HR Director

Circit is a rapidly growing B2B SaaS company on a mission to verify the trusted source in every business transaction. We are creating a global asset verification platform that allows auditors to deliver higher quality financial audits and spend more time helping businesses to create greater value for all economic stakeholders. Our current customer base includes big four accountancy firms, fund administrators, as well as global banks and asset management service providers.

We are seeking an experienced and commercially-minded HR Director to build and lead a scalable, compliant, and strategic People function. This is a pivotal leadership role for a growing organisation, and the successful candidate will take full ownership of the HR function, transitioning decision-making authority from the COO and shaping the people strategy through a period of significant scale.

This is an exceptional opportunity for an ambitious HR leader who enjoys collaboration, to take full ownership of the People function and make a tangible impact on a growing organisation. The successful candidate will have the autonomy, support, and mandate to build a best-in-class HR function from the ground up.

People Strategy & Organisational Design

• Own and drive succession planning, workforce planning, and organisational design across the business
• Implement and embed a 9-box performance and talent framework
• Transition full HR decision-making ownership from the COO, establishing HR as a strategic function 

HRIS Transformation

• Lead the selection and full implementation of a new HRIS within the first six months
• Replace the existing fragmented technology stack with a unified, scalable HR platform

• Enable automation, self-service capabilities, and management reporting 

People Data & Reporting

• Build and maintain a robust people reporting framework covering attrition, performance, and hiring metrics

• Provide regular, data-led insights to the senior leadership team to inform business decisions 

Compliance & Governance

• Own and manage multi-country employment law compliance, including Irish and EU employment legislation

• Establish structured legal and advisory support relationships

• Ensure adherence to current GDPR data protection requirements

• Guarantee compliance with the EU Pay Transparency Directive and prepare the organisation ahead of implementation deadlines

• Own accountability for all people-function controls within the SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 frameworks

• Ensure all HR processes and controls are designed and operated in line with Circit’s certified control frameworks

• Lead the preparation and provision of HR evidence during SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audits, working in close partnership with the Compliance team

• Maintain audit-ready documentation for all people controls on an ongoing basis 

Manager Enablement & Accountability

• Lead the shift in the people management accountability model, supporting managers in taking greater ownership of their people responsibilities

• Position HR as an enabling, advisory function rather than an operational executor

• Design the manager training and development programme, setting the content, standards, and success measures 

Performance Management & Culture

• Implement a consistent, fair performance management framework across the business

• Embed manager practices that support high performance and psychological safety

• Protect and develop organisational culture through a period of sustained growth

Reward & Pay Transparency

• Lead pay transparency readiness initiatives in line with EU Directive requirements

• Lead annual salary benchmarking against Irish and European market data, utilising recognised salary surveys and external market intelligence to ensure Circit’s pay ranges remain competitive

• Shape a transparent, equitable compensation framework

• Own and lead the annual salary review process, including setting the review timeline, defining the budget envelope in partnership with Finance and the COO, and ensuring a consistent and equitable approach across all teams

• Partner with managers throughout the salary review cycle, providing guidance on pay decisions, position-in-range, and market alignment, and ensuring all recommendations are commercially justified and equitably applied

• Maintain documented salary bands for all roles and ensure these are reviewed at least annually in line with benchmarking outputs 

Employee Relations & Case Management

• Hands-on ER advisory grounded in strong UK and Irish employment law knowledge, with broader European law fluency an advantage

• Own grievances, disciplinaries, and investigations end-to-end, ensuring fair and legally defensible outcomes

• Maintain audit-ready ER documentation aligned to Circit's control frameworks, in partnership with Compliance

• Coach managers to handle routine ER matters confidently, positioning ER as advisory rather than operational

• Provide early-intervention and mediation support to de-escalate conflict and protect psychological safety

Onboarding

• Own the design and strategic direction of the onboarding programme, ensuring it effectively integrates new joiners and accelerates time-to-productivity

• Support the Senior HR Generalist in driving continuous improvement of the onboarding experience, incorporating feedback and business need

• Champion cohort-based onboarding to build consistency and scale across a growing organisation 

Learning & Development

• Build a scalable learning and development infrastructure

• Identify and address critical product knowledge gaps with commercial impact 

HR Team Development

• Provide a structured development plan for members of the HR team

• Actively include the team in Employee Relations work and strategic HR projects 

Essential Experience & Qualifications

• Degree in Human Resource Management, Business, or a related discipline; CIPD qualification (Level 7 or equivalent) strongly preferred
• Significant progressive HR experience, including substantial time spent in senior HR leadership roles
• Proven track record of building or scaling an HR function in a growth-stage company (100 to 200+ headcount)
• Hands-on experience leading an HRIS’HRMS selection and full implementation project
• Thorough knowledge of Irish employment law, including the Employment Equality Acts, Unfair Dismissals Act, and GDPR obligations
• Experience managing multi-jurisdictional compliance across Ireland and at least one additional European country

Skills & Competencies

• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to connect people strategy to business outcomes
• Confident, autonomous operator capable of working in ambiguous, fast-paced environments
• Skilled communicator and influencer at C-suite and Board level
• Collaborative leadership style with a track record of retaining and developing high-performing teams
• Proficiency in HR analytics and the ability to translate data into clear management insights

This is an exciting opportunity for an all-rounder, highly motivated candidate to get involved at the ground level of a fast-growing company. We’re committed to making sure our employees are well-treated. If there’s something that’s important to you that’s not on the list, talk to us.

• Competitive salary
• A small team with a friendly environment that promotes autonomy for you to self-manage your time;
• Remote working and flexible working hours;
• Great opportunity for career progression with hands on experience;
• Freedom of expression is encouraged.