People & HR Administrator

Joining Arup

Arup’s purpose, shared values and collaborative approach has set us apart for over 75 years, guiding how we shape a better world.

Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world’s most prominent projects in the built and natural environment. Working in more than 140 countries, the firm’s designers, engineers, architects, planners, consultants, and technical specialists work with our clients on innovative projects of the highest quality and impact. As a wholly independent organisation, we are owned in trust for the benefit of our employees and their dependants: with no shareholders or external investors we determine our own business priorities and direction.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a People Administrator to join our People team and support the delivery of People services across the employee lifecycle.

This is a developmental role, meaning the scope and level of responsibility will grow over time in line with the successful candidate’s capability, progressing from structured administrative support towards more independent operational delivery within defined areas of the People function.

The role plays a key part in ensuring data accuracy, compliance and a positive member experience.

The role delivers across the Africa Group, predominantly in South Africa.

Role overview

• This role provides administrative and operational support across the People function, including talent acquisition, onboarding, benefits, payroll liaison, reward, wellbeing, talent and learning, mobility, reporting, offboarding, and other generalist People activities.
• The role operates within established People processes and policies, with supervision and support appropriate to experience and level.
• The role also serves as a first point of contact for general People queries, ensuring consistent, professional and policy‑aligned responses.

Work flow

• This role supports People activities that are ad hoc, cyclical and event‑driven in nature.
• Workload fluctuates across the year, with peaks typically aligned to recruitment activity, payroll cycles, statutory reporting deadlines and annual People processes.
• Outside of peak periods, activity focuses on data maintenance, preparation work, People initiatives and process improvements.
• Work is generally delivered over a short‑term planning horizon, responding to defined People processes and emerging business needs rather than a constant daily workload.
• This role therefore requires flexibility, strong organisation and the ability to respond to changing priorities.

Key responsibilities:

•    Provide administrative and operational support across People processes.
•    Prepare standard People documentation such as offer letters, confirmation of employment letters and routine correspondence.
•    Maintain accurate People data, electronic filing systems and standard reports.
•    Support payroll processes, including submission of inputs and queries, and preparation of mock payslips using established tools and guidance.
•    Support administration of employee benefits, including medical aid and provident fund enrolments and changes.
•    Coordinate People initiatives such as wellbeing days, long service awards and internal events.
•    Maintain and publish People content on agreed internal platforms.
•    Provide administration for bursaries, students, graduates and learnerships.
•    Support learning and development processes, including appraisal cycles and mandatory training tracking.
•    Provide administrative and/or operational support for Employment Equity, Skills Development and B‑BBEE processes (scope dependent on level).
•    Support data collation, documentation and record‑keeping for reporting cycles and audits.
•    Provide administrative support to relevant People committees (e.g. Skills Development, Provident Fund).
•    Act as a first point of contact for general People queries, providing guidance within established policies and procedures.
•    Liaise with internal and external stakeholders as required and within the scope of the role.
•    Escalate more complex or sensitive matters as appropriate.

Is this role right for you?

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys variety, adapts easily to both structured and unstructured environments, and takes pride in delivering accurate, people-centred support.

We welcome candidates with the following experience and competencies:

• Experience in an administrative or support capacity within one or more People/HR function
• Knowledge of South African Legislation is essential

• Experience within the built environment or construction industry would be advantageous.
• Relevant experience in an HR/People function within the South African context
• Strong organisational skills and attention to detail
• Confidence working with systems, data and confidential information
• A service‑oriented mindset and ability to manage shifting priorities
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Working knowledge of People/HR practices in a South African context

Why Join Us?

This role offers exposure across the full People lifecycle within a supportive team environment.

You will:
•    Build broad People experience across multiple functional areas
•    Contribute to meaningful work supporting employee experience and compliance
•    Develop your capability over time, with scope to grow in responsibility in line with performance and business need

What we offer you

At Arup, we care about each member’s success, so we can grow together.

We are owned in trust on behalf of our members, giving us the freedom, with personal responsibility, to set our own direction and choose work that aligns with our purpose and adds to Arup’s legacy. Our members collaborate on ambitious projects to deliver remarkable outcomes for our clients and communities. Profit Share is a key part of our reward, enabling members to share in the results of our collective efforts.

An environment that will give you freedom to design with a purpose, focus on your skills to deliver quality work to our clients, opportunity to learn and share knowledge openly. You will have the opportunity to utilise your technical expertise to improve the lives of the most vulnerable in the communities in which we live and work through Arup's community engagement programme.

You'll have access to lots of learning opportunities and ongoing training through Arup university and other learning programmes.

Beyond a competitive guaranteed annual salary package, core benefits include medical aid and hospital gap cover, as well as provident fund covering retirement savings, life insurance and income protection in the event of disability. Core benefits form part of your guaranteed annual package.

Different people, shared values

At Arup, we believe when talented people collaborate, great things are possible. Arup hires people with proven skills and open minds. We are taking deliberate action to create an inclusive culture that is grounded in our purpose to shape a better world.

At Arup, we welcome candidates from all backgrounds, regardless of age (within legal limits), disability, neurotype or mental health, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, whether you’re pregnant or on family leave. We are an open environment that embraces diverse experiences, perspectives, and ideas – this drives our excellence.

Guided by our values and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we create and contribute to equitable spaces and systems, while cultivating a sense of belonging for all. Our internal employee networks support our inclusive culture: from race, ethnicity and cross-cultural working to gender equity and LGBTQ+ and disability inclusion – we aim to create a space for you to express yourself and make a positive difference. Discover more about life at Arup at www.arup.com/careers/your-life-at-arup.

We are committed to making our recruitment process and workplaces accessible to all candidates. Please contact lia.wiltsher@arup.com to let us know if you need any assistance or reasonable adjustments throughout your application or interview process, and/or to perform the essential functions of the role. We will do everything we can to support you.

Our Application Process

To understand what to expect next, please visit https://www.arup.com/careers/recruitment-process/

Stay safe online – Arup will never ask for your bank details as part of our recruitment process. #LI-LW2

Recruitment Agencies - We have a Preferred Supplier List of trusted partners to assist us when required and do not acknowledge any speculative CVs or unsolicited candidate introductions from agencies not on the list.