Interim Associate Director, People, Int'l

Interim Associate Director, People, International 

 

The Associate Director, People will play a critical leadership role in shaping and driving the people agenda during a period of significant growth and transformation. The successful candidate will bring a strong HR generalist background and proven experience operating within fast-paced, high-growth, and high-change environments.

This role requires a strategic thinker who is equally comfortable being operationally hands-on, supporting leaders and employees through growth, organisational change, and evolving business needs while embedding a positive and engaging working environment.

Key Responsibilities

HR Strategy & Leadership

• Deliver a scalable people strategy aligned to business growth objectives.
• Partner closely with senior leadership to support organisational design, workforce planning, and change management initiatives.
• Act as a trusted advisor to managers and leadership teams on all people-related matters.
• Lead and support the business through periods of rapid growth, transformation, and continuous change.

Culture & Working Environment

• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance culture across the organisation.
• Champion employee engagement, wellbeing, and a positive working environment where individuals feel supported and empowered.
• Drive initiatives that enhance employee experience, communication, and team connectivity.
• Promote company values and behaviours that support innovation, accountability, and teamwork.

Talent Acquisition & Development

• Lead recruitment strategy to attract and retain high-performing talent.
• Strengthen employer branding within the beauty, retail, and consumer sectors.
• Oversee onboarding, performance management, succession planning, and talent development initiatives.
• Build leadership capability through coaching and development programmes.

Employee Relations & HR Operations

• Manage all employee relations matters with professionalism and fairness.
• Ensure HR policies, procedures, and practices remain compliant with UK employment legislation.
• Develop and improve HR processes, systems, and infrastructure to support business scalability.
• Support managers with performance, absence management, disciplinary, and grievance matters.

Change Management & Organisational Growth

• Lead HR support through periods of organisational change and business transformation.
• Help embed structure, clarity, and effective communication during change initiatives.
• Build resilience and adaptability across teams within a fast-moving environment.

Reward, Data & Compliance

• Support compensation and benefits reviews to ensure market competitiveness.
• Use HR data and insights to drive informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
• Monitor employee engagement, retention, turnover, and recruitment metrics.

Essential

• Proven experience in a senior HR leadership role within a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Strong HR generalist background across the full employee lifecycle.
• Demonstrable experience managing within high-change and evolving business environments.
• Strong understanding of UK employment law and HR best practice.
• Commercial mindset with the ability to align people strategy to business objectives.
• Excellent communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational delivery.
• Experience building and improving HR frameworks, processes, and culture.

Preferred

• Experience within beauty, fashion, retail, e-commerce, or consumer sectors.
• CIPD qualification preferred.
• Experience supporting multi-site or international teams advantageous.

• Positive, approachable, and highly collaborative.
• Resilient and adaptable within changing environments.
• Strong emotional intelligence and relationship-building capability.
• Hands-on, proactive, and solutions-focused.
• Passionate about creating a supportive and engaging employee environment.
• Comfortable operating within ambiguity and rapid growth.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape and lead the people agenda within a high-growth beauty business.
• A supportive, collaborative, and entrepreneurial culture.
• Career progression and high visibility within the leadership team.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Flexible/hybrid working environment.

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