Head of Employee Services

Contract: Interim
Rate: Circa £900 per day, Inside IR35
Location: Newcastle - 2 days per week onsite

Altum Consulting is partnering with a large, complex organisation to appoint an Interim Head of Employee Services to lead its HR Operations function during a significant period of transformation.

This is a hands-on leadership role with responsibility for the effective delivery of Employee Services across a large UK workforce, covering HR Administration, Payroll, Benefits and Pensions.

The successful candidate will provide strong leadership across the function, ensuring services operate effectively while driving improvements across service delivery, governance, processes and employee experience.

The organisation is also embarking on significant change across HRIS, payroll and time & attendance, providing the opportunity to play an important role in shaping and supporting the wider HR transformation agenda.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the Employee Services function, overseeing HR Administration, Payroll, Benefits and Pensions.
• Ensure high-volume employee services are delivered accurately, consistently and against agreed KPIs and SLAs.
• Provide strong leadership and direction to the Employee Services team.
• Review and improve HR processes to increase efficiency, consistency and service quality.
• Maintain strong governance, controls and compliance across payroll and HR administration.
• Partner closely with HR, Finance, IT and senior leadership to resolve operational challenges and improve service delivery.
• Support HRIS, payroll and time & attendance transformation activity.
• Manage third-party suppliers and service providers, ensuring performance against agreed service levels.
• Use service data and employee feedback to identify and implement practical improvements.

Experience required

• Significant experience leading HR Operations, Employee Services or Shared Services within a large, complex organisation.
• Strong operational knowledge across payroll, pensions, benefits, HR administration, and employee lifecycle processes.
• Experience managing high-volume services against KPIs and SLAs.
• Proven experience leading and developing Employee Services teams.
• Strong understanding of governance, controls, compliance, and service management.
• Experience improving and standardising HR processes across complex organisations.
• Excellent stakeholder management across HR, Finance, IT and senior leadership.
• Experience with HR technologies such as Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ServiceNow or similar.
• Experience supporting HRIS, payroll or wider HR transformation programmes would be highly beneficial.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced interim HR Operations leader who can hit the ground running, lead a complex Employee Services function and make a tangible impact during a significant period of change.