VolkerRail is a leading multidisciplinary railway infrastructure contractor which comprises of two businesses: Major Projects and Specialist Businesses.
Major Projects is an expert in collaborative working, leading on large, multidisciplinary joint venture and alliance projects.
Specialist Businesses is made up of expert divisions in signalling, track, power, electrification, and piling, and has an in-house plant division and bespoke design teams.
Our Head office is based in J3 Business Park, Doncaster and provides support to the businesses in the following areas: Finance and Payroll, Human Resources, HSQES, Work Winning, Procurement and Fleet.
We are proud of our reputation as a high-performing business, working in harmony and partnership with our stakeholders, ensuring we help our clients deliver a rail network for the future.
About the Role
At VolkerRail, our HR Administration team operates as a centralised function, providing professional, efficient, and consistent HR support across the business. Working closely with HR Business Partners, managers, employees, and external providers, the team is responsible for delivering a high-quality employee experience throughout the entire employee lifecycle.
We are looking for a highly organised and proactive HR Assistant to join our HR team. Reporting into the HR Coordinator, you will play a key role in delivering accurate and timely HR administration, supporting recruitment, onboarding, absence management, employee records, compliance activities, and HR reporting.
As part of a centralised HR team, you will manage a wide range of HR administration activities, ensuring policies and procedures are followed consistently, data is maintained accurately, and employees receive a professional and responsive service.
This role is ideal for someone looking to develop their HR career within a busy and fast-paced environment where attention to detail, organisation, and customer service are essential.
Key Responsibilities
Recruitment & Onboarding
- Support the administration of the end-to-end recruitment process, from advertising vacancies through to onboarding new employees.
- Coordinate interviews, pre-employment checks and candidate communications.
- Ensure recruitment systems and records are maintained accurately.
Employee Lifecycle & HR Administration
- Provide HR administrative support throughout the employee lifecycle, including probation, contractual changes, family leave, long service awards and leaver processes.
- Prepare HR correspondence and maintain accurate employee records.
- Liaise with Payroll and managers to ensure employee information is processed efficiently.
Absence Management
- Maintain absence records and support return-to-work processes.
- Monitor absence documentation and produce management reports.
- Escalate concerns and long-term absence cases where appropriate.
HR Systems, Compliance & Reporting
- Maintain HR systems and employee data, ensuring compliance with GDPR and company policies.
- Support agency and contractor administration and compliance requirements.
- Produce regular HR reports and assist with data analysis and audits.
Benefits & Employee Support
- Support the administration of employee benefits and HR initiatives.
- Deliver a professional, responsive service to employees, managers and external stakeholders.
- Contribute to the continuous improvement of HR processes and service delivery.
About you
- Previous experience in an HR administration, HR assistant or HR coordination role.
- Strong organisational and time management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information appropriately.
- Competent user of Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word and Outlook.
- Customer-focused approach with a commitment to delivering excellent service.
Why Join Us?
- A varied and influential HR role with real responsibility and scope to improve how HR services are delivered.
- The opportunity to lead and develop an HR administration team.
- A collaborative, values-driven environment focused on integrity, inclusion and continuous improvement.
If your past experience doesn’t match perfectly with every requirement of the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for us.
Why work with us?
VolkerRail is under the umbrella of VolkerWessels UK which is a multidisciplinary contractor that delivers innovative engineering solutions across the civil engineering and construction sectors including rail, highways, airport, marine, energy, water, and environmental infrastructure.
By utilising the specialist skills of each business unit within VolkerWessels UK, VolkerRail are able to ensure our staff provide unrivalled resources and expertise to our clients.
We offer competitive rewards and benefits, recognising the value we place on our employees.
We offer a range of benefits, including:
- Competitive salary
- Competitive annual leave and an additional day off on your birthday
- Pension
- Life Assurance
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Shopping and restaurants vouchers, rewards, and discounts
- Training and development opportunities-comprehensive skills-based training
- Family friendly polices including enhanced maternity benefits
- Flexible working opportunities
- Employee Assistance programme
- Mental health, physical health, and financial support
Fairness, inclusion and respect
We believe in pushing boundaries in the pursuit of fairness, inclusion and respect. So, our teams can be comfortable that, whatever their background, VolkerWessels UK is a place where they can be themselves and thrive. You can read more about our FIR Strategy as well as our partners here Fairness, Inclusion and Respect | VolkerWessels UK
If you need support with your application, please contact us at careers@volkerwessels.co.uk
Additional information
Note for Recruitment Agencies:
Our preference is to hire directly, and we will reach out to our Preferred Supplier List (PSL) agencies if this particular role qualifies for release.
We kindly request that you refrain from sending speculative CVs. In the event of speculative CV submissions, no fees will be applicable, and we kindly ask that all inquiries to be directed to careers@volkerwessels.co.uk
VolkerWessels UK is committed to maintaining healthy, safe and productive working conditions for its entire staff and therefore a drugs & alcohol screening is mandatory for all.
