Salary: £80,000 to £90,000
Location: London
Working Pattern: On Site
Hawkwood is partnering with a leading frontier AI lab as it scales its operations in London. Backed by investors including NVIDIA and Sequoia, the business has raised more than $2 billion to develop advanced autonomous intelligence systems and frontier AI models. With teams across New York, San Francisco and London, they are entering a period of extraordinary growth as they continue to expand both their research capabilities and global operations.
As the first dedicated People hire in the UK, you will play a pivotal role in building the employee experience locally while partnering closely with the global People team. With plans to double global headcount over the coming year, this role offers the chance to influence how People practices, processes and culture evolve during a significant period of scale.
Were looking for a commercially minded People professional who enjoys operating across both People Operations and People Partnering. Youll be excited by working autonomously, comfortable providing recommendations rather than waiting for direction, and capable of building credibility with highly technical stakeholders. This role will suit someone who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys creating structure where it is needed most, and is equally happy coaching managers, solving employee challenges and improving processes.
What will you be doing:
* Act as the primary People Team contact for employees and managers across the UK business
* Partner with managers on employee relations matters, performance management, manager development, organisational effectiveness and workforce planning
* Lead employee relations cases from initial consultation through to resolution, including performance improvement plans, investigations, disciplinary processes and grievances
* Coordinate the local delivery of global People programmes, including performance reviews, talent discussions, compensation cycles and organisational change initiatives
* Own UK People Operations across the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, employment changes, leave administration, benefits, pensions and offboarding
* Identify and implement improvements across People processes, systems and employee experience, while helping to build the People infrastructure required to support the next phase of growth
Who We Are Looking For:
* Experience in a People Operations, HR Generalist, People Partner or similar role within a business with a significant engineering population
* Experience working within a venture backed, high growth or scaling environment
* Strong knowledge of UK employment law, employee relations processes and people practices
* Experience independently managing employee relations cases and supporting managers through complex people challenges
* Strong understanding of UK benefits, pensions, leave management and local employment requirements
* A proactive and self sufficient approach, with the confidence to influence stakeholders, bring recommendations and execute effectively
This is a rare opportunity to build and shape the UK People function within a business operating at the forefront of AI innovation. Youll have the autonomy to make meaningful decisions locally, influence global People programmes and help create the foundations for the next stage of growth. For someone who enjoys ownership, pace and the opportunity to build, this role offers an exceptional platform.
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 enquire about a role via email or LinkedIn message, as it falls outside of our established process.