People and Culture Executive

Role

The People & Culture Executive is responsible for delivering a high-quality operational People & Culture service across the charity, ensuring administration, recruitment, onboarding, employee lifecycle processes, compliance and people systems are managed efficiently and professionally.

Working closely with the Head of People & Culture, the role supports the delivery of the charity's People & Culture strategy by leading day-to-day HR operations, providing advice and support to managers and employees, and ensuring an excellent employee experience throughout the employment lifecycle. The successful candidate will be proactive, organised and solutions-focused, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to build strong working relationships while supporting a positive, values-led culture.

Children with Cancer UK

Our vision is a world where every child and young person survives their cancer diagnosis.

We are the leading childhood cancer charity in the UK, supporting families and childhood cancer research since 1988. Over the last 38 years, we’ve developed kinder treatments, improved public and scientific understanding of childhood cancer and raised over £300 million. Our mission is to improve survival rates and the quality of survival in young cancer patients and to find ways to prevent cancer in the future.

Key responsibilities

Recruitment, Onboarding and Employee Lifecycle:

• Lead end-to-end recruitment administration, ensuring an excellent candidate experience and efficient recruitment processes.
• Coordinate advertising, interviews, offers, pre-employment checks, contracts and onboarding.
• Manage induction and probation processes, ensuring new colleagues receive a positive and consistent onboarding experience.
• Support managers with recruitment, onboarding and probation guidance to help attract and retain high-quality talent.

Employee Relations and HR Operations:

• Act as the first point of contact for People & Culture queries, providing advice and guidance to managers and employees.
• Manage employee lifecycle administration, including contractual changes, family leave, absence, flexible working and leaver processes.
• Support employee relations casework, investigations, meetings and documentation, escalating more complex matters where appropriate.
• Ensure People & Culture policies and procedures are applied consistently across the charity.

Learning and Development:

• Project manage the implementation, ongoing administration and continuous development of the charity’s learning management system, ensuring it remains effective, up to date and aligned with organisational learning needs.
• Coordinate mandatory training, onboarding and learning activities across the charity.
• Maintain accurate training records and monitor mandatory training completion, providing regular reports and escalating any compliance risks.
• Support delivery of leadership development, CPD, coaching and organisational learning initiatives.
• Monitor training completion, identify gaps and provide regular reports to managers and the Head of People & Culture.
• Work with managers to identify learning needs and support the delivery of development plans across the charity.

Compliance, Payroll and HR Systems:

• Maintain accurate employee records and HR systems, ensuring GDPR compliance and data integrity.
• Prepare and process payroll changes, working closely with Finance to ensure accuracy.
• Monitor compliance with employment legislation, mandatory checks and internal policies and update accordingly.
• Support audits and identify opportunities to strengthen compliance and reduce organisational risk.

Reporting and Continuous Improvement:

• Produce People & Culture reports and workforce metrics, including recruitment, turnover, absence, probation and training data.
• Support the Head of People & Culture with reporting, such as KPI and strategic workforce information.
• Review and improve People & Culture processes, documentation and systems to enhance efficiency and employee experience.
• Support organisational change projects and implementation of new People & Culture initiatives.

General People & Culture Support:

• Maintain confidentiality and professionalism when handling sensitive employee information.
• Build positive relationships across the charity and provide excellent service to managers and colleagues.
• Support wider People & Culture initiatives, including engagement, wellbeing and organisational development activities.
• Act as a positive ambassador for the People & Culture team and champion the charity's values.

Experience and Skills

Essential Experience:

• Experience working within a HR or People & Culture role.
• Experience managing recruitment, onboarding and employee lifecycle administration.
• Experience supporting managers with HR processes and employee relations.
• Experience maintaining HR systems, records and confidential employee information.
• Experience producing reports and using Microsoft Office and HR systems.

Essential Skills and Knowledge:

• Excellent organisational and planning skills.
• Strong knowledge of HR processes and employment legislation.
• Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to build effective relationships with managers and employees.
• Excellent problem-solving and organisational skills.
• Confident using HR systems, Microsoft Office and reporting tools.

Essential Personal Attributes:

• Highly proactive and organised.
• Professional, approachable and trustworthy.
• Solutions-focused with excellent attention to detail.
• Able to work independently and manage competing priorities.
• A confident communicator with strong interpersonal skills.
• Committed to delivering an excellent employee experience.
• Passionate about continuous improvement and building a positive workplace culture.

Desirable Experience, Skills and Attributes:

• Experience within the charity or not-for-profit sector
• Experience using Charlie HR or other HR systems
• CIPD Level 3 or Level 5 qualification (or working towards)
• Experience supporting employee relations and learning and development
• Experience supporting organisational change, employee engagement or continuous improvement initiatives

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

At Children with Cancer UK, we value diversity, and we are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone is able to be themselves and to reach their full potential. The statements are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and skills required for this position.

How to apply

Please submit your CV and cover letter as one document e.g. PDF or Word document.

All applications will be reviewed and considered by a member of our team and those applicants who appear to match our requirements will be contacted.

Advertisement will close on Monday 24th August 2026.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The charity recognises that candidates may use Artificial Intelligence tools to support aspects of the recruitment process. Candidates may use AI tools for research, preparation or to support written applications; however, all submitted work must accurately represent the candidate’s own skills, experience and suitability for the role.

Candidates should disclose if AI has been used in preparing application materials or completing any assessment activity. Failure to appropriately disclose significant use of AI-generated content may impact the recruitment process.

You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy.