People Associate - People Data & Systems

A fast-growing organisation operating across the UK and Europe is looking for a Project Associate (People Data & Systems) to play a vital role in strengthening the foundations of its People function.

As the business scales, its people data, systems, and documentation need to keep pace. This six-month project role offers a unique opportunity to step into a hands-on, high-impact position where organisation meets investigation and structure brings clarity.

Working as part of a collaborative People team, the Project Associate will partner closely with senior stakeholders and a dedicated project lead to repair historic gaps, organise fragmented records and bring consistency to how people information is captured and maintained. The goal is simple but powerful: build a single, trusted source of truth for employee data and leave behind clean, accurate and reliable records that reflect the organisation today.

What you'll be doing:

This is a practical, detail-driven role for someone who enjoys untangling complexity and bringing order to chaos. Key areas of focus include:

Mapping and cleansing people data

• Locating and pulling together data from contracts, spreadsheets, payroll files, shared drives, archived emails and legacy systems.
• Logging findings in a structured way to highlight gaps, inconsistencies and sources.
• Updating and back-dating records within the HR system in line with agreed standards.
• Running reconciliations (e.g. HR system vs payroll) and clearly flagging discrepancies.

Restoring and organising documentation

• Auditing employee files and document packs across locations and entities.
• Identifying missing, outdated or inconsistent documentation.
• Reorganising and renaming digital files into a consistent, logical structure.
• Maintaining trackers and audit logs to demonstrate progress and outstanding actions.

Laying the foundations for future contract review

• Collating and organising current and historic employment contracts.
• Creating comparison schedules to highlight key differences and anomalies.
• Ensuring data and file structures are accurate and review-ready.
• Supporting the preparation of employee lists and documentation for future work.

How you'll work

• This is an investigative, practical role with plenty of autonomy once priorities are clear.
• You'll work closely with the project lead while being trusted to manage tasks independently.
• You'll take a careful, methodical approach and handle sensitive information with discretion.
• You'll thrive in a role where precision and organisation really matter., By the end of the contract, your work will have:
• Created a single, accurate source of truth for people data.
• Closed historic gaps in employee records.
• Supported future contract harmonisation and data consistency.
• Strengthened compliance, insight and reporting across the business.
• Made a lasting impact on the effectiveness of the People function.

• Experience working with people data, HR systems or structured datasets (experience with HiBob is a plus).
• Strong spreadsheet and organisational skills, with confidence managing trackers and file structures.
• A naturally systematic approach - you enjoy improving processes and leaving systems better than you found them.
• High levels of professionalism and confidentiality.
• Curiosity, persistence and a genuine satisfaction in getting to the bottom of messy histories.

Oakleaf Partnership is the UK's largest independent HR recruitment consultancy. Founded in 2005, we have built enduring relationships with HR functions across every sector; thanks in part to our expertise, but also our collaborative approach. We listen. We share our insights. We take the time to truly understand the culture of an organisation - the person behind a CV.