HR Business Partner - Chesterfield

About Varley Clothing

Varley is a contemporary fashion brand for the modern woman. Founded in 2015 by husband-and-wife Lara and Ben Mead, we are an international, family-run business headquartered between London, Los Angeles, and New York. 

We create year-round collections designed to build an elevated wardrobe for how women live and move. From knitwear and outerwear to everyday staples and active pieces, our collections blend style, function, and versatility. 

Varley exists to instil quiet confidence through meaningful connections that enhance everything women already are. As women’s lives evolve, so do we. 

Our international family-run team is 85% female, making us proud to be a brand for women, by women. We are guided by two core beliefs: the pursuit of quality in everything we do and looking after one another. 

HR Business Partner

Location: Chesterfield Office
Reporting to: Senior HR Manager
Department: Human Resources

Role Overview

The HR Business Partner will be a trusted people partner to leaders across Product, Merchandising and Operations, providing commercially focused HR advice and translating business priorities into effective people solutions.

Working closely with leaders and managers, the HR Business Partner will help build organisational capability, strengthen performance and engagement, support workforce and succession planning, and provide expert guidance on complex employee relations matters.

The role combines strategic business partnering with pragmatic, hands-on delivery. The HR Business Partner will use people data, business insight and employee feedback to identify trends, anticipate organisational needs and recommend practical solutions that support Varley’s continued growth.

The HR Business Partner will also play a central role in developing manager capability and creating a consistent, positive and high-performing employee experience.

Key Responsibilities

HR Business Partnering and Organisational Effectiveness

• Partner with leaders across Product, Merchandising and Operations to understand their business priorities and translate these into effective people plans.
• Act as a trusted adviser and coach to leaders and managers, providing constructive challenge and practical guidance.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders and develop a detailed understanding of their teams, organisational challenges and future capability requirements.
• Support organisational design, workforce planning, change management and team effectiveness initiatives.
• Partner with leaders to strengthen performance, engagement, retention and organisational capability.
• Use people data, business insight and employee feedback to identify trends, risks and opportunities and recommend appropriate action.
• Support annual people processes, including performance reviews, talent reviews, succession planning, salary reviews and workforce planning.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of wider HR and people priorities.

Employee Relations and Manager Capability

• Provide expert advice and coaching to managers on employee relations matters, including conduct, grievance, performance, capability, attendance, sickness absence and flexible working.
• Lead and oversee complex employee relations cases and investigations, ensuring fair, consistent and legally compliant outcomes.
• Support managers in preparing for and conducting formal employee meetings.
• Coach managers to address people matters confidently, consistently and at the appropriate stage.
• Build manager capability and reduce unnecessary dependency on HR for routine people-management matters.
• Identify themes and trends from employee relations activity and implement proactive interventions to address underlying issues.
• Partner with the HR Director on complex, sensitive or higher-risk employee matters.
• Maintain accurate and confidential case records and ensure that agreed actions are completed promptly.

Talent, Performance and Development

• Partner with leaders to identify current and future capability requirements.
• Support talent reviews, succession planning and career development across the relevant functions.
• Coach managers on setting clear objectives, providing feedback and managing performance effectively.
• Support the consistent delivery of performance and development processes.
• Identify organisational and team capability gaps and recommend targeted learning interventions.
• Develop and deliver management and leadership development programmes.
• Facilitate workshops, training sessions and other development activities.
• Support the development of career pathways, competency frameworks and development plans.
• Identify and support the development of high-potential employees.
• Lead and develop internship, apprenticeship and early-careers programmes, including relevant educational partnerships.

Culture, Engagement and Employee Experience

• Champion Varley’s values and support leaders in creating a positive, inclusive and high-performing culture.
• Partner with leaders to understand engagement levels and develop appropriate actions in response to employee feedback.
• Support employee engagement, wellbeing, recognition and inclusion initiatives.
• Help create an environment in which employees feel connected, supported and able to perform at their best.
• Support effective internal communication across the Chesterfield office.
• Work with relevant stakeholders to improve the employee and workplace experience.
• Act as a visible and approachable HR presence while maintaining professional boundaries, confidentiality and consistency.

