Head of People

Head of People

Location: London, UK (our office is in Kings Cross)

Department: People & Ops

Hours: Full-time

Overview

YLD is a fast-growing software engineering consultancy focused on enabling digital transformation for Enterprise companies. We have offices in London and Lisbon, and our team comprises people from various backgrounds and areas of expertise who come together to build and deliver amazing projects alongside our customers.

Enabling organisations to become great technology companies is our mission and promise to our clients. We aim to leave them with the mindset, tools, skills and expertise they need to go beyond their expectations, revolutionise their sectors, and for us to be proud of the change we create with them and their customers.

We pride ourselves on being proactive, collaborative, and straightforward team players. We like to move fast as a team, and honesty and integrity are essential. In return, you will be part of a supportive and high-performing team that shares the workload, looks after each other, and celebrates success together. We don’t do politics, egos, or personal agendas—they consume too much time and distract us from being successful together.

About YLD:

We firmly believe that our continued growth and success are due to the people we hire.  We are relentless in our pursuit of great people, and we believe that bringing extraordinary people together produces great results.

We strongly advocate continuous delivery and rigorous testing practices, and we help our customers adopt modern best practices with minimal risk. It’s not just about lines of code.

We educate, co-develop, and automate while passing on our expertise to our customers’ development teams.

About The Role:

The Head of People is a new role for YLD. 

The key to the role is shaping and delivering a people strategy and building an EVP that will continue to attract, recruit, develop, engage and excite the very people – differentiating YLD for candidates, colleagues, and clients.  

It includes taking responsibility for ensuring that we deliver and offer the very best across all people-related priorities, including learning and development, talent management, resourcing and recruitment, remuneration planning, employee benefits, and an understanding of employment law. 

As a member of the Leadership Team, the Head of People will be responsible for keeping the company updated on people-related developments and priorities. With most of our consultants based out of the office at multiple client sites, effective communication, including regular company-wide presentations, is a vital aspect of the role.

About you:

Potential excites us, so we are keen to hear from people who want to harness their experience within a company that will support their continued growth and development and help them invest in their professional development from day one.  This isn’t just about skills for the job but skills for life – mindset, adaptability, resilience and leadership, to name just a few.  You will be a key member of the leadership team and involved in shaping how we run the company, so the ability to lead others and shape and influence our continued growth and success as a team is important.

We are looking for someone confident, outgoing, and has a natural ability to get on well with colleagues.

You'll have the following skills and experience:

• A proven track record of HR/People leadership in a professional services organisation that includes leading a high-performing team and shaping the strategy for people and EVP.
• Ability to work closely with leaders and be recognised as a subject matter expert.
• Being up-to-date and interested in leading-edge thinking and best practice approaches to HR, including employment law.

In addition to this, all candidates must have: 

• 5+ years’ experience in HR with at least 3+ years in a HR / People leadership role.
• Substantial generalist or combined specialist experience in more than one specialist area (e.g. recruitment, learning and development, employee relations, benefits & compensation).
• Degree educated and qualified to CIPD Level 5 or equivalent.
• Experience in developing, shaping and implementing HR / People strategy.
• Passionate about guiding the development of people in line with their ability and ambition.
• Strong leadership skills and ability to work as part of a high-performing team.
• The ability to solve complex and often dynamic problems in a measured and collaborative way.
• Robust planning and organisation skills – anticipating potential problems and challenges is key.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills.
• Good influencing skills, resilience, and tenacity are required to provoke thoughtful debate amongst colleagues as part of the leadership team.
• A pragmatic and commercial focus. 
• Working knowledge of UK employment legislation.
• Experience in scaling a fast-growing company.
• Ability to solve complex and often dynamic problems in a measured and collaborative way

As well as the chance to work with a forward-thinking, ethical, and fun group of people, you’ll also get:

• Company Private Health care (currently provided by BUPA)
• Enhanced fully paid maternity and paternity leave for up to 6 months
• Company’s Pension Scheme
• 25 days annual holiday (excluding Public Holidays)
• £2000 annual allowance for Training/Conferences
• £300 annual allowance for additional hardware
• Mental Health support: access to Spill app
• Meditation/Sleep support: Headspace or Calm app subscription
• Bonus (depending on Company performance and results)
• Company laptop
• Generous referral schemes

Our typical Recruitment Process looks like this:

• 1st Interview with someone from the Talent team (30/45 mins)
• 2nd Interview with our CCO (~1h)
• Scenario-based Interview with someone from our Leadership team (~90 mins)
• Final conversation with one of our Directors (~45 mins)

We live and breathe our values, and know you will too:

• Growing every day
• Including everyone
• Relationships built on honesty and ethics
• Inspiring solutions
• Winning together

We’re an equal-opportunity employer and value diversity of all kinds. We don’t discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, age, marital status, or disability status. We also offer a remote-first working environment, meaning that flexible working and work-life balance come as standard for all employees.