Senior HR Business Partner

About the role

This role involves leading strategic workforce planning for ZeroAvia's UK engineering functions. The Senior HR Business Partner will forecast headcount needs, collaborate with talent acquisition on hiring strategies, and analyze workforce data to identify and address talent gaps. Success in this area means ensuring the engineering team has the right capabilities to meet program delivery timelines and drive innovation in hydrogen-electric aviation.

A key part of this position is maintaining HR operational excellence, data integrity, and UK compliance. This includes overseeing compliant onboarding processes, managing HRIS data accuracy, and handling employee relations in line with UK employment law. The role also involves leading annual performance and compensation reviews and ensuring adherence to health and safety regulations.

The Senior HR Business Partner will also focus on talent engagement and development. This involves creating data-driven retention strategies, supporting talent acquisition in building talent pipelines, and overseeing learning and development activities. The goal is to identify and address critical skill gaps within the engineering teams through targeted development initiatives.

The listed salary range for this role is $40,000 to $64,000 USD.

Skills that matter here

• Strategic Workforce Planning: This role leads forecasting and planning for engineering headcount needs, aligning with business objectives.
• Workforce Analytics: The position requires analyzing workforce data and market insights to identify talent gaps and inform strategies.
• HR Operations: Responsibilities include managing compliant onboarding, HRIS data integrity, and employee relations.
• UK Compliance: The role ensures adherence to UK GDPR, employment law, ACAS guidance, HSE, and CAA regulations.
• Talent Acquisition: This position partners with talent acquisition to translate workforce plans into hiring strategies and build talent pipelines.
• Learning & Development: The role oversees L&D activities to address skill gaps and align with future capability requirements.

Who this role suits

• You have a background in HR within an engineering, aerospace, or technical organization.
• You are adept at using data to drive decisions and can translate complex information into actionable recommendations.
• You are comfortable influencing and presenting at an executive level.
• You are detail-oriented, particularly regarding data accuracy and regulatory compliance.

From the employer

The role

Strategic Workforce Planning & UK Analytics

• Lead strategic workforce planning for engineering functions, forecasting permanent headcount requirements aligned to UK defence and commercial aviation pipelines.
• Partner closely with Talent Acquisition to translate workforce plans into hiring strategies, ensuring timely delivery of critical engineering capability.
• Analyse workforce data and market insights to identify talent gaps across key engineering disciplines and inform proactive hiring and retention strategies.
• Develop and present data-driven workforce and retention plans to the Executive Team, with clear linkage to budget, cost modelling, and long-term capability needs.
• Own and track key workforce KPIs (e.g., attrition, time-to-fill, vacancy rates, utilisation trends), providing actionable insights to senior stakeholders.
• Drive a culture of data fluency within HR, leveraging advanced analytics to support evidence-based decision-making.
• Facilitate internal mobility and workforce optimisation initiatives, maximising utilisation of existing engineering capability across programmes.

HR Operations, Data Integrity & UK Compliance

• Ensure compliant onboarding processes, including Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) and National Security Vetting (NSV).
• Take ownership of HR Information Systems (HRIS), ensuring data is accurate, clean, up-to-date, and fully compliant with UK GDPR requirements.
• Act as a custodian of people data integrity, driving continuous improvement in data quality, reporting standards, and system utilisation.
• Manage employee relations matters, including grievance processes and tribunal risk mitigation, in line with UK employment law.
• Lead annual performance and compensation review cycles in line with ACAS guidance and organisational frameworks.
• Ensure compliance with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations.

Talent, Engagement & Development

• Develop and implement data-led retention strategies to address engineering skills shortages and improve employee engagement.
• Support Talent Acquisition in building long-term talent pipelines and employer value proposition (EVP) initiatives.
• Oversee Learning & Development activity, ensuring alignment to business needs and future capability requirements.
• Partner with functional leaders to identify critical skill gaps and support targeted development initiatives.

Experience & Qualifications

• Proven experience operating as a strategic HR Business Partner within an engineering, aerospace, or technical organisation.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and present at executive level, translating complex workforce data into clear, commercially focused recommendations.
• High level of data fluency, with strong capability in workforce analytics.