Senior Manager, HR Operations

Join Us in Changing Lives

At OXB, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We’re on a mission to enable life-changing therapies to reach patients around the world—and we’re looking for passionate individuals who embody our core values every day: Responsible, Responsive, Resilient, and Respectful.

We’re currently recruiting for a Senior Manager, HR Operations to join our HR team. This is a hands-on role with responsibility for overseeing the efficient and compliant delivery of end‑to‑end HR operational services, including the employee lifecycle, HRIS, payroll oversight, and continuous process improvement. This role ensures that HR processes are scalable, seamless, and designed to enhance overall employee experience. The Senior Manager will lead a small team, partner closely with HR and business leaders, and drive operational excellence through standardisation, automation, and data-driven decision making.

Your responsibilities in this role would be:

Lead, coach, and develop the HR Operations team to deliver a high-quality and scalable service.

Payroll 

• Lead and oversee payroll operations for UK and Germany, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance. 
• Manage the relationship with external payroll providers to ensure an accurate, timely payroll processing service is received.
• In close partnership with Finance, ensure payroll operations meet compliance requirements across jurisdictions, including tax regulations, statutory reporting, and audit standards.
• Monitor payroll inputs throughout the employee lifecycle (e.g., new hires, salary changes, variable pay, leaves of absence).
• Lead periodic payroll reviews, reconciliations, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Resolve complex payroll queries and escalations in partnership with Finance and external payroll providers.

HR Systems (HRIS) 

• Oversee the optimisation, maintenance and governance of OXB’s global HR system, SuccessFactors, through collaboration with HRLT, business leaders and employees. 
• Lead HRIS projects, acting as the project manager to drive system enhancements, configurations, testing, and any data integrations.

• Oversee system updates and ensure data accuracy, integrity and security to ensure SF remains the source of truth for all employee data.

• Oversee the provision of reporting, dashboards and analytics to inform OXB’s leadership, to support strategic decision making. 

• Promote effective HRIS use across HR and the wider business by championing user adoption through training, documentation, and change management.

HR Delivery

• Lead employee lifecycle process delivery - streamline workflows, ensuring efficient processes which provide employees with a best-in-class service
• Ensure consistent, compliant, and efficient execution of HR administrative processes across all regions.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all HR lifecycle workflows.
• Design and enhance HR operational processes with a strong employee‑centric mindset.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition, HR Business Partners, Reward, Finance, IT, and other functions to ensure a seamless employee experience throughout all lifecycle touchpoints.

• Create and monitor SLAs that drive efficiency and continuous improvement. 

• Collaborate to resolve operational issues across HR and the wider business

HR Compliance 

• Ensure compliance with GDPR and data privacy. 
• Oversee immigration activities to ensure OXB’s compliance as a sponsor licence holder.

• Support policy updates.

Continuous Process Improvement

• Drive a culture of continuous improvement across HR operations to streamline processes, eliminate inefficiencies, and reduce manual work.
• Conduct regular process reviews using Lean/Six Sigma or similar methodologies.
• Implement automation opportunities—leveraging HRIS functionality, integrations, or digital workflow tools.
• Ensure communications, guidance materials, and knowledge base content are clear, accessible, and user‑friendly.
• Lead cross‑functional projects to modernize HR services and elevate the employee experience.  

We are looking for:

• HR related degree or relevant progressive experience in HR operations, payroll, or HR systems. 
• Able to identify inefficiencies across payroll, HR systems, and HR delivery processes, and propose practical, scalable improvements.
• Leads, develops, and motivates team to achieve high performance and service excellence.
• Creates a collaborative, supportive team environment that encourages knowledge sharing and problem‑solving.
• Communicates clearly and confidently with employees, managers, senior leaders, and external partners.
• Able to explain complex payroll, HRIS, or process topics in simple, accessible language for non‑technical audiences.
• Skilled at adapting communication style depending on audience, situation, and sensitivity of the topic.
• Builds strong, trusted relationships across HR, Finance, IT, and business teams to support effective collaboration.
• Highly organised, able to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a fast‑paced environment.
• Proactive and self‑motivated, taking ownership of issues and driving them to resolution.
• Comfortable working both independently and collaboratively, depending on the situation.
• A global mindset, pragmatic and flexible, able to adjust approach as business needs evolve.
• Strong customer‑service orientation, focused on delivering a positive experience for employees and stakeholders.
• Continuous improvement mindset, always looking for ways to enhance processes and efficiency.
• Confident using data and insights to guide decisions and validate recommendations.
• Demonstrates sound judgement and a balanced approach to risk, compliance, and operational needs.
• SuccessFactors experience would be advantageous

 About Us:

OXB is a quality and innovation-led viral vector CDMO with a mission to enable its clients to deliver life changing therapies to patients around the world. One of the original pioneers in cell and gene therapy, we have more than 25 years of experience in viral vectors; the driving force behind the majority of gene therapies.

OXB collaborates with some of the world’s most innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, providing viral vector development and manufacturing expertise in lentivirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV) and adenoviral vectors. OXB’s world-class capabilities span from early-stage development to commercialisation. These capabilities are supported by robust quality-assurance systems, analytical methods, and depth of regulatory expertise.

Why Join Us?

• 💸 Competitive total reward packages
• 🧘 Wellbeing programs that support your mental and physical health
• 🚀 Career development opportunities to help you grow and thrive
• 🤝 Supportive, inclusive, and collaborative culture
• 🧪 State-of-the-art labs and manufacturing facilities
• 🌍 A company that lives its values: Responsible, Responsive, Resilient, Respect

We want you to feel inspired every day. At OXB, we’re future-focused and growing fast. We succeed together—through passion, commitment, and teamwork.

Ready to Make a Difference?