People & Development Manager (12-Month Contract)

Melbourne
- Business Services
- Human resources
- Contract

**The role**

We are looking for a passionate and dedicated HR professional to join our Melbourne office as a **People & Development Manager**on a **12-month contract**.

This is a dynamic, hands on role where you will act as the primary HR contact for the Melbourne office partnering with Partners, leaders and employee across both legal and business services groups. You'll be trusted to manage the full employee lifecycle while providing strategic guidance on people and culture initiatives.

You will also be empowered to contribute to and lead national P&D projects and initiatives, helping to shape firm wide strategies in areas such as talent management, leadership development, employee engagement and organisational change. Additionally, you'll play a key role in supporting early careers activities such as clerkship recruitment, graduate onboarding and engagement events.

**Key Responsibilities**
- Act as the trusted HR advisor to the Melbourne office, managing all aspects of the employee lifecycle including onboarding, performance, employee relations and offboarding.
- Partner closely with senior leaders and Partners to support local office and national people strategies.
- Manage HR delivery and engagement across both legal and business services groups.
- Support the planning and delivery of early careers activities including clerkship and graduate programs, university engagement, and onboarding.
- Contribute to and lead national P&D projects aligned with the firm's strategic priorities.
- Coach and influence leaders across the business to embed a high-performance and inclusive culture.
- Identify opportunities for continuous improvement in P&D processes, policies and systems.
- Drive local initiatives to support employee engagement, wellbeing and professional development.
- Ensure compliance with employment legislation and internal policies.

**About You**
- A tertiary qualification in Human Resources or a related field.
- Minimum 4+ years' experience in a HR generalist or business partner role, ideally in a professional services environment.
- Proven experience working with senior stakeholders and managing diverse client groups.
- Commercial acumen with the ability to make informed and strategic people decisions.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the confidence to influence and build trust.
- A collaborative, proactive, and adaptable approach, with a focus on outcomes.
- Passion for people and a drive to continuously improve the employee experience.

**About Us**

Piper Alderman is a premier commercial law firm with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. We work with clients across Australia and internationally to achieve practical commercial outcomes, innovation in service delivery and deep engagement across multiple industries.

Piper Alderman prides itself on being a collaborative law firm where high achieving ambitious team members can succeed in achieving their career goals whilst performing challenging and rewarding tasks.

At Piper Alderman we promote a culture of excellence, collaboration and teamwork. We recognise and support individuals and invest in their continued professional development.

**Our perks**

We have a variety of employee benefits aimed at supporting our people including, but not limited to:

- Learning and development opportunities to support career growth including generous study support options.
- An attractive Parental Leave policy offering up to 26 weeks paid leave.
- Automatic acceptance into the group Salary Continuance insurance plan
- Purchased annual leave options.
- A range of fun office and team events all year round so we make sure we are connecting socially as often as possible
- A range of corporate discounts.
- Employee-led Diversity & Inclusion and Reconciliation Committees and the opportunity to participate in pro-bono work.
- Piper Alderman is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We aim to attract and retain the best people and provide an environment where those people can be their authentic selves. We value diversity of thought and experience and aim to ensure all our people are valued and respected. People from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply._