Head of People

Skills

About the Role

You will lead the HR and recruitment function during a nine-month maternity-leave cover period, reporting directly to the CEO. You will own the people strategy, oversee the employee lifecycle and recruitment operations, manage two direct reports, and act as the escalation point for people matters. You will shape performance reviews, retention, employee relations, compensation and benefits administration, HR compliance, training, wellbeing, onboarding, offboarding and people reporting. You will also manage recruitment end to end, oversee candidate experience and agency relationships, maintain the applicant tracking system, monitor recruitment metrics, develop job descriptions and employer-brand initiatives, and provide hands-on recruitment support when needed.

Requirements

• Proven experience leading an HR or People function
• Strong understanding of the full employee lifecycle and HR best practice
• Experience with employment law across multiple jurisdictions
• Familiarity with Employer of Record hiring
• Confidence leading while remaining hands-on when needed
• Solid recruitment experience with hiring managers, external recruiters and interviews
• Experience line-managing others
• Strong interpersonal skills and discretion when working directly with the CEO
• Ability to work autonomously and get up to speed quickly
• Comfort adopting new tools including AI-based tools
• Right to work in the UK without visa sponsorship
• Ability to handle stressful situations
• Availability for the full term from early September 2026 to mid-May 2027
• Experience managing international or distributed teams
• Experience with recruitment marketing or employer branding
• Experience in a fast-moving technology, software or startup environment
• Experience or interest in blockchain or AI sectors

Responsibilities

• Own and oversee the employee lifecycle and people experience
• Manage the performance review cycle
• Assess turnover risk and support retention
• Handle employee relations including grievances, disciplinaries and conflict resolution
• Oversee compensation and benefits administration and support salary reviews
• Maintain HR policies, the employee handbook and employment-law compliance
• Oversee training, development and coaching
• Provide team wellbeing resources and support
• Report people metrics to leadership
• Oversee regular team one-to-ones
• Conduct employee surveys and act on findings
• Manage onboarding and offboarding
• Manage employment contracts, references and work-eligibility checks
• Manage absence, leave and family leave
• Conduct exit interviews
• Maintain HR records
• Manage and oversee end-to-end in-house recruitment
• Coordinate with hiring managers on roles and requirements
• Own candidate experience and offer management
• Manage external recruiter and agency relationships
• Manage the applicant tracking system and candidate pipeline
• Track recruitment metrics
• Write and refine job descriptions and role scopes
• Drive recruitment marketing and employer-brand strategy
• Review CVs, schedule interviews and conduct HR interviews during peak periods
• Line-manage and develop two direct reports
• Act as the escalation point for people matters across the business