HR Manager

Southend High School for Girls, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 4UZ

20 days remaining to apply

• Start date details

  May 2026

• Closing date

  18 March 2026 at 11:59pm

• Date listed

  26 February 2026

Job details

• Job role:
  • Administration, HR, data and finance
• Visa sponsorship: Visas cannot be sponsored
• Working pattern: Full time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Full-time equivalent salary: £36,926.00 - £40,828.00 Annually (Actual) These figures include the holiday pay entitlement for someone with less than 5 years' service in a school

HR Manager job summary

We are seeking an experienced, aspirational HR Manager to join us from May 2026. This is a key role within the school, working closely with the Senior Leadership Team to deliver an exemplary HR service across our community.

At Southend High School for Girls, we have high expectations and an unwavering commitment to meeting the needs of our pupils. Our values sit at the heart of everything we do, and we strive to create a safe, happy and successful environment for pupils, families, staff and the wider community. We are proud to be a positive, inclusive and supportive workplace where staff wellbeing and professional growth are prioritised.

Southend High School for Girls is an oversubscribed, outstanding selective grammar school.

If you are highly skilled, enthusiastic, ambitious, energetic, and dedicated to raising achievement, and ready for a rewarding new challenge, we would love to hear from you.

As HR Manager, you will:

• Be the first point of contact for all HR queries, providing expert advice to staff and leadership.
• Work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to lead, shape and implement effective HR strategies and policies aligned with the school’s goals and vision.
• Manage the school’s HR caseload, ensuring efficient, positive outcomes that nurture strong employee relations.
• Manage recruitment, onboarding, payroll, and HR compliance processes.
• Maintain robust processes and practices, ensuring full compliance with employment law, data protection legislation and statutory guidance.

The successful candidate will:

• Be an experienced HR practitioner, ideally with experience in a school environment, and hold (or be willing to work towards) a CIPD Level 5 (or equivalent) qualification.
• Have knowledge and understanding of the upcoming employment law changes.
• Have excellent numeracy skills.
• Ideally, the candidate will have previous experience working in a school environment, including involvement in payroll processes (our payroll is managed via Juniper Services), as well as knowledge of the Green and Burgundy Books.
• Be a flexible, positive, proactive team player.
• Have excellent attention to detail, strong organisational ability and outstanding communication skills.
• Be able to build effective working relationships with a wide range of colleagues.

In return, we offer:

• The opportunity to make a meaningful impact in a well-established, outstanding Grammar school.
• Strong support from an experienced and committed Senior Leadership Team.
• A commitment to ongoing professional development and staff wellbeing.
• Access to high-quality external CPD.
• A positive, supportive staff culture with a strong family ethos.

Working Pattern:

• 5 days per week, 37 hours per week
• Monday-Thursday: 8:00am-4:00pm, Friday: 8:00am-3:30pm
• 30 minute unpaid lunch break
• Term time including 5 INSET days, plus three weeks (15 days during school holidays, agreed in advance with your line manager).
• Attendance on GCSE results day in August is required; remaining additional days will be scheduled around payroll deadlines and agreed in advance.
• The successful candidate will also be required to attend up to four Pay and Personnel Governor meetings per year which will be either taken as TOIL (time off in lieu) or paid.

This is an on-site role, working closely with the Senior Leadership Team to deliver a high-quality HR service across the school.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all staff to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

Please note: We do not accept applications via agencies.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications.

As we may interview suitable candidates as applications are received, applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Further information about the job

The candidate will be required to undergo a full enhanced DBS check and must be eligible to work in the UK.

Visas cannot be sponsored.

If you're interested in teaching or training to teach in England as an international citizen, we can help you understand your next steps.

Commitment to safeguarding

All staff at Southend High School for Girls have a responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The successful applicant will be required to complete an enhanced DBS check.

Applying for the job

This school accepts applications through their own website, where you may also find more information about this job.

CVs will not be accepted for this application.

About Southend High School for Girls

• School type: Academy, ages 11 to 18
• Education phase: Secondary school
• School size: 1253 pupils enrolled
• Age range: 11 to 18
• Ofsted report: View Ofsted report
• School website: Southend High School for Girls website
• See more jobs: teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk/organisations/southend-high-school-for-girls

Southend High School for Girls is a grammar school with academy status with approximately 1260 students including a sixth form of 360 students.
The school is situated on Southchurch Boulevard in the east of the City of Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Southend High School for Girls is built on strong traditions and values and has a long and illustrious history of over 100 years of educating the brightest minds in the country. At the core of our philosophy, we believe that students should be safe, happy and successful.
Our team of staff are all experts in their fields and are passionate about the education and well-being of our young people. We are unashamedly ambitious for them and aspire to create a pervasive ethos of high expectations and promote discipline and good behaviour in school life.
Our moral purpose is to ensure that our students experience a rigorous and stretching academic education on the one hand, and outstanding wider personal development on the other. We believe that our students should develop high self-efficacy and self-belief and be confident and fearless – demonstrating resilience in the face of challenges.
Being a member of a high-performing grammar school demands hard work, fortitude and a can-do attitude; participation, energy and commitment are our non-negotiables – but the results are well worth it.
If Southend High School for Girls sounds like the sort of place where you would like to work – and where you feel you could make a major contribution to its continuing success – then we would love to hear from you.

School location

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