HR Advisor Early Careers Development

About the job

Stevenage

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

Salary: £32- £48,000 depending on experience 

What we can offer you:

• Company bonus of up to £2,500 (based on company performance and will vary year to year)
• Pension of maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Paid overtime
• 25 days annual leave (plus holiday purchase)
• Up to 15 additional days flexi leave
• Our enhanced parental leave offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave. Enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments.
• Fantastic site facilities, including subsidised meals, free car parking (and gym on site at Stevenage)
• Excellent career progression and development opportunities

Dynamic (hybrid) working: We trust our people to agree, within their teams, where and when they can be most effective. Our Dynamic Working policy allows individuals flexibility around the hours they work and where they work.

Typically for this role you will work where most effective for the role, Stevenage site based but can work from home attending Stevenage and other sites/ locations in the UK as required by the role. Typically most people will attend site c2 days per week.

The opportunity:

We are seeking an enthusiastic Early Careers/Apprenticeships Specialist or HR Generalist with relevant Early Careers experience to join our Early Careers team in our multi-national defence systems business.

Reporting to the HR Manager for the Early Careers Programmes, this person work with designated business areas to ensure that we deliver high quality development experiences for all the Apprentices and Graduates in their areas of responsibility.

The Role

• You will be consulting with and advising aligned internal stakeholders, the Early Careers Programme members themselves, Placement Managers, Team Leaders, Area Co-ordinators and Line Managers.
• You will be responsible for deploying development activity to all the EC programmes in your areas but also for being a Line Manager & Generalist HR contact for the Apprentice communities you are responsible for. You will also own and manage the Apprentice placement plan for your areas

• You will be working with aligned external learning providers and academic institutions to ensure that MBDA ECPs and apprenticeships deliver to meet our business requirements for the aligned areas
• You will support the Early Careers Manager in continually reviewing our existing Early Careers Programmes including Apprenticeships to identify and implement improvements and changes necessary to ensure our programmes remain market leading
• You will deputise for the HR Manager Early Careers Programme in their absence and will support the further skills development in the Early Careers Team
• You will maintain close and effective working relationships with the Early Careers Recruitment team to ensure that they have great programmes to promote, and that they recruit high calibre candidates for the Company. This will include agreeing the annual Intake numbers for your areas of responsibility
• You will get the opportunity to work or own key projects for the Early Careers team, for the Learning and Development Team or the wider HR team as appropriate
• You will help the management of the Bi Annual Graduate Salary Review Process, support or lead on the Apprentice Annual Pay review  and also support the External  Placement & Secondment process for your areas
• You will support or own the Graduate or Apprentice  Scheme society accreditation process

What's in it for you?

• The opportunity to make a real difference to individuals and to the wider business, by helping to develop employees who will be the future of the Company in a company that has Early Careers as a key part of its Talent Strategy
• The chance to work on and enhance our award- winning and market leading early careers programmes
• You will be very visible in the organisation and have access to, and support of, senior management in your work
• The chance to work in a passionate, enthusiastic and caring team which is heavily involved in supporting and driving change in the business
• Opportunities to share your work and experiences internally but also with a wide network outside of the company – with government, universities, conferences and industry and local business groupings
• You will have the ability to think creatively, quickly identify credible solutions and follow through to delivery and evaluation
• The opportunity to develop some close working relationships with key suppliers and learning partners
• The chance to become part of a company which is in the forefront of thinking about how to utilise Early Careers to best advantage

What's great about the team?

• You will be joining an enthusiastic and caring  team which is dedicated to enhancing our employee experience of all forms of learning, and whose members are passionate about helping others to develop
• The team is part of the international Learning and Development function, and believe in adding value to the business through what we do and how we do it
• The business managers seek out members of the team for specialist advice and recognise us as experts in our field
• The wider team includes a great collection of trusted external suppliers who are always willing to share their learning and ideas

What we're looking for from you:

• You will ideally be educated to degree level or equivalent and hold a CIPD or other relevant training and development qualification
• A generalist HR Background as well as some previous development & line management experience
• Engineering / Technical experience will be an advantage
• You will be a clear and credible communicator, and a passionate advocate for Early Careers Programmes
• You will have a good knowledge of the Apprentice Levy and the Early Careers sector
• You will be proactive and resilient, with the initiative and real drive to achieve results
• You will be thorough and well-organised with the ability to think and plan ahead in a very busy and changing environment that loves acronyms!
• You will build strong working relationships with colleagues, customers and suppliers and will be an ambassador for the team, Learning & Development,  Early Careers, the HR function & MBDA
• You will be aware of your own impact on others, confident using a variety of influencing styles, and will be comfortable challenging others at all levels of the organisation.
• You will be able to work flexibly as some travel to Bristol or Bolton and other locations will be required

Our Business:

We respect new perspectives and experiences, and we value our collaborative ways of working. We are committed to growing and supporting diversity in our workforce and ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their potential. MBDA is proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity and more…

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process. We also welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements.

Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), Twitter (@MBDAcareers), Instagram (lifeatMBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information.

Please Note: MBDA UK Limited requires all employees to achieve the required medical and national security clearance for their role. Further restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may also apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.