Group People - Lead People Partner

At Sanderson Design Group, we are always looking for talented, ambitious and motivated people to join our team.  

Lead People Partner, Operations

Reports to: Group People Director

Location: Loughborough, with regular travel to our other sites in London, Lancaster and Milton Keynes

Department: People 

Role Overview:

As Lead People Partner, Operations, you'll own the people agenda across our factories and warehouses — turning the business plan into practical people priorities that strengthen capability, improve performance and support sustainable growth.

As a key member of the People leadership team, you'll combine strategic judgement with hands-on delivery: coaching and challenging senior operational leaders, and building trusted relationships with colleagues across our sites. Doing this here means bringing our People strategy to life where our products are made — helping talent prosper, creativity flourish and people grow.

About Us:

Sanderson Design Group plc is a luxury interior design house, home to six iconic brands with over 165 years of history: Sanderson, Morris & Co., Harlequin, Zoffany, Clarke & Clarke, and Scion. Our portfolio spans fabric, wallpaper, and paint, with manufacturing capabilities through Anstey and Standfast & Barracks. Our purpose is to 'bring the beautiful into people's homes and lives' and we are the proud owner of one of Europe's largest design archives, with over 75,000 historical documents and artworks. We also have a growing international licensing programme which supports our strategic global expansion.

Responsibilities:

Business Partnership & People Planning

• Own an integrated Operations people plan, aligned to the business plan and Group People strategy, with clear priorities, owners, milestones and measures of success.

• Build a detailed understanding of operational priorities, workforce costs, productivity and critical skills, and bring evidence and a people perspective to business decisions.

• Partner with, coach and constructively challenge senior operational leaders, helping them anticipate people risks and take ownership of people outcomes.

• Review delivery with operational leaders and the Group People Director, adapting plans as business needs change and escalating material risks with clear recommendations.

Workforce Capability & Organisational Change

• Lead workforce planning across the four sites, anticipating capacity, skills and succession needs and supporting effective decisions on structure and resourcing.

• Understand the reward architecture for Operations, working closely with Operational Leaders and Finance to manage resource plans effectively aligned to pay principles, business needs and budget constraints. 

• Lead the people workstreams of operational transformation, including organisation design and restructures, with clear communication, consultation and implementation.

• Work closely with Talent Acquisition and Learning & Development to strengthen critical skills, talent pipelines, early careers and succession for key operational and leadership roles.

• Support the adoption of new technology and ways of working, identifying capability requirements and helping leaders embed lasting improvements.

Leadership Performance & Culture

• Strengthen the capability of site leaders and people managers through coaching, practical guidance and targeted development, in partnership with Learning and Development.

• Embed the Group's performance and career frameworks, connecting individual objectives and development to business priorities.

• Turn colleague feedback and engagement insight into meaningful local action on inclusion, wellbeing, retention and a one company culture across Operations.

• Visibly present across sites, ensuring local perspectives inform Group People decisions.

Employee Relations & People Risk

• Lead complex or high-risk employee relations matters, providing balanced, commercially informed advice and ensuring fair, consistent and timely outcomes.

• Build constructive relationships with employee representatives and, where recognised, trade unions, leading consultation as required.

• Coach managers to handle attendance, performance, conduct and conflict effectively and consistently, with support from the People and Culture Advisors.

• Ensure local practice reflects employment requirements, Group policies and values; identify emerging risks and seek specialist advice where needed.

People Insight & Integrated Delivery

• Use Dayforce and other business data to identify workforce trends and agree action on absence, turnover, skills, engagement and costs, assessing the impact on operational outcomes.

• Contribute to Group People priorities and lead agreed programmes beyond Operations, sharing insight and effective practice across the People team and wider organisation. 

• Improve processes and the colleague experience, helping leaders use People systems well and supporting accurate workforce data and consistent practice across sites.

Team Leadership

• Key member of the People Leadership team, responsible for helping to shape the Group People strategy

• Line management or mentoring and supporting the development of members of the People team.

Skills & Experience:

Essential:

• Significant experience in a senior People partnering role, supporting a manufacturing, distribution or similarly complex operational workforce across multiple sites.

• A track record of translating business strategy into people plans and delivering measurable improvements in capability, performance or organisational effectiveness.

• Experience leading organisational change, workforce planning, talent and succession activity, and building management capability.

• Strong knowledge of UK employment practice and experience of complex employee relations and formal consultation, including working with employee representatives and, where applicable, trade unions.

• Commercial and analytical judgement, with confidence interpreting workforce data, understanding cost implications and recommending practical action.

• A track record of investing in and prioritising own personal development and continued professional development.

Desirable:

• Experience of industrial relations, collective pay negotiations and implementing change in a unionised environment.

• Experience using Dayforce or a comparable People system to generate insight and improve manager and colleague adoption.

How You Work

• Credible with senior stakeholders, with the confidence to coach, influence and constructively challenge while building trust with managers and frontline colleagues.

• Able to prioritise competing demands, lead delivery across sites and move between long-term planning and immediate operational needs.

• Approachable, and someone who follows through on commitments and helps leaders build teams where people can do their best work.

• Comfortable working from Loughborough and travelling regularly to the other sites, planning a visible presence that meets business and colleague needs.

• Qualifications:

• CIPD qualified, or equivalent professional experience, with evidence of continued development.

Values & Behaviours:

• Intrepid: Provide clarity, encouragement and meaningful feedback to help us move forward with purpose and positivity.

• Imaginative: Actively role model and encourage new ideas and collaboration across functions to drive a ‘one group’ mindset.

• Respectful: Lead with emotional intelligence, creating the conditions for a psychologically safe environment where everyone can be themselves at work.

We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all and we welcome applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds.