Head of People

Head of People - London - Hybrid

A great opportunity to be a part of something special. My client has strong expansion and growth plans and as a result are seeking a Head of People to join them in London. You will be responsible for setting up the processes and procedures needed to help with the growth plan. We are looking for someone who has previous experience of working across European countries, has the knowledge of employment compliance across Europe and who can demonstrate the ability to create a superb onboarding programme designed to welcome and impress new hires to the business. This role will be key to creating the in house recruitment team and will be crucial to improve the retention of staff across Europe.

Role Purpose
We are an ambitious, internationally growing engineering practice delivering specialist commissioning expertise to clients across multiple markets. As our global footprint continues to expand, we are seeking an experienced and commercially minded Head of People to lead the next phase of our People strategy and build a high-performing, scalable People function.
This is a pivotal leadership role with responsibility for creating the people infrastructure, operating models, policies, systems and capability required to support sustainable international growth. The successful candidate will partner closely with the Executive Leadership Team and regional leaders to ensure that the business has the right people, skills, leadership capability and organisational structures to deliver for clients across the world.
The Head of People will lead the development and delivery of an integrated People strategy spanning international employment, workforce planning, organisational development, talent acquisition, employee experience, learning and development, leadership capability, performance, reward, employee relations, mobility and compliance.
The role will combine strategic leadership with a strong operational focus. The successful candidate will be comfortable establishing new frameworks and functions, improving existing practices, solving complex people challenges and ensuring that People initiatives translate into measurable commercial and organisational outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
People Strategy and Organisational Leadership
• Develop and deliver a clear, commercially aligned People strategy that supports the company’s growth ambitions, international expansion and long-term business objectives.
• Act as a trusted strategic adviser to the Executive Leadership Team, providing insight and guidance on organisational capability, workforce risks, leadership effectiveness and people-related opportunities.
• Build a scalable People operating model that supports growth while maintaining consistency, quality and an employee-centred culture.
• Lead the development of effective organisational structures, workforce plans and succession strategies across all business regions.
• Use people data and workforce insight to support evidence-based decision-making and identify opportunities to improve organisational performance.
• Establish clear People priorities, governance and measures of success, ensuring that initiatives deliver meaningful outcomes for employees and the business.
• Build and lead a high-performing People team with clear accountability, strong capability and a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
International Growth, Employment, Mobility and Compliance
• Lead the People aspects of international expansion, supporting the establishment of new branches, subsidiaries and operating locations.
• Develop scalable People infrastructure to support sustainable growth across multiple countries and jurisdictions.
• Partner with senior leadership, legal advisers, finance teams and regional leaders to establish compliant and effective employment arrangements in new markets.
• Develop regional People operating models that balance global consistency with local legal, cultural and commercial requirements.
• Ensure the business has appropriate local employment contracts, policies, employee handbooks and people processes in place across each operating location.
• Oversee international employee mobility, including cross-border assignments, transfers, secondments and project-based deployment.
• Ensure effective visa, immigration, right-to-work and relocation processes are in place to enable the business to mobilise employees efficiently and compliantly.
• Work with specialist advisers to manage employment tax, social security and other people-related considerations arising from international assignments.
• Monitor international employment legislation and regulatory developments, ensuring that the organisation remains compliant and responsive to changing requirements.
• Create practical frameworks that enable the business to deploy the right people to the right projects while maintaining a positive employee experience.
Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning
• Recruit and build the Talent Acquisition function and ensure recruitment activity is aligned with business growth plans and future capability requirements.
• Develop and deliver an integrated global talent acquisition strategy.
• Establish robust workforce planning processes that anticipate future resource requirements across regions, disciplines and project portfolios.
• Strengthen the organisation’s ability to attract, engage and secure high-calibre technical, professional and leadership talent.
• Continue to develop the company’s employer brand and employee value proposition across international markets.
• Ensure recruitment processes are efficient, consistent, inclusive and scalable.
• Develop effective talent pipelines for critical and hard-to-fill roles.
• Use recruitment data and market insight to improve hiring outcomes, reduce risk and support informed workforce decisions.
• Ensure that recruitment activity supports both immediate project requirements and long-term organisational capability.
