influence and drive change at scale, we'd love to hear from you.

Inclusion

We believe everyone is welcome, and everyone belongs. If you think you’re a strong match for this role — and you share our belief that together we’re better with pets — we’d love to hear from you, whatever your background or circumstances.

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