Manager, People Team

Kobalt Music; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Kobalt Music in London seeks an experienced People Partner (HRBP) to own the People partnership for designated business functions across UK/RoW and global priorities. You’ll translate business needs into practical people and workforce plans, partnering with senior leaders to drive organisational effectiveness.

You’ll lead on workforce planning, change, performance and talent, using data and insight to shape decisions.

Qualifications

• Experience operating as an HR Business Partner in a complex, fast-paced organisation.
• Experience partnering with senior stakeholders and providing commercially focused advice.
• Generalist HR knowledge across employee lifecycle.
• Employment law knowledge with ability to translate into pragmatic solutions.
• Experience supporting workforce planning and organisational design.
• Experience with performance, talent, succession planning.
• Strong data usage to influence decisions.
• Experience leading People projects.
• Strong communication and influencing skills.
• Proactive, solutions-focused with accountability.

Responsibilities

• Own the People partnership for designated business functions.
• Provide commercially focused advice on organisation, workforce planning and structures.
• Partner with leaders on headcount planning and future skills.
• Support organisational design, change, and employee consultation.
• Identify workforce risks and develop mitigation and succession plans.
• Partner on performance lifecycle and development planning.
• Lead People projects across regions and global initiatives.
• Use data and insights to guide decisions.
• Mentor junior colleagues.

Skills

HR Business Partner

Stakeholder Management

Employee Relations

Organisational Change

Workforce Planning

People Analytics

Talent Development

Data Analytics

Job description

Manager, People Team

Job Title: Manager, People Team (HRBP)
Department: People Team
Reporting To: Senior Director, People (UK/RoW)
Location: London, United Kingdom
Hybrid Working: 3 days in your local office
Full-time | Permanent

The Role

We are looking for an experienced and adaptable People Partner to own the People partnership for designated business functions while playing a key role across UK/RoW and global People priorities.

Working closely with senior leaders, you’ll translate business priorities into practical solutions across workforce planning, organisational change, talent, performance, employee relations and organisational effectiveness.

You’ll operate with a high degree of autonomy and ownership, using commercial judgement, data and insight to influence decisions and proactively identify challenges. You’ll also work closely with the Senior Director, People as a key partner across the UK/RoW agenda, taking ownership of strategic, cross-functional and global People initiatives.

What You’ll Do

• You own the People partnership for designated business functions, building trusted relationships with leaders and translating business priorities into practical people and workforce plans.
• You provide commercially focused advice and constructive challenge across organisational effectiveness, workforce planning, team structures, capability requirements and ways of working.
• You partner with leaders on workforce and headcount planning, identifying future skills, capability and resource requirements and ensuring people needs are appropriately reflected in broader business and financial planning.
• You support organisational design and change, including restructures, role changes, evolving operating models and employee consultation processes, ensuring appropriate, fair and compliant outcomes.
• You identify workforce, capability and retention risks and partner with leaders to develop practical mitigation and succession plans.
• You partner with managers throughout the full performance lifecycle, including goal setting, ongoing feedback, annual reviews, calibration, development planning and performance improvement.
• You facilitate talent and succession planning, supporting leaders to identify critical roles, high-potential talent, capability gaps, succession risks and development priorities.
• You partner with leaders to identify career and development opportunities and support the evolution of career frameworks, job levelling and approaches that strengthen organisational capability and employee growth.
• You work with People colleagues and subject-matter experts to identify learning and development needs and translate these into initiatives that address business, leadership and capability priorities.
• You independently manage employee relations matters, providing pragmatic advice across performance, conduct, absence, grievance, disciplinary and capability matters.
• You use people data, employee feedback and organisational insight to identify trends, risks and opportunities and make clear, evidence-based recommendations to leaders.
• You partner with leaders to strengthen employee engagement and culture, supporting inclusive, accountable and high-performing teams.
• You lead People projects from concept through to implementation and collaborate with People colleagues across regions on UK/RoW and global initiatives.
• You contribute to the continuous improvement of People processes, ways of working and the overall employee experience.
• Mentor junior colleagues to support their growth and development.

What You’ll Bring

Preferred:

• Experience operating as an HR Business