Job Title
People Services Specialist
Department
Human Resources-BG-UK
Overview of Department
The people team develops the capabilities, culture and experiences that create a human and commercial edge for Baillie Gifford. We exist to make the firm the world’s most distinctive place to grow a career, investing in our people with the same long-term conviction as our portfolios and continually reimagining how work is done to outpace the industry.
The team supports the full people lifecycle, including people operations, people partnering, leadership, learning and capability development, attraction and resourcing, organisational culture, reward, wellbeing and the end-to-end people experience.
Through this work, we ensure that people and performance are deeply connected and that our colleagues are equipped to deliver long-term value for clients.
Purpose of Role
Our People Services team brings our people strategy to life through the day-to-day moments that matter, resolving colleague queries and delivering the core operational processes that support people throughout their time at the firm.
Supporting around 1,550 colleagues across 11 countries, the team combines responsive support, specialist expertise, sound judgement and strong controls to deliver a seamless, reliable people experience.
As a People Services Specialist, you'll take ownership of complex, sensitive and non-standard operational work across the employee lifecycle, providing trusted advice and ensuring issues are resolved effectively and with care.
You'll also play an important role in transforming how People Services works as we move towards simpler, more connected and increasingly digital services. Drawing on your operational expertise, you'll challenge existing ways of working, identify root causes of problems and work with colleagues across People Operations to design, test and embed better solutions. You'll help us deliver an excellent service today while fundamentally improving how we operate for the future.
Responsibilities
Service delivery and operational expertise
- Takes ownership of complex, sensitive or specialist operational work and queries across the employee lifecycle, ensuring high-quality service and effective resolution.
- Advises on the operational delivery of complex people processes and business changes, helping design practical, well-controlled approaches across processes, data and systems.
- Provides deeper expertise in one or more specialist areas such as payroll, benefits, right to work, visas, organisational data or regulated processes, applying sound judgement and resolving exceptions.
- Acts as a trusted face of the People team, providing knowledgeable, accessible and human support to colleagues and managers.
Service quality, risk and resilience
- Maintains the integrity of critical people data, investigating and resolving complex or recurring issues across systems, workflows and organisational structures.
- Supports audit, risk and compliance activity, investigating exceptions and addressing control or process weaknesses.
- Coordinates the resolution of complex operational incidents and service failures, involving the right stakeholders and embedding lessons learned.
- Strengthens service quality and resilience by identifying recurring issues, improving documentation and building cross-cover for critical activities.
Insight and transformation
- Uses service data, feedback and operational experience to identify recurring problems, understand root causes and prioritise meaningful improvements.
- Challenges existing processes end to end, identifying opportunities to remove unnecessary complexity, manual effort, handoffs and risk.
- Works with People Product and People Technology colleagues to shape, test and embed improved processes, digital workflows, self-service, automation and AI-enabled solutions.
- Supports the adoption of new ways of working, helping ensure improvements deliver better outcomes for colleagues and the team.
Team development
- Builds team capability by sharing specialist expertise, coaching others, improving guidance and embedding consistent standards and ways of working.
What success looks like
- Trusted operational expertise: Complex people processes and issues are managed accurately, consistently and with sound judgement, giving colleagues and managers confidence in the service they receive.
- Strong operational control: People data, systems and controls are maintained to a high standard, reducing risk and improving reliability.
- Simpler, digitally enabled services: Improvements remove unnecessary manual effort, strengthen controls and make services easier to use and deliver, with evidence of better outcomes.
- Greater team capability: Specialist knowledge, digital confidence and improved ways of working are shared across the team, building capability, consistency and resilience.
Your knowledge and experience
- Significant hands-on experience in People Services or HR operations, including complex, sensitive or specialist work across the employee lifecycle.
- Demonstrable expertise in one or more specialist operational areas such as payroll, benefits, right to work, visas, organisational data or regulated processes.
- Strong judgement and problem-solving skills, with experience interpreting policy, managing risk and resolving non-standard situations.
- Experience identifying and delivering improvements to operational processes, including helping implement more efficient, reliable or technology-enabled solutions.
- Confidence using HR systems, digital tools and data, with the ability to learn new technologies and apply them in practice.
- Curiosity about how technology, including AI and automation, can improve service delivery and reduce manual effort.
- Strong relationship-building and communication skills, with the ability to provide clear, practical advice and work collaboratively with others.
The type of candidate that we're looking for
We're looking for someone who combines hands-on operational expertise with sound judgement, a strong sense of ownership and a genuine commitment to delivering an excellent colleague experience. You'll enjoy solving complex problems, navigating sensitive situations and balancing the needs of colleagues with operational efficiency, compliance and risk.
You’ll naturally look for opportunities to improve how work is done, looking beyond the immediate problem to understand what could work better, embracing new technology and helping turn ideas into practical, sustainable improvements. You’ll build strong relationships across the People team, sharing specialist knowledge, coaching others and helping to embed consistent, high-quality ways of working. Calm, curious and pragmatic, you’ll be motivated by delivering an excellent service today while helping to shape even better services for tomorrow.
Critical skills
- Digital effectiveness (including AI)
Additional information:
Instead of a cover letter, candidates are asked to submit a CV and short written responses (maximum 300 words each) to the following questions:
- Question 1 – Describe a time when you resolved a complex or sensitive operational issue that required sound judgement and specialist expertise.
- Question 2 – Tell us about a time when you improved a People service, process or operational activity, making it more effective, consistent or reliable.
Closing Date
November 26, 2026
Should you choose to use AI tools to support your application, we ask that you do this thoughtfully. We encourage you to ensure your application reflects your own voice, experience, and motivations. We value authenticity and want to understand your individual strengths and perspectives.
At Baillie Gifford, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful culture in which each of our colleagues can thrive and develop. We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse workforce with the experiences, ideas and perspectives that this brings.
If you are currently working at Baillie Gifford as an employee or contractor please apply to this job from the firm's Workday internal career site.