Learning, Development and Capability
• Provide strategic oversight of the company’s Learning & Development agenda and ensure it remains aligned with business priorities and future skills requirements.
• Partner with the Head of Learning & Development to deliver a structured, scalable and high-impact development strategy.
• Support the continued development of four core capability pillars:
o Leadership Development
o Apprenticeships
o Graduate Development
o Transferable and Professional Skills
• Establish clear career pathways that enable employees to develop their technical expertise, leadership capability and professional skills.
• Build a culture of continuous learning, knowledge sharing and professional development across the organisation.
• Ensure learning programmes support career progression, succession planning and the development of future business leaders.
• Evaluate the effectiveness and business impact of learning and development investment.
• Support the development of managers and leaders so they can lead high-performing, engaged and inclusive teams.
Graduate, Early Careers and Talent Development
• Provide strategic oversight of the Graduate Programme and ensure it creates a sustainable pipeline of future technical and leadership talent.
• Develop a high-quality and consistent early careers experience, including structured development, mentoring, project exposure and professional support.
• Oversee graduate attraction, assessment and selection processes, including the development and delivery of assessment centres.
• Ensure graduates receive the technical, professional and leadership development required to build successful long-term careers within the business.
• Develop clear progression pathways and retention strategies for graduates and early-career professionals.
• Strengthen relationships with universities, educational institutions and relevant professional networks.
• Ensure apprenticeship and graduate programmes support the organisation’s future workforce and capability requirements.
Employee Experience, Culture and Engagement
• Develop and maintain a positive, inclusive and high-performance culture that reflects the organisation’s values and international ambitions.
• Create a consistent employee experience across regions while recognising local cultural and employment requirements.
• Lead employee engagement activity and use feedback to identify opportunities to improve culture, communication, leadership and retention.
• Develop initiatives that strengthen employee wellbeing, belonging, recognition and long-term commitment.
• Ensure employees understand how their work contributes to the organisation’s purpose, client delivery and future success.
• Support effective internal communication and change management during periods of growth, transformation and international expansion.
• Promote collaboration and knowledge sharing across offices, disciplines and geographic regions.
Performance, Reward and Career Progression
• Develop and maintain a fair, transparent and commercially sustainable performance management framework.
• Ensure employees receive clear objectives, meaningful feedback and appropriate support for development and progression.
• Establish effective approaches to talent reviews, succession planning and the identification of high-potential employees.
• Review and develop reward, recognition and benefits arrangements to support attraction, retention, engagement and performance.
• Ensure reward frameworks remain competitive and appropriate across different international markets.
• Develop clear and consistent career pathways that support professional growth and internal mobility.
• Use people and market data to inform reward decisions and ensure appropriate governance.
Employee Relations, Employment Law and People Governance
• Lead the development of effective employee relations practices that promote fairness, consistency and early resolution.
• Provide expert guidance to senior leaders and managers on complex employee relations matters.
• Ensure that disciplinary, grievance, performance, absence and other employment processes are managed appropriately and consistently.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of UK employment law and work with local advisers to ensure compliance across international locations.
• Develop and maintain clear People policies, procedures and employee handbooks.
• Ensure People practices are compliant, practical and aligned with the organisation’s culture and commercial objectives.
• Establish appropriate People governance, risk management and reporting arrangements.
• Oversee the secure and compliant management of employee data.
People Operations, Systems and Data
• Build efficient, scalable and employee-focused People operations across the organisation.
• Review and improve People processes to reduce administrative complexity and enhance the employee and manager experience.
• Lead the selection, implementation and optimisation of People systems and technology where required.
• Establish accurate and consistent people data across all regions.
• Develop meaningful People metrics and dashboards covering areas such as workforce growth, recruitment, retention, engagement, development, diversity, performance and organisational capability.
• Use data and insight to identify trends, anticipate risks and support strategic decision-making.
• Ensure People systems and processes can scale effectively as the organisation continues to grow internationally.
Leadership and Stakeholder Management
• Build strong, trusted relationships with the Executive Leadership Team, regional leaders, operational teams and external advisers.
• Influence senior stakeholders and challenge constructively where required.
