Welcome to Kia UK!
About Us
Kia UK is a leading automotive brand offering one of the industry’s largest range of models across multiple vehicle segments and was the fourth most popular UK car brand in 2024. With 190 Kia Dealers across the country, Kia is now widely known for its advanced electrified products offering the technology of tomorrow, today. Spearheading this charge are award-winning products including the fully electric EV6 – Kia’s first dedicated electric vehicle, the 2024 World Car of the Year the EV9 and the all new electric compact SUV and World Car of the Year 2025 the EV3.
Kia UK has consistently grown for over 30 years, supported by bold design, quality products and ever-evolving customer service. By 2027, the brand aims to offer no less than nine fully electric vehicles in the UK, a positive step towards becoming a leading global sustainable mobility solutions provider.
People are central to Kia UK and every day is an opportunity to learn something new and to grow personally and professionally. This was recognised with Kia UK named as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ 2024 and 2025 by Great Place To Work®, and also ranked in the 2024 & 2025 Best Workplaces™ for Women, Development, Wellbeing, and Manufacturing, Production & Transportation. Kia employees reported positively on areas such as working atmosphere, trust in management, corporate strategy, pride in working for the company, benefits, facilities and much more!
The Role
- Be a trusted and strategic partner to senior leaders, proactively partnering with them on all people related matters.
- Develop close working relationships and understanding of business goals and facilitate people and organisational solutions which support the business effectively.
- Partner with leaders on organisational changes, ensuring we are legally compliant and act as a true partner; questioning, constructively challenging and advising.
- Build strong internal relationships to deliver value through the whole employee lifecycle with a focus on employee experience and engagement.
- Act as the point of contact for employees for employee relations issues and other P&O topics, providing guidance, counselling, and training to managers and employees.
- Attend key meetings for assigned business area to understand the commercial needs and support the development and execution of P&O related programmes.
- Responsible for the performance & talent lifecycle from recruitment through to performance, development, internal promotions, succession planning and exit.
- Driving an innovative learning culture through identification and support of people development initiatives.
- Conduct exit interviews with staff who are leaving the company and give feedback and analysis where appropriate.
- Manage probationary assessments with new starter’s line managers.
- Recommend new processes, policies or tools in support of business priorities
- Own and/or support the P&O team with companywide projects from initial inception through to successful roll out.
- Maintain and update trackers in a timely manner to ensure accurate people data & payroll.
- Support with analysis of people data to identify trends and influence business decisions leveraging internal and external data.
- Champion Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and support in shaping and leading D&I initiatives for KUK.
- Proactive in ensuring knowledge of external market and employment law is kept up to date and translated to best practice and updates for KUK.
- Work with regional People & Organisation colleagues on European projects.
About You
- 5+ years’ experience in an HR Advisor or HR Business Partner role
- Strong team player with the ability to coach and support others
- Ability to influence and have impact with senior stakeholders
- Commercially savvy
- Enthusiasm and passion for driving engagement and a great employee experience
- Excellent communication skills – oral and written.
- Excellent IT skills
- Strong interpersonal presentation skills.
- Diplomatic & resilient with the ability to handle matters in a sensitive and professional way
- Knowledge and experience of HR systems, preferably Workday
- Pro-active and solutions focused
We recognise that there may be a number of ways to meet our requirements. We are looking for the best candidate for the job and encourage you to apply even if your experience or qualifications don’t exactly match what we’ve outlined in the role description. If you think you could be a good fit for this role, we’d love to hear from you!
The Benefits
🌊 Flexible working hours (core hours between 10:00am-3:00pm)
🏡 Hybrid working (up to 2 days a week remote working pro rata)
🚗 Employee Car Scheme (car lease + insurance all included from £85/month)
🍳 Onsite Chef -> free lunch every day
🩺 Private Medical Care (Vitality)
💗 Annual Health Checks and free flu jabs offered onsite
🦷 Private Dental Care (Denplan, £0 excess)
😮 Pension with enhanced employer contribution
💸 Life Assurance
🏖 24 days Annual Leave + Bank Holidays
🚴 Wellness benefits including cycle to work scheme, free eye tests, employee assistance programme, Mental Health First Aiders and more
💰 Financial hub providing free financial guidance and support
🌍 Work from anywhere for one week a year
🤰 Enhanced Maternity, Adoption and Shared Parental Leave (up to 6 months
full pay)
👶Enhanced Paternity Leave (up to 4 weeks
full pay)
🤸 Free weekly yoga, football, and badminton clubs
🎱 Pool tables, dart board, and massage chairs onsite
😇 Opportunity to get involved & give back via our charity partners
🥳 Birthday Vouchers
🎉 Celebrations such as our Spring Ball, Christmas events, Social Club and much more!
Location/Travel
The Kia UK Head Office is based in Walton-on-Thames, just a 5-minute walk from the station. We also have plenty of on-site parking for drivers, including EV charging ports.
There is step-free access throughout the building, but please let us know if you require any additional accessibility support and we will cater to your needs as best we can.
Interview Process
Step 1: CV review
Step 2: Teams interview
Step 3: Face-to-face interview
We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We understand that every candidate is unique, and we welcome the opportunity to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that all individuals can fully participate in our interview process. If you require any adjustments or support to facilitate your interview, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are happy to discuss your needs and make arrangements that support your participation to best showcase your skills and qualifications.
At Kia, we are committed to employing the best-qualified people and provide equal opportunity for the advancement of employees including promotion and training and thereby not discriminating against any person because of gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief or disability.
