HR Operations Manager
About us
Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals and over 600 staff based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.
We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.
Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 6th best law firm to work at in 2026.
With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 45% of our partnership.
The team you will join
Our HR team sits within the wider Business Services Division, providing expert guidance and trusted advice to managers and employees to support the effective delivery of HR processes across the firm.
As we continue to grow and evolve, the team plays a key role in shaping a future-focused firm driving positive change, fostering a high-performance culture, and ensuring our people strategy aligns with the firm’s long-term ambitions.
By proactively partnering with the business, the HR team champions innovation in people practices, supports leadership capability, and enables an engaging and inclusive employee experience. Through continuous improvement and a forward-looking approach, the team helps build a resilient, adaptable workforce that is equipped to meet future challenges and opportunities as we expand.
The work you will be doing
Reporting to the HR Director, this role will be responsible for the running and continuous improvement of the HR Operations function by ensuring that policies, procedures and HR processes remain legally compliant, efficient and aligned with best practice.
The role is responsible for creating and maintaining robust operational frameworks, including service level agreements (SLAs), quality standards and workflow processes, whilst managing a high-performing team of HR administrators to deliver a consistent and excellent employee experience.
Operational Excellence
- Own and continuously improve HR operational processes across the full employee lifecycle, ensuring they are efficient, consistent, well documented and aligned to best practice.
- Design, implement and monitor SLAs, KPIs and quality standards for HR service delivery (onboarding, contract changes, payroll data flows, exits, etc.).
- Ensure compliance with legal requirements, professional standards and internal governance across all HR operational activities.
- Conduct regular process reviews, identifying opportunities for simplification, automation and improved accuracy.
- Lead the review, drafting and updating of HR policies, procedures and guidance, ensuring they remain compliant with current employment legislation and reflect Birketts’ culture and values.
- Maintain a forward plan for policy reviews and legislative updates, proactively recommending changes and communicating them clearly to employees and managers.
- Provide expert advice to the wider HR team and managers on the interpretation and application of policies.
- Line manage the HR Administration team, ensuring workloads, priorities and development plans support efficient service delivery.
- Provide coaching, training and guidance to build capability, resilience and a culture of continuous improvement.
- Oversee quality assurance checks to ensure accuracy and consistency of all administrative outputs, including contracts, letters, system entries and payroll inputs.
- Work closely with other HR colleagues to optimise the HRIS, workflows and automation opportunities.
- Support the firm in navigating technology changes, including the emerging influence of AI, by identifying opportunities to streamline HR operations, increase accuracy and enhance employee experience.
- Monitor external developments in HR technology and recommend adoption or adaptation to ensure the function remains modern, efficient and forward looking.
- Ensure high standards of data integrity, compliance and record keeping in accordance with GDPR and information security requirements.
- Support the preparation of management information reports, tracking SLA performance, operational metrics and trends.
- Build strong working relationships with managers, Payroll, IT, Talent Acquisition and wider business support teams to ensure coordinated and efficient HR operations.
- Provide clear, solutions-focused guidance on HR processes and policy requirements.
- Act as a trusted escalation point for operational queries and issues.
- Lead and contribute to HR projects including the introduction of new systems, upgrades, new workflows, policy overhauls, process mapping and organisational changes.
- Benchmark HR operational practices against legal sector and professional services norms, recommending enhancements where beneficial.
- Support the achievement of HR Department goals, systems and operational plans.
- Ensure compliance with relevant information security and risk management requirements.
What we are looking for
- Proven experience in HR Operations, HR Administration management or a similar role within a legal or professional services environment.
- Strong understanding of employment legislation and HR best practice in policy, process and workflow design.Demonstrable experience designing and maintaining SLAs, operational metrics and quality stand
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