About the role
Location: UK, London
Status: 9-month fixed-term contract
Reports to: Global HR Operations Director
Job purpose: The HR Operations Specialist is responsible for driving high-quality HR service delivery across the employee lifecycle, with a particular focus on establishing and supporting the Foundation’s new Geneva office. Acting as a key point of contact, the role will provide first-line support for Geneva-based and global employee queries and manage non-complex employee relations cases in partnership with HR Business Partners (HRBPs).
During this fixed-term contract, the focus will be on operational excellence: supporting the practical set-up of the new Geneva office, leveraging systems (HiBob), managing end-to-end employee lifecycle processes, ensuring payroll and benefits alignment, and improving day-to-day service levels for colleagues. As this is a new office, the postholder will need to be flexible, hands-on and willing to assist with a broad range of office establishment and operational activities as priorities evolve.
Principal accountabilities:
Employee Query Resolution & Relations Support:
* First-Line Support: Act as the first-line contact for employee and manager queries (specifically supporting the Swiss workforce), ensuring timely, helpful, and high-quality resolution of day-to-day inquiries. * Employee Relations (ER): Manage and resolve non-complex employee relations cases, providing practical guidance to managers and escalating complex matters to HR Business Partners (HRBPs) where appropriate. * Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner closely with HRBPs to ensure a joined-up approach to supporting employees and operationalizing team changes.
Policy Development & Operationalisation:
* Lead the research, drafting, and regular review of global HR policies, ensuring they are market-competitive and aligned with the Foundation’s values. * Translate complex policies into clear, actionable Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and user-friendly guidance for HR, managers and employees. * Take ownership of the "operationalisation" phase of any new policy, ensuring all administrative workflows, system updates, and communication plans are executed to a high standard.
Geneva Office Set-up & Swiss HR Operations:
* Support the establishment of effective HR operations for the new Geneva office, ensuring core processes including onboarding, benefits, leave management and terminations are aligned with applicable Swiss requirements and Foundation standards. * Coordinate accurate payroll inputs and benefits administration for Geneva-based employees, working closely with internal teams and external providers. * Liaise with local advisers, payroll and benefits providers, and relevant internal stakeholders to support compliant and effective employment operations in Switzerland.
Process Implementation & Improvement:
* Identify inefficiencies in current HR workflows and lead process improvement initiatives to streamline delivery and reduce manual intervention. * Ensure that the HRIS (HiBob) is fully leveraged to automate policy-driven processes, maintaining high data integrity. * Establish "gold standard" execution for HR administrative cycles, ensuring the team delivers a seamless experience across the employee lifecycle.
Operational Execution & Support:
* New Office Support: Work flexibly across HR and wider operational priorities to help establish the Geneva office, including employee onboarding, local documentation, provider coordination, office readiness activities and other practical set-up support as required. * Provide high-level operational support to the Global HR Operations Director on complex cases, the Geneva office set-up and wider HR initiatives. * Collaborate with HR Business Partners to ensure that operational processes support the specific needs of different business units. * Oversee the maintenance of employee records and templates, ensuring they reflect current policy and legal requirements.
Collaboration and Communication:
* Work closely with the Payroll and Finance teams to ensure that policy changes are accurately reflected in financial and compensation workflows. * Develop clear internal communications and training materials to help employees and managers understand and adopt new HR processes. * Serve as a key point of escalation for Geneva-related operational queries, escalating legal or complex employee matters as appropriate.
Application Closing Date: 20th November 2026
Please note that while we have a closing date for this application, we reserve the right to interview candidates and potentially close the role early should we find a suitable candidate.
About us
At the IFRS Foundation, we believe better information leads to better decisions. We set financial reporting standards that enable companies to meet the evolving information needs of the global capital markets. United by our purpose to foster trust, growth and long-term financial stability in the global economy, we engage in challenging, meaningful work every day—across all our areas of expertise.
If you share our passion for this mission, we want to hear from you.
Diverse perspectives. International expertise.
Working for our global organisation offers many benefits, including:
* rewarding work that serves the public interest; * engagement with diverse international experts; * inclusive and collaborative teams; * intellectually challenging projects; * flexible working arrangements; * numerous areas of specialisation; and * opportunities for professional growth and development.
Diversity and inclusion are seen as key strengths of our organisation. These qualities are essential for us to engage with and meet the needs of our varied global stakeholders, and they are part of what makes the IFRS Foundation a great place to work.
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