A career without limits
As the nation’s flag carrier, we take great pride in connecting Britain with the world and the world with Britain.
It’s something we’ve been doing for over 100 years, ever since we launched the world’s first international scheduled air service between London and Paris.
This originality has been in our blood since day one. It’s the spirit we share with the people that fly with us, our partners, and our colleagues.
So, whether you are a reassuring voice on the end of a phone, a smile at the door, under a wing keeping the turbines spinning or landing us gently in far-flung places, a job at British Airways is yours to make.
We know great things can happen when you’re inspired to think big and bring your ambition to work every day, which is why, at British Airways the sky is never the limit.
The role: HR Manager
12 Month FTC (Maternity cover)
Please note: If you have previously applied for an HR Manager role with us within the last six months, we would encourage you to wait for future opportunities before submitting another application. This will allow you more time to build on your experience before being considered for the role again.
HR at British Airways is unlike anywhere else. The scale, pace and complexity of our operation, combined with long standing trade union partnerships and layered contractual policies, create an environment that can stretch even experienced HR professionals.
This HR Manager role sits right at the centre of that. It’s a genuinely broad role where you’ll work across employee relations, policy, reward and business support. You won’t just apply policy. You will interpret it, question its use when needed, and use it to build fair outcomes within a multifaceted, unionised environment.
Like many long-established organisations, some of our systems and processes reflect our history. We’re on a journey to modernise our HR technology, and this role will play a broader part in that. In the meantime, you’ll need to be comfortable working in an environment that isn’t always straightforward, while helping us improve how we operate for the future.
This role is a genuine stepping stone into strategic HR Business Partnering. It would suit someone who has developed in a complex or highly regulated organisation and is now ready to broaden their experience, having gained previous experience in similar roles such as HR Manager, Associate/Junior HR Business Partner or Employee Relations Business Partner.
You’ll be part of our HR team supporting a dynamic and operationally critical area of the airline, helping leaders navigate people challenges and delivering consistent, fair and commercially sound outcomes.
What you’ll do:
- Advise on a wide range of our most complex employee relations cases, providing clear, balanced and commercially sound advice
- Interpret and apply intricate policies and agreements in a practical and consistent way
- Partner with leaders on day-to-day people matters as well as longer term workforce considerations with the Strategic HR Business Partners
- Support across reward, organisational and generalist HR activity, including the colleague lifecycle or analysing people data
- Work closely with trade unions, understanding and applying collective agreements (where applicable)
- Find opportunities to simplify and improve processes within our ongoing HR transformation
- Build strong relationships with stakeholders and influence outcomes across the business
What you’ll bring to British Airways:
- The ability to work confidently in a complex and sometimes ambiguous environment
- Resilience and sound judgement when dealing with complicated or unclear situations, considering the consistency of how we handle situations
- A pragmatic approach, balancing policy, fairness and commercial outcomes
- Strong relationship building and influencing skills
- The curiosity to look beyond the detail and understand the wider business context
- An attitude focused on continuous improvement and making things work better
Your experience:
- Demonstrated expertise in applying and interpreting HR policy within a sophisticated environment, ideally in an organisation with a long-standing history
- Solid experience of broader generalist HR activity beyond pure policy application, including in reward and engagement
- Proven track record of handling a varied employee relations caseload
- Experience working in a unionised, regulated or operationally complex organisation
What we offer:
We believe that all the people who work with us should feel valued for the part they play. It’s one of the reasons our rewards go far beyond a competitive salary.
From the day you join us, you’ll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways flights. You’ll also receive up to 30 discounted ‘Hotline’ airfares per year for yourself, friends, and family.
At British Airways you’ll have the chance to take on new challenges and move forward in a way that feels right for you. We encourage all those who work for us to consider opportunities right across our business to help you develop and progress.
We never stand still, and we don’t expect our people to either.
Inclusion & Diversity
At British Airways we all have a part to play in creating an inclusive place to work. Diverse representation among our people is really important to us and we recognise that all our colleagues are uniquely different and bring their own originality, creativity and identity to work.
Inclusion and diversity is a key driver of innovation and we’re committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they can be themselves. We’re looking for people from all backgrounds and cultures to join us and be a part of our journey to become a Better BA as we continue to connect Britain with the world and the world with Britain.
