Interim Senior HR Leader and Senior HR Consultant – UK University

Anderson Quigley is urgently supporting a UK university on the recruitment for 2 x critical senior interim HR roles to support a major restructuring exercise. These roles will play a pivotal part in driving large-scale organisational change, workforce transformation, and senior-level strategic advisory during a period of significant activity.

The Roles:

The first role is a full-time interim role, working closely with the Director of Transformation and the Chief Operating Officer. This position, initially for 6 months with the potential for extension, involves hybrid working (2-3 days on-site per week) and requires extensive and hands on senior HR experience in large-scale change, consultations, ER/IR, TU negotiation, pay disputes and HR project management. This will likely be remunerated on a FTC salary + travel/accommodation expenses can potentially be discussed as a market supplement.

The second is a part-time consultancy role, working directly with the executive team and the Vice-Chancellor. This advisory position requires 2-3 days per week in total (with 1 of those per week on-site), for c.6-9 months. The senior HR consultant will focus on providing strategic advice, guiding senior stakeholders, and supporting the delivery of key strategic objectives, still within the above context of significant institution wide restructuring and workforce transformation. This will likely be remunerated on a day-rate + travel/accommodation expenses can possibly be discussed for the right consultant.

Essential Criteria:

Both roles demand significant expertise in HR leadership, change management, industrial and employee relations, trade union negotiations, workforce and course portfolio review, and collective consultations. We are looking for experienced HR leaders, ideally with higher education sector experience, though cognate public sector experience may be considered for the interim role in particular. Both candidates must be adept negotiators, confident advisors, and highly emotionally intelligent leaders who can manage executive-level stakeholders and deliver tangible results in complex environments.

Next Steps:

Shortlisting and interviewing are happening on an ongoing and daily basis until successful appointment. To discuss further, please contact Akhil Yerneni with an updated CV and your availability.