Seeking a Functional Consultant specialising in HR / People / Digital Employee Experience

Location: This role can be based in any of our offices, working on a hybrid basis

Who are we?

We are an award-winning multidisciplinary built environment consultancy, employing over 1100 people across 11 locations throughout the UK. Our vision is to help our clients to create better places for people to live, learn and work.

At Ridge, our people are the foundation of our success, and our greatest asset. They drive our vision and embody our values. Our people are what separate us from the competition and we never lose sight of this. We offer not just a job, but a journey. We believe in commitment, and the value of a stable, long-term career path. We challenge our people to be the best they can be and help them grow with training and support.

Due to the continued growth and associated success of Ridge, the Technology team is growing in capacity to meet demand & service across the company. We are looking for a talented Functional Consultant in the People / Digital Employee Experience space to sit within the Ridge Technology team. Working closely with Internal IT project teams and business stakeholders, this role will uphold existing functional technology and process as well as support our strategy roadmap through the configuration, troubleshooting and expert knowledge of core functional processes, systems and digital workspace experience. You would join at an exciting time of growth in the wider company especially in the Technology team, where investment is being made to match the needs due to the success of the business.

This role will support the successful delivery of our Technology Roadmap as part of a wider Technology delivery team. Working closely with Business Analysts, Project Managers and internal stakeholders, you will work collaboratively through the end-to-end delivery lifecycle of projects.

Ideally you will be able to support the gathering of business requirements, perform analysis and determine system or process-based solutions, ensuring these are configured and delivered in compliance with change governance. The role will support BAU processes via escalation points to ensure Ridge can remain efficient and provide a high-quality service, both internally and externally. This role will also support digital employee experience initiatives, this will include the utilisation of Teams, MS stack and AI.

We are looking for someone with a real passion for delivering technology solutions, who has the desire and willingness to learn and grow. This person will play a crucial role within the wider Technology team, supporting our Head of Technology Delivery to deliver new solutions to the wider business, in line with our roadmap.

What you need to do to be effective in this role

• Working collaboratively to delivery functional roadmaps to realise key initiatives
• Leading the transformation of key systems and processes across HR, People and Digital Employee Experience
• Partnering with key stakeholders to embed best practices or introduce new efficiencies
• Configuring systems as part of a project implementation, and managing specialist vendors in deploying changes
• Assisting in the planning, design and development of new applications and enhancements to existing applications
• Supporting integrations to other applications and platforms
• Engaging with decision makers, systems owners and end users to define business requirements and systems goals
• Analysing requirements and determining system solutions
• Troubleshooting and solving business incidents
• Assisting with Unit, System and User Acceptance Testing
• Championing best practice and standard ways of working to utilise system capabilities
• Conducting thorough research into system functionality and alignment
• Providing expert knowledge to support more efficient ways of working and suggest areas for process improvement
• Developing and maintaining documentation of system configuration and procedures
• Actively participating in training and knowledge transfer sessions for new IT solutions
• Providing support and expertise with the ongoing use of systems post transition to ‘BAU’

• Previous experience as a functional consultant, with detailed technical understanding of core systems
• Experience of using or implementing HR / People systems, specific experience using IRIS Cascade would be advantageous, but not essential
• Previous experience within Microsoft Digital Employee Experience e.g., Teams, SharePoint
• Working knowledge of both Waterfall and Agile development methodologies
• Previous experience both leading and supporting IT change and implementation projects
• An ability to conduct thorough analysis to assess current state, identify any gaps, design solutions and support/lead change implementation
• An ability to proactively plan and prioritise workload
• An ability to communicate ideas in both technical and user-friendly language, particularly in translating complex concepts and articulating them to a wide range of audiences
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with a strong focus on customer service
• Excellent collaboration skills, with a natural approach to business partnering
• Keen attention to detail with proven analytical and creative problem-solving abilities
• Self-motivated with an ability to effectively prioritise and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment

What’s in it for you?

Our people are our business – our vision is to be ever progressive, expanding our expertise and nurturing our talent through Quality, Innovation & Growth, to achieve our strategic outcomes:

• Growth which fuels ideas and opportunity for all
• Purposeful and meaningful work
• Continual development and mentoring
• Empowerment, inclusivity and respect
• Happiness and enjoyment
• Openness, honesty and integrity
• Acting as one team

Your reward is focused on your total wellbeing, with a package to support all aspects of life. In addition to your salary, you can expect:

• A healthy holiday balance of 25 days, plus bank holidays & the ability to buy / sell to suit you
• 3 days a year to give your time to others, volunteering for great causes
• An inclusive wellbeing offer:
  • Financial – Life Assurance, Pension Scheme (3% Employee, 6% Employer), Income Protection, Salary Sacrifice Car Scheme, flexible choice of Critical Illness Insurance
  • Physical – Private Medical Insurance, Doctor at Hand Private GP, Best Doctors, flexible choice of Dental Plan, Cycle to Work Scheme, GymFlex & Healthcare Cash Plan
  • Mental – Mental Health First Aiders, Help@Hand by Unum
• Where eligible, a generous car allowance and a performance bonus scheme
• A flexible approach to hybrid working, to suit both you & your team
• Tailored career development – focused on professional, personal and/or educational

We believe that everyone performs their best when they feel like they belong and can be their true selves at work. As an equal opportunities’ employer, we will support you to ensure you have everything you need to be successful and achieve your best in your career at Ridge. If you’d like to discuss accessibility, accommodations or adjustments during your application & selection process, please contact us at workwithus@ridge.co.uk and we will work with you to ensure you feel included and supported.

A polite note to Recruitment Agencies

We enjoy great relationships with our agency partners within our framework, and fully believe in the value of a blended approach to finding the best talent. However, we are recruiting for this role directly and aren’t seeking support from agency partners at this time – any unsolicited CV introductions won’t be honoured, and we won’t grant candidate ownerships on any introduction that you make for roles that haven’t been briefed & released to you by our Talent Acquisition team.

We are committed to nurturing strong partnerships within our agency framework, but there are occasions where we looking to enlist the help of others. If you would be interested in working with us in the future, please send a message to workwithus@ridge.co.uk, and we’ll reach out to you should there be an opportunity.