Head of People (Maternity Cover) (Beauty & Personal Care)

Location: Holborn, London, United Kingdom; hybrid with office attendance 2 to 3 days per week. Full-time fixed-term maternity cover for approximately 12 months, working 40 hours per week from 9 am to 6 pm with a one-hour lunch.

Salary: £70,000–£80,000 GBP per year.

Company

Avenir Collective acquires and scales high-potential beauty, personal care and lifestyle consumer brands through shared capital, people, operating expertise and infrastructure.

What you will do

• Lead the day-to-day People function, manage its budget and guide a People Coordinator and Talent Partner.
• Own group-wide payroll, pensions, benefits administration, HR systems, policies and compliance across multiple entities.
• Coordinate People operations across teams in the UK, Netherlands and Australia, as well as international contractors.
• Advise the CEO, Executive Team and managers on employee relations, performance, reward, organisational development and change.
• Oversee talent acquisition, senior leadership hiring, performance development, succession planning and leadership development.
• Use engagement, retention, performance, diversity, hiring and compensation data to provide recommendations to senior leaders.

Requirements

• Senior HR generalist experience as a Head of People, People Manager or strong HR Manager, with end-to-end ownership of a broad People remit, including budget management and line management of a small team.
• Experience operating across a multi-entity international business, ideally across the UK and EU; APAC, Australia or global contractor exposure is advantageous.
• Strong, current UK employment law knowledge and hands-on experience managing employee relations and performance matters.
• Experience owning payroll, pensions, benefits and reward operations while maintaining compliant People processes.
• Experience overseeing recruitment and partnering with hiring managers, including running or guiding a talent acquisition function.
• Autonomy and confidence taking ownership with minimal oversight in a fast-moving scale-up, consumer, retail or ecommerce environment.
• Credible communication and trusted-adviser skills, with organisational development, culture and people-data experience.
• CIPD qualification or equivalent experience, with a pragmatic, commercial and people-first approach.
• Applicants must have the right to work in the UK; the application asks whether employment visa sponsorship will be required.

Culture & Benefits

• 30 days of holiday plus 8 UK bank holidays.
• 5% employee pension contribution and 3% employer contribution.
• Private medical insurance covering travel, vision and dental care.
• Work from abroad for one month per year, anywhere in the world.
• Discretionary performance-based bonus, monthly Flexi-Friday and mental health support through confidential therapy.
• Quarterly events, social activities and opportunities for international travel; the employer is disability-committed and supports reasonable interview adjustments.

Hiring process

• Submit a CV or resume and cover letter, either as an upload or written in the application.
• Answer questions about UK work authorisation, visa sponsorship, notice period, salary expectations, current location, disability status and required interview adjustments.