• Translate business priorities into practical and effective People solutions.
• Lead and develop the People leadership team, including the Head of Learning & Development, Head of Talent and associated People specialists.
• Create clear accountability and effective collaboration across Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, People Operations and wider business functions.
• Act as a visible and credible People leader across the organisation.
• Represent the organisation externally where appropriate, supporting its reputation as an employer of choice.
Candidate Profile
Essential Experience
• Significant senior People or Human Resources leadership experience, ideally within a professional services, engineering, technical, construction, infrastructure, consultancy or project-led environment.
• Experience developing and delivering a People strategy within a high-growth, complex or internationally expanding organisation.
• Demonstrable experience building, transforming or scaling a People function.
• Strong experience supporting international expansion and establishing People infrastructure across multiple countries.
• Experience managing international employment, employee mobility, cross-border transfers, immigration, visas and related employment considerations.
• Experience developing global or regional People operating models.
• Proven ability to balance global consistency with local employment, legal and cultural requirements.
• Experience leading workforce planning, organisational development and succession planning.
• Strong knowledge of talent acquisition and experience developing scalable recruitment capability.
• Experience leading or overseeing Learning & Development, leadership development and career pathway initiatives.
• Experience developing graduate, apprenticeship or early careers programmes.
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and experience working with international employment advisers.
• Experience leading complex employee relations and organisational change.
• Experience developing People policies, systems, governance and reporting frameworks.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to connect People strategy to business performance and client delivery.
• Experience leading and developing high-performing People teams.
Skills and Personal Attributes
• Strategic, commercially minded and highly credible with senior leaders.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial and growth-oriented environment.
• Able to move effectively between strategic planning and operational delivery.
• Strong leadership, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• Pragmatic and solutions-focused, with sound professional judgement.
• Comfortable working across multiple countries, cultures and regulatory environments.
• Highly organised, resilient and capable of managing competing priorities.
• Analytical and confident using people data to support decision-making.
• An effective communicator who can build trust at all levels of the organisation.
• Committed to creating an inclusive, collaborative and high-performance culture.
• Proactive and comfortable establishing new processes, frameworks and ways of working.
• Willing and able to travel internationally as required.
Qualifications
• Chartered membership of the CIPD or an equivalent professional qualification is desirable.
• A degree or equivalent professional experience in Human Resources, Organisational Development, Business, Employment Law or a related discipline is desirable.
What Success Looks Like
Within the First 6 Months
• Develop a clear understanding of the organisation’s strategy, culture, international footprint and future growth plans.
• Complete a review of the current People operating model, organisational capability, policies, systems and key risks.
• Establish strong relationships with the Executive Leadership Team, regional leaders and People leadership team.
• Agree a prioritised People strategy and delivery roadmap.
• Clarify the structure, responsibilities and ways of working across the People function.
• Strengthen workforce planning and establish clear visibility of future talent and capability requirements.
• Identify opportunities to improve international mobility, employment compliance and People operations.
• Establish meaningful People metrics and reporting.
Within 12 Months
• Deliver a scalable People operating model capable of supporting continued international growth.
• Strengthen People infrastructure across existing and new international locations.
• Establish consistent and compliant frameworks for international employment, mobility and employee deployment.
• Improve workforce planning and the organisation’s ability to anticipate future capability needs.
• Strengthen the global talent acquisition strategy and improve access to critical talent.
• Embed the Learning & Development strategy across Leadership Development, Apprenticeships, the Graduate Programme and Transferable Skills.
• Establish clear career pathways and stronger succession planning across the organisation.
• Improve employee engagement, leadership capability and retention.
• Develop consistent performance, reward and talent management frameworks.
• Deliver improved People systems, data quality and management insight.
• Build a high-performing, collaborative and commercially focused People team.

Why Join Us?
This is an opportunity to shape the People agenda of a growing international engineering practice at a defining stage in its development. The Head of People will play a central role in building the organisational capability required to support continued growth, strengthen our international presence and create an environment in which talented people can develop, perform and build long-term careers.
The role offers the opportunity to create lasting impact across the organisation by developing the systems, leadership capability, talent pipelines and employee experience needed to support our people and clients across the world
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed