People Operations Manager

Expana is the world’s leading agrifood-focused Price Reporting Agency (PRA) and global commodity intelligence provider. Formed through the combination of Mintec, Urner Barry, and associated brands, Expana brings together over 200 years of accumulated expertise in global commodity markets, serving more than 3,000 customers across 50 countries.

The Expana platform delivers 36,000+ proprietary price series across 900+ commodities, 70 million+ data points, and 1,400+ price forecasts, all underpinned by IOSCO-assured data integrity. Clients across retail, food manufacturing, agriculture, financial services, and industrial production rely on Expana to optimise procurement, manage commodity risk, and improve profitability across their supply chains.

Help Shape an Exceptional Employee Experience - 2 days in London Office

We're looking for an experienced and proactive People Operations Manager to join our People team

Reporting directly to the Chief HR Officer, you'll play a pivotal role in ensuring our people operations run smoothly, efficiently and compliantly while delivering a first-class employee experience. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys combining operational excellence with continuous improvement, data-driven decision-making and people-focused service delivery.

As the operational backbone of the People function, you'll lead key HR processes across payroll, benefits, policy compliance, HR systems and reporting. You'll also manage a People Advisor, helping to drive performance and deliver exceptional support to employees and managers across the business.

What You'll Be Doing

HR Operations & Process Excellence

• Lead the day-to-day delivery of People Operations across the organisation.
• Design, document and enhance HR processes and workflows, creating strong foundations for future technology and AI-enabled improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that increase efficiency, reduce risk and enhance employee experience.
• Develop scalable, compliant people processes that support organisational growth.
• Manage relationships with external HR suppliers and partners, ensuring service excellence and value for money.
• Partner with the wider People team to support engagement, inclusion, culture and employee wellbeing initiatives.

Payroll, Benefits & Reward Administration

• Oversee end-to-end global payroll activity, ensuring payroll is accurate, compliant and delivered on time.
• Act as the primary point of contact for payroll reconciliation, reporting and employee payroll queries.
• Manage relationships with payroll providers and internal stakeholders.
• Administer pension and salary sacrifice arrangements, ensuring legislative compliance.
• Lead the management and renewal of employee benefits, including:
• Private Medical Insurance
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Dental Cover
• Employee Assistance Programmes
• Monitor benefits utilisation and use insights and data to recommend improvements.
• Ensure benefits are communicated clearly and effectively to employees across the business.

Policy, Governance & Compliance

• Maintain HR policies and procedures in line with employment legislation and best practice.
• Coordinate key compliance activities including right-to-work verification, contractor compliance and sponsorship obligations where applicable.
• Maintain accurate and auditable HR documentation and records.
• Support internal and external audit activities, serving as the People team's primary contact for audit requests, including SOC2-related requirements.
• Partner with the CHRO to identify and manage people-related risks.

HR Systems, Data & Analytics

• Own and optimise the HR system, ensuring data accuracy, reporting integrity and effective utilisation.
• Produce insightful workforce reporting, dashboards and board-level analytics.
• Deliver data-driven recommendations that support strategic decision-making.
• Ensure employee records are maintained in accordance with UK GDPR and Data Protection legislation.

What You'll Bring

We're looking for someone who combines strong operational HR expertise with a continuous improvement mindset.

Essential Experience

• Strong understanding of international HR, UK employment legislation and HR best practices.
• Proven experience in a People Operations, HR Operations or HR Manager role ideally 10 years
• Strong knowledge of payroll, pensions, benefits administration and HR compliance.
• Experience managing HR systems and producing meaningful people analytics and reporting.
• Experience developing and improving HR processes and workflows.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience managing internal and external stakeholders and third-party providers.
• Excellent attention to detail, organisational skills and problem-solving capability.

We'd Love to See

• Experience supporting international or global payroll processes.
• Exposure to HR transformation, automation or AI-enabled process improvements.
• Experience supporting audits and broader governance requirements.
• People management experience.

If you're passionate about building scalable processes, leveraging technology to improve ways of working and creating an outstanding employee experience, we'd love to hear from you.

This is a unique opportunity to make a visible impact within a growing organisation. You'll work closely with senior leaders, influence how people operations are delivered and help build scalable foundations that support future growth and innovation.
We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and empowered to do their best work. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, experiences and communities.

In return for your hard work and dedication, we offer fantastic rewards. Please note that we operate with an agile working model, allowing for remote work and occasional travel to our offices.

Our Core Values at Expana

Brilliance

We strive for excellence in everything we do, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation to deliver outstanding results.

Connected

We believe in the power of collaboration and communication. By fostering strong relationships within our teams and with our partners, we create a supportive environment that drives success.

Make a Difference

We are committed to making a positive impact in our industry and community. Our actions reflect our dedication to sustainability, social responsibility and delivering value to our stakeholders.

Other values such as trust, transparency, creativity, and ownership define our brand and company culture. These qualities are what we seek in our teams as well. Your unique communication style and optimistic vision will inspire harmony with colleagues, customers, and business partners. Your commitment to excellence and strong relationship skills are also valued. Positive energy and strategic skills are key to succeeding at Expana. We value both individual success and collaboration, seeking dynamic team players who think outside the box. Everyone's development is integral to our collective success, so we foster and support each person's strengths and talents.

It is important to mention that we cannot sponsor or provide any work visas to any candidate in our locations and we will be conducting Right to Work checks during our hiring practices to ensure compliance with employment laws.

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