What you'll do:

• Take end-to-end ownership of core People Operations, including onboarding, offboarding, absence, leave and employee documentation.
• Act as a trusted first point of contact for managers, resolving issues independently and escalating with clear recommendations where appropriate.
• Handle sensitive employee conversations across areas including absence, performance, maternity and other employee matters with empathy, confidence and sound judgement.
• Own and optimise the HRIS, ensuring workflows and employee processes remain accurate, effective and scalable.
• Review existing People processes and identify where they can be simplified, strengthened or removed altogether.
• Use AI tools to build practical workflows, templates and automations that turn repetitive People work into reliable, repeatable processes.
• Support managers with practical guidance and light-touch training as the organisation continues to scale.
• Use existing People data to surface useful insights for leadership.
• Evaluate the existing People technology stack and make recommendations where alternative tools or systems could materially improve how the function operates.
• Shape what an increasingly sophisticated People Operations function should look like as the business continues to grow.

You will bring:

• Hands-on People Operations, HR Operations or generalist HR experience, ideally gained within a start-up, scale-up or similarly fast-growing environment.
• Experience operating with genuine ownership rather than as one part of a large, established People function.
• Strong employee relations exposure and confidence handling sensitive or difficult conversations directly.
• Excellent judgement around confidential employee matters, including knowing what to resolve independently and when to escalate.
• A pragmatic approach to process: you'll instinctively look for the simplest scalable solution rather than introducing policy for policy's sake.
• An AI-first mindset, with meaningful experience using AI tools to improve operational workflows.
• Confidence working independently in a standalone role while partnering closely with senior stakeholders.
• An ownership mindset: you work problems through, develop recommendations and follow through on implementation.

We recognise how challenging this current job market is for candidates, and Hawkwood are therefore striving to provide the best candidate experience we can. If you are interested in this opportunity, we kindly request that you apply via this LinkedIn advert, as opposed to sending us an email or LinkedIn direct message. We are eager to ensure that each candidate application is considered fairly, and receives a consistent experience. Unfortunately, we cannot ensure this standard if you inquire about a role via email or LinkedIn message, as it falls outside of our established process.