Strategic HR Business Partner

Wood Mackenzie is the global leader in analytics, insights and proprietary data across the entire energy and natural resources landscape.
For over 50 years our work has guided the decisions of the world’s most influential energy producers, utilities companies, financial institutions and governments.
Now, with the world’s energy system more complex and interconnected than ever before, sector-specific views are no longer enough. That’s why we’ve redefined what’s possible with Intelligence Connected.
By fusing our unparalleled proprietary data with the sharpest analytical minds, all supercharged by Synoptic AI, we deliver a clear, interconnected view of the entire value chain. Our trusted team of 2,700 experts across 30 countries breaks siloes and connects industries, markets and regions across the globe.
This empowers our customers to identify risk sooner, spot opportunities faster and recalibrate strategy with confidence – whether planning days, weeks, months or decades ahead.
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Intelligence Connected
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Wood Mackenzie Values
Inclusive – we succeed together
Trusting – we choose to trust each other
Customer committed – we put customers at the heart of our decisions
Future Focused – we accelerate change
Curious – we turn knowledge into action
The Strategic HR Business Partner is a senior advisor to leaders at Wood Mackenzie, responsible for shaping and delivering people strategies that enable commercial success, transformation, and sustainable growth.
SBPs work closely with ExCo and GLT, collaborating with Extended Leadership (ELT), senior leaders, Corporate Enablement and HR centres of excellence (CoEs) to strengthen performance, reinforce culture, and build long‑term capability.
This role blends strategic influence with operational partnership. SBPs ensure that people, culture, and capability considerations are integral to major business decisions, supporting leaders, enabling organizational growth, and shaping both the employee experience and the broader company culture.
This role connects enterprise people priorities with segment/ function‑level action, ensuring business strategy and value creation translate into effective workforce, leadership, and cultural outcomes.
As the primary link between HR and the business, the Strategic Business Partner (SBP) ensures people priorities are fully aligned with organisational objectives.
The remit spans both People Solutions (projects, change, and organisational design) and People Advisory (employee relations, policy guidance, and leadership support).
Core Responsibilities
People Solutions (Strategic & Initiative Focused)
Deliver people and culture cyclical and one-time initiatives aligned to business goals across the employee life-cycle (e.g. workforce planning, performance cycles, and compensation)
Collaborate with CoEs (Reward, Talent, ER, etc.) to:develop and implement simple and effective solutions to address capability/ skills gaps, engagement challenges and workforce needs
link initiatives to business performance, growth, and competitive outcomes
embed policy updates, new frameworks and capability-building initiatives
Advise, lead and support change programmes, restructures and organisation design activity using evidence-based insights and strong business acumen
Facilitate the identification of emerging talent and future leaders early to build strong pipelines and succession strength
Use employee relations, headcount movement, engagement, exit interviews and Glassdoor insights, data, and leader feedback to strengthen employee experience, performance, and retention (Employee Value Proposition)
Facilitate workforce, skills and capability planning to support Wood Mackenzie’s strategic and profitability goals, balancing investment, productivity, and capacity across regions and roles.
Contribute to risk management through proactive mitigation planning and data-led insights
Operational & Advisory
Act as a trusted adviser to leaders across multiple sites, ensuring consistent application of people policies and best practice
Attend leadership and operational meetings providing informed challenge, strategic insight, and clear guidance
Work closely with FP&A to align headcount plans, cost forecasts, and workforce decisions, providing insight and challenge to support informed resourcing decisions
Manage escalated and complex employee relations cases in collaboration with ER CoE and the Colleague Experience team
Coach leaders to build capability and confidence in leading their teams
Enable fair, courageous decisions on performance, potential, and succession
Support employee experience, talent, succession and retention initiatives
HR Team Collaboration & Leadership
Collaborate across HR functions (Reward, Talent, ER, etc.) to deliver integrated, simple, and effective people solutions
Align business priorities with key HR processes including workforce planning, performance cycles, and compensation
Lead, delegate, mentor and coach across the function, and support and champion internal initiatives as required
What Good Looks Like
You build trusted relationships and act as a thought partner to leaders
You simplify complexity and bring clarity to decisions
You influence using insight and data
You connect the right people across HR to solve problems quickly
You stay connected to both the functions you partner with and the wider Wood Mackenzie environment
You help create an environment where people feel supported, accountable, and able to grow
You manage your stakeholders effectively, including appropriate delegation and case management
Skills & Qualities Needed
Strong communicator who can coach, challenge, and influence at senior levels
Ability to understand business strategy and translate it into people implications
Analytical thinker, confident using data and evidence
Skilled in relationship building, collaboration, and navigating complex environments building, collaboration, and navigating complex environments‑building, collaboration, and navigating complex environments
Strong commercial acumen, and awareness of industry trends and best practice
Comfort working across multiple priorities with a calm, solutions focused mindset focused mindset‑focused mindset
Equal Opportunities
We are an equal opportunities employer. This means we are committed to recruiting the best people regardless of their race, colour, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. You can find out more about your rights under the law at
If you are applying for a role and have a physical or mental disability, we will support you with your application or through the hiring process.