Recruitment and Workforce Planning

• Partner with leaders and Talent Acquisition to understand current and future recruitment requirements.
• Support managers in defining role requirements and developing clear and effective job descriptions.
• Participate in recruitment and selection activity for key roles where appropriate.
• Support workforce planning by identifying future headcount, capability and succession requirements.
• Partner with hiring managers and the wider HR team to deliver a consistent and positive candidate and onboarding experience.
• Support the successful induction and integration of new employees.
• Lead local internship and early-careers recruitment and development activity.

People Operations and Insight

• Ensure that people processes are applied consistently and effectively across the business areas supported.
• Use HR metrics and people data to identify trends, assess risk and support informed business decisions.
• Produce meaningful people reports and provide clear recommendations based on the findings.
• Partner with the wider HR team on payroll, benefits, compliance and employee lifecycle activities.
• Champion effective use of Rippling and HR self-service, supporting managers to take ownership of routine people processes.
• Maintain high standards of data accuracy, confidentiality and GDPR compliance.
• Identify opportunities to simplify and improve people processes, systems and ways of working.
• Contribute to HR projects and continuous improvement initiatives that enhance the employee experience and operational effectiveness.

Key Relationships

• HR Director
• Senior leaders across Product, Merchandising and Operations
• People managers
• Wider HR and Talent Acquisition teams
• Payroll and Benefits 
• Finance
• Facilities and workplace teams
• External partners, where appropriate

Skills and Experience

Essential

• CIPD Level 5 or Level 7 qualified, or able to demonstrate equivalent professional experience.
• At least five years’ progressive generalist HR experience, ideally including experience operating as an HR Business Partner, HR Manager or Senior HR Adviser.
• Proven experience partnering with and influencing senior leaders and managers.
• Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to understand business priorities and translate these into practical people solutions.
• Extensive employee relations experience, including independently managing complex cases.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law, HR best practice and GDPR requirements.
• Experience supporting organisational change, workforce planning or organisational development.
• Experience supporting performance management, talent reviews, career development and succession planning.
• Strong coaching capability and experience developing manager confidence and effectiveness.
• Ability to analyse people data and translate findings into meaningful recommendations and actions.
• Experience using HR information systems, ideally Rippling or a similar platform.
• Experience delivering HR projects and process improvements.
• Excellent stakeholder-management and influencing skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including presentation, facilitation and coaching.
• Strong judgement, discretion and attention to detail.
• Highly organised, proactive and comfortable managing competing priorities.
• Collaborative, approachable, resilient and solutions-focused.

Desirable

• Experience working within a fast-paced fashion, retail, consumer goods or similarly commercial environment.
• Experience supporting Product, Merchandising, Operations or other commercially focused functions.
• Experience designing or delivering management and leadership development programmes.
• Experience supporting internships, apprenticeships, graduate programmes or other early-careers initiatives.
• Experience supporting a growing or evolving organisation.

Measures of Success

Success in the role will include:

• Trusted and effective relationships with leaders and managers.
• People plans that are clearly aligned with business priorities.
• Improved manager confidence and capability.
• Timely, consistent and legally compliant management of employee relations matters.
• Effective use of people data to identify trends and inform decisions.
• Stronger talent, succession and workforce planning.
• Improved employee engagement, retention and organisational effectiveness.
• Consistent delivery of core people processes.
• Practical improvements to the employee and manager experience.

Our Expectations

The HR Business Partner will be expected to operate with integrity, discretion and sound judgement. They will balance commercial requirements with a fair, consistent and people-focused approach, providing appropriate challenge while maintaining trusted and constructive working relationships.

The role requires someone who is comfortable moving between strategic priorities and hands-on delivery and who can adapt their approach to meet the needs of a growing, fast-paced business.