People Partner
People Partner at OAL
📍 Location: Peterborough, PE2 6YN | £50,000 to £60,000 | Full-Time, Permanent
Help us build the people function from the ground up
We’re looking for a People & Culture Partner to join us on our mission to transform food and drink manufacturing through automation and robotics.
This is a new role at OAL, reporting directly to the Managing Director. You’ll lead recruitment, performance, and engagement across the business and design simple, scalable people systems to support our next stage of growth.
You’ll be joining a team that believes in direct communication, high standards, and solving hard problems together. If you’re looking for a hands-on opportunity to shape how a fast-growing business hires, develops, and retains great people, this is it.
Your Role Will Involve
Leading recruitment for 20+ hires in 2025 across engineering, software, and operations
Designing and running end-to-end hiring processes, from sourcing to onboarding
Creating simple, impactful performance and development frameworks
Supporting managers with feedback, coaching, and employee relations
Embedding our values and helping build a high-performance culture
Working with the Finance Director to ensure legal and HR compliance
Coordinating payroll, contracts, and people systems with finance
Acting as a trusted point of contact for employees and line managers
Benefits You’ll Enjoy
Flexible Working: Find the balance with our flexible work arrangements.
Generous Holiday Package: Enjoy 25 days of holiday plus public holidays, with the option to buy/sell up to 5 days.
Pension Scheme: Plan for the future with our company pension scheme.
Peace of Mind: Feel secure with our death in service benefit.
Continuous Learning: We’ll cover your professional fees, supporting your career development.
Smart Health: Access a 24/7 online GP, mental health support, and wellbeing services anytime.
What We’re Looking For
Experience building or running a people function in a growing business
Strong generalist background: recruitment, performance, ER, engagement
Experience supporting technical or engineering teams
Comfortable working independently and building from scratch
Solid knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practices
CIPD qualified (Level 5 or above)
Confident implementing people tools (ATS, onboarding, reviews)
Data-savvy, with a focus on insights over intuition
Commercial mindset with a focus on people outcomes, not paperwork
Tactful, trustworthy and comfortable operating at all levels of the business
About OAL
OAL helps food manufacturers automate. An innovative family business, based in Peterborough, the company provides automation and system integration services to food manufacturers. It’s a market leader for digital transformation, label and date code verification and robotic powder weighing. We're a growing SME offering fantastic opportunities in a fast-paced organisation. If you're ready to contribute to groundbreaking work in a supportive environment, we'd love to meet you.
