HR Business Partner

THE ROLE

The HR Business Partner for WiseEnergy plays a critical role in the Senior Leadership Team of this growing business.  The successful candidate will act as a coach for the Global MD and her leadership team and will be responsible for developing and managing talent, leading the people elements of transformational change and driving efficient group people processes.

You will form part of a transforming HR function, working with the newly appointed Chief People Officer (who joined January 2025).  There is dedicated TA support and HR Managers providing in-country support in India and Italy.  

You will need to have significant experience of being a strategic business partner with a strong technical HR toolkit and be excited by being a core part of a scaling, mission-led business.  You will have some experience of international HR environment and ideally direct team leadership responsibilities.

THE BUSINESS

Founded in 2009, WiseEnergy (www.wise-energy.com) delivers asset management and construction support services in the Renewable Energy (predominantly solar energy) sector.  WiseEnergy spans 12 countries with the main employee hubs in London, UK; Milan, Italy; Madrid, Spain; and Hyderabad, India. In addition, we have teams based in Poland, Portugal, the US, Chile and Greece.  

Headquartered in London, UK, WiseEnergy's ~200 employees provide services to ensure optimal operation of each solar asset and are united by the vision to lead the transition to clean energy.  The majority of our assets are invested in by our sister business NextEnergy Capital which is how NextEnergy Group creates maximum value in the renewable energy sector.

NextEnergy Group has a goal to double in size in the next 5-10 years and so WiseEnergy will need to grow with it.  Moving from the startup to the scale-up phase, WiseEnergy has ambitious plans to transform and scale its processes so it can deliver maximum value for its customers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Be an active and key member of the WiseEnergy Senior Leadership Team where you will proactively contribute to the organisation’s strategy and structure.
• Coach to MD and Senior Leadership Team, acting as sounding board providing challenge and support in equal measure
• Build & execute the strategic HR plan for the WiseEnergy business which supports their growth agenda– ensuring appropriate levels of stretch and coordination with the group centre.
• Lead and facilitate the talent management process, including supporting talent acquisition, talent development, succession planning, and retention.
• Drive the performance management cycle consistent with a High-Performance company, comprising goal setting, feedback, coaching, and assessment.
• Engage and inspire employees through effective communication in a variety of settings.
• Analyse HR data and metrics to identify trends, issues, and opportunities for improvement – partner with the People Ops team to continually drive effective, efficient processes within the broader team, and when interfacing with employees, candidates and other parties
• Manage and resolve (or coach more junior members of the team to manage and resolve) complex employee relations cases in accordance with company policies and employment laws.
• Be a role model for other HR professionals and ensure the quality and consistency of HR services across the organisation.

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

To be successful in this role, you will demonstrate:

• Graduate calibre and ideally CIPD qualified with significant post-qualification experience
• Strong client management/ stakeholder management skills; with a high orientation to quality delivery at pace.
• Coaching qualifications/ significant experience in coaching and setting individual development plans.
• Culturally astute to ensure that as WiseEnergy scales it retains the best of its culture whilst developing other aspects to deliver for our stakeholder and our planet..
• Change Leadership across multiple jurisdictions, ensuring clear communication and engagement of employees and delivering required outcomes for the business.
• Strong knowledge of HR practices in high-performance environments
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and influencing skills, including excellent written and spoken English Language Skills.  An additional language (Italian/ Spanish) would be an added benefit.
• Orientation to technological literacy and comfort with data management and interpretation
• Exceptional organisational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Proficiency in MS Office and HR software (HiBob, Greenhouse)
• Flexibility and adaptability to changing priorities and demands.
• Passion for our mission ‘to generate a more sustainable future by leading the transition to clean energy
• Our values: be a leader, build trust, be responsible, be innovative and ‘bring your alpha’.

EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS 

• Significant experience in an HR Business Partner role, ideally a combination of large corporates and smaller organisations (or evidence of being able to think and plan strategically as well as “rolling sleeves up” and delivering)
• Experience working in HR BP and COE model (Ulrich) – understands how to operate in this model to get best outcomes for the business
• It would be valuable to have a strength in Talent Management activities as this will be a core part of the HR Strategy at WiseEnergy.
• Experience in leading transformational change both the programmatic leadership to design and deliver multiple workstreams of work and the ability to coach and lead people through change.
• Experience working in International HR environments, ideally across Europe.
• The right to live and work in the UK.

 WHAT WE OFFER

• A busy role in a supportive team, with plenty of opportunities to learn
• International scope – we operate in over 8 countries
• Hybrid working – we will need you in our office at least twice a week, but you will normally be able to work remotely for the remainder of the week
• Annual discretionary bonus.

HOW TO APPLY

If you are interested in this opportunity, please follow the link to apply or send your application to careers@nextenergygroup.com. If you have been shortlisted for the next stage, we will be in contact within 14 days. 

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DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Our approach to diversity and inclusion is a natural extension of our values. Our entrepreneurial culture inspires us to try new things, be open to different viewpoints and be bold. Our Group is committed to cultivating and preserving a culture of connectedness that values difference and gives space for individual expression. The collective sum of our individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, innovation, self-expression, and talent and hard work form the bedrock of who we are and who we aspire to be.

We are committed to equal employment and advancement opportunity irrespective of race, color, ancestry, social background, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability and gender identity.