Learning And Development Business Partner (Remote)

Learning and Development Business Partner

About First Milk:

Owned by British family farms, we work together to produce the highest quality dairy products and we are united by a single commitment – to enrich life every day to secure the future.

At our heart, we have around 700 farming families spread across Britain who believe that working together creates a brighter future for everyone. We’re passionate about the power of dairy to make a difference, whether that’s providing tasty, nutritious and affordable food, building strong rural communities or leaving the world a better place.

We’re a co-operative owned by the farmers who supply the milk, invest capital and are members and co-owners of the business.

We have nearly 400 colleagues working across our production sites and head office functions. We have two creameries – one in the beautiful Lake District and the other near the stunning Pembrokeshire coast – which produce award-winning cheese and whey powders, including custom-made products to meet specific customer needs. We also have a dairy on the edge of the picturesque Blackmore Vale in Dorset, where we produce specialist chilled dairy products for customers across food manufacturing and food service.

Whilst delivering competitive returns is key, being part of First Milk also provides farmers with security and stability, allowing them to plan for the future and develop their farming business for the next generation.

We produce a fantastic range of great-tasting dairy products, from Cheddar, Red Leicester and Double Gloucester cheese to specialist fresh products such as mascarpone, yoghurt and clotted cream.

We also make specialist dairy ingredients and whey proteins to deliver functional and nutritious products for the modern consumer and focus on providing high quality, traceable fresh milk to a range of dairy manufacturers and food processors across the UK.

We are predominantly a B2B business, and we work with many customers as their long-term supply partner, helping them to deliver their objectives through our responsible sourcing and supply chain management services. We work with some of the leading businesses in the dairy and food sector.

About The Role:

Reporting to the HR Director, the newly created role of Learning and Development Partner will work across all areas of the business across the L&D remit. Partnering with First Milk Leaders and the wider HR team they will provide best practice L&D expertise, ensuring delivery and implementation of our strategic people objectives whilst working collaboratively with colleagues and external partners.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership in Learning & Development (L&D):

• Lead and develop innovative L&D strategies aligned with business needs.
• Partner with business leaders and HR to apply L&D solutions to meet organisational goals.

Culture and Talent Development:

• Role model positive behaviours to drive culture development.
• Lead the Emerging Talent program (apprentices, graduates, trainees) and support talent retention and succession planning.

Program Development and Delivery:

• Create, deliver, and source training programs to bridge skill gaps and meet industry standards.
• Manage the company’s Apprentice Levy and ensure financial aid opportunities are optimised.

Collaboration and Best Practices:

• Collaborate with external partners and internal stakeholders to share best practices and ensure alignment with legal and industry standards.
• Act as an advocate for people-related initiatives across the business.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation:

• Support continuous improvement by introducing new ideas and benchmarking external L&D considerations for colleagues.
• Drive standardisation of L&D processes and ensure the proper documentation of skills.

Evaluation and Analytics:

• Use analytics to measure the impact of L&D initiatives and ensure alignment with business strategy.
• Develop assessment tools to evaluate the effectiveness and ROI of learning programs.

Talent Management and Succession Planning:

• Lead efforts in competency development for talent management processes and ensure robust succession planning.
• Implement strategies for talent measurement, retention, and development.

Key Requirements (including but not limited to)

• Experience of having worked in a similar level of role in a true business partnering capacity in a fast paced, multi-site, manufacturing environment with significant experience of delivering across the full Learning & Development remit
• Proven track record of delivering a learning and development strategy, ensuring training needs of the business are evaluated and appropriate development methods are selected based on relevant best practices and external trends
• Solid L&D knowledge, including significant training delivery experience and the ability to adapt learning to different audience needs
• Demonstrable experience of managing Apprentice and/or Graduate programmes

More Information

To apply, or to request more information and receive the full candidate brochure please apply via LinkedIn or contact Sydney Hinchcliffe via applications@fwbltd.com