Senior People Advisor

IMA is a creative agency that builds brands people want to be part of. We are looking for a passionate, driven Senior People Advisor to join our dynamic People team. If you are an HR professional who wants to work within a fast-paced environment to deliver first-class, strategic people solutions across a global agency, this is the perfect place to elevate your career.

What You'll Get From Us

• Career Growth: A chance to develop your career within an award-winning, people-first creative agency.

• Recognition: A values-led culture where your contribution is recognised and supported.

• Autonomy & Support: Ownership and variety from day one, with the support of a collaborative team.

• Real Impact: The opportunity to lead projects across live campaigns, retail activations and brand experiences.

• Our Culture: A people-first environment where we challenge, grow, and deliver together.

The Role

As a Senior People Advisor, you will be fully embedded as a strategic people advisor working collaboratively with key stakeholders across our global offices. This is an immersive, high-impact opportunity designed to provide effective, consistent, and first-class Employee Relations (ER) advice on a wide range of people management matters. You will act as a critical touchpoint for talent, recruitment, and employee relations, ensuring our regional teams are supported and our company frameworks thrive.

In this role, you will get a 360-degree view of how our global agency aligns commercial needs with people development. You will experience the full lifecycle of employee relations and talent management - from triaging complex cases and coaching managers to elevate their leadership capabilities, to leveraging data-driven insights that address business performance gaps. It's a space where you are encouraged to challenge conventional approaches, champion a people-led approach, and treat every challenge as a chance to drive what is right for the agency.

Key Responsibilities

Your daily focus will include:

• Stakeholder Engagement: Building proactive relationships with key global stakeholders to advise on current legislation, identify risk, and offer pragmatic solutions.

• Employee Relations Management: Resolving challenging situations and facilitating employee relations matters (such as grievance, disciplinary, absence, and capability investigations) to mitigate business risk.

• Talent Development & Recruitment: Coaching and upskilling line managers on employment legislation and consistent, legally compliant recruitment practices.

• Data Analysis & Reporting: Leveraging people data, tracking trends (including leaving chats and D,E&I statistics), and providing recommendations to close performance gaps.

• Policy & Compliance: Reviewing frameworks like sickness absence, ensuring company policies remain legally compliant and fit for purpose in an agency environment.

• Team Collaboration: Actively engaging in annual People activities-such as promotions, probations, performance, talent, and salary reviews-while supporting the wider People team.

• Representing: Acting in the best interest of IMA Agency and Smollan Group Companies at all times.

What We Are Looking For The Essentials (Must-Haves):

• Experience: Extensive experience working in a similar generalist Advisor role or equivalent, with a proven track record in complex case management across ER-related issues.

• The Fundamentals: Robust working knowledge across recruitment, employee relations, onboarding, reward and recognition, health and wellbeing, learning and development, and D,E&I.

• Legal & Commercial Acumen: Up-to-date knowledge of employment law required for an Advisor level, with the ability to conclude ER matters providing commercial, pragmatic advice.

• Relationship Building: Exceptional ability to gain credibility with stakeholders, influence best-practice decision-making, and coach people managers.

• Tech-Savvy: Highly competent with Google Suite, Microsoft Office, as well as modern people management systems.

• Workflow: Exceptionally organized with strong attention to detail, the capability to work on your own initiative, and the ability to meet strict deadlines.

• Attitude: A proactive completer-finisher whose approach matters with absolute confidentiality and discretion, bringing a positive, approachable, and "can-do" mindset.

• Logistics: A flexible approach with the ability to react calmly and professionally within a fast-moving, changing environment.

The Desirables (Nice-to-Haves):

• Experience working directly within a global agency environment or managing cross-border stakeholder networks.

• A proven track record of designing and delivering upskilling sessions or training frameworks for recruitment compliance.

Our Values

• Curiosity: We explore it.

• Courage: We challenge it.

• Commitment: We run with it.

These principles shape how we work - with each other, with clients, and with the world.