PEOPLE DIRECTOR

PEOPLE DIRECTOR

Based in the heart of Shoreditch, we are a multi-platform production company, social media agency, and digital media network who are on a search for an operationally focused People Director to drive our people strategy - Is this your next opportunity?

As People Director, you will provide HR leadership to ensure our people strategy aligns with organisational goals and fosters a high-performance culture. You will steer the business through growth and transformation, and provide operational excellence across recruitment, people operations and L&D across the UK businesses.

The role requires close collaboration with senior leadership to align HR functions with the overall global business objectives, and plays a key role in shaping the company’s talent acquisition, retention, organisational design, employee experience and development strategies. This opportunity presents a blend of executive-level influence, hands-on delivery and HR compliance and risk management, uniquely tailored for a fast-paced UK SME. The role also offers the opportunity to work collaboratively with the US and German People Teams to ensure a consistent culture and guidance on long term HR strategies.

PERKS OF THE JOB

We are proud to be an award winning, B Corp™ Certified workplace with employee wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. We offer hybrid and flexi-time working, mental health and wellbeing programmes, enhanced gender neutral parental leave, interest free financial support and a digital nomad policy that allows you to work from abroad in two one week blocks a year. Plus all the usuals such as pension contributions, annual leave and office perks like free lunches, socials, and health treatments!

HOW YOU'LL SPEND YOUR TIME 

Strategic Leadership & Business Partnership

• Strategic Advisory & Commercial Integration: Partner with the SLT to align the People & Culture strategy with business growth, workforce planning, and talent development.

• Risk & Governance: Oversee UK employment compliance and HR risk management as a member of the Risk and Compliance Board.

• Talent & Organisational Design: Drive business effectiveness through organisational transformation, skills gap mitigation, and robust succession and contingency planning.

Operational Leadership & People Delivery

• Operational delivery: Responsible for the delivery of the UK People function covering recruitment, L&D and People Operations to the business.

• Budgetary responsibility: Own and manage the People budget, ensuring clear ROI across recruitment spending, L&D spend, and software vendor contracts.

• Team management: Lead, mentor, and develop the internal HR team to deliver a highly efficient, proactive service across all UK business units.

Technical HR, Compliance & International Employment Law

• UK: For all UK businesses within the Little Dot Studios’ Group, maintain best-in-class compliance with UK employment law, managing complex employee relations (ER) cases, re-organisation plans and contract variations in close collaboration with the General Counsel. In addition part of the role is ensuring policies, contracts, and the staff handbook are rigorously updated and aligned with ACAS codes of practice, UK employment legislation, and GDPR (including management of employee data).

• US/Germany/Australia: Providing advisory oversight and guidance to the local People Teams and support the implementation of global policies and training on global compliance related issues. Germany: Support to navigate co-determination, strict data protection (GDPR/BDSG), and rigid German termination laws. Australia: Ensure alignment with the Fair Work Act, National Employment Standards (NES), Modern Awards, and superannuation compliance.

• Global Operations: Manage relationships with Employer of Record (EOR) and Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) partners.

Talent Acquisition & Retention

• Manage the end-to-end talent pipeline to align recruitment with UK operational needs.

• Optimise global talent acquisition across employment models (EOR, PEOs, contractors) to meet budget targets.

• Maintain scalable performance frameworks to ensure accountability across remote and local teams.

Performance Management and Development

• Manage quarterly performance cycles (KPIs/OKRs) to align individual output with business goals.

• Drive L&D programs to upskill teams, define career paths, and improve operational output.

• Partner with department heads to analyse skill gaps, manage underperformance, and prioritise L&D investments.

• Use engagement metrics (e.g., eNPS, pulse surveys) to foster a transparent, high-performing culture.

Reward, Performance & Development

• Oversee UK/APAC payroll and finance liaison for compliance.

• Manage compensation, benefits, and rewards to optimize retention within budget.

• Direct performance metrics, feedback systems, and OKR/KPI alignment.

Employee experience and engagement

• Foster a positive and inclusive company culture, focusing on employee engagement, wellbeing, and satisfaction.

• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in all people-related programs and policies.

HR Tech & Data Analytics

• Optimise the HR tech stack to improve efficiency, automate workflows, and maintain a single source of truth for data.

• Track critical people metrics (e.g., revenue per employee, attrition, absence, time-to-hire) to deliver commercial insights.

• Improve employee engagement through data-driven strategies.

WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED
Skills matter, experience is useful, attitude is everything.

• Equivalent Role Experience: Proven experience operating as a People Director, Head of HR, or equivalent senior leadership role within a similar organization (c.300–1,000 employees, £50m–£200m revenue).

• Change Management: Experience in workforce scaling, designing and implementing multiple reorganisation plans or other large scale change management initiatives, and managing complex ER cases.

• Multi-Jurisdictional Footprint: Demonstrable experience managing entities or large employee bases across multiple territories, including deploying EOR models in multiple territories.

• Scale & Agility: Experience working in a fast-paced, scaling mid-market business. You must be comfortable toggling between boardroom strategy and hands-on operational delivery.

• Qualifications: CIPD Level 7 (or equivalent international HR qualification/degree). Equivalent practical expertise is heavily valued.

Technical Skills & Knowledge

• Deep Employment Law Expertise: Comprehensive technical knowledge of UK employment law, including (but not limited to) experience of TUPE transfers (incoming and outgoing)

• Experience in international jurisdictions: A working vocabulary and operational grasp of US, German, and Australian labor frameworks is preferred but not essential.

• HR Tech Savvy: Advanced experience optimising global HRIS, ATS, and performance management software (e.g. HiBob, Workbuzz).

• M&A / Entity Setup (Desirable): Experience supporting international expansion, entity creation, or cross-border M&A/TUPE integration.

Core Competencies & Soft Skills

• Commercial Acumen: You speak the language of business and finance. You treat headcount and people initiatives as commercial investments tied to ROI.

• Cultural Intelligence: Strong cross-cultural communication skills, with the ability to build trust and influence across different time zones, working styles, and local customs.

• Pragmatic Problem Solver: High emotional intelligence (EQ) paired with an objective, compliance-driven approach to resolving complex workplace conflict and organizational bottlenecks.

• Decisiveness: Ability to make firm, risk-managed decisions in ambiguous global legal situations.

• Solutions focused: ability to anticipate issues and offer solutions to the SLT in a timely manner.

LITTLE DOT, BIG IMPACT

We’re probably the biggest studio you didn’t know was fuelling your favourite content. We’ve been one of the top dogs in the digital content space since 2013 (some would say, before its potential was even fully realised). We're proud to work with some of the hottest TV and movie studios, distributors, rights holders, sports federations and brands in the business.

WE ARE COMMITTED

We are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace at Little Dot that reflects our diverse digital audiences and communities we work and live in. We are committed to ensuring every employee feels valued and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives. We welcome candidates of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities to apply to our vacancies, and we strive to create an environment where differences are celebrated, and everyone has equal opportunity to thrive.

USE OF AI IN APPLICATIONS

We value authenticity, and want to get to know you - your thinking, and your originality. While generative AI tools can help refine text, we require your applications to be in your own voice and words. AI cannot be used to generate your responses, and any applications appearing to be entirely AI-generated will not be progressed.

Learn more about us, our values and our commitments please visit our website for more information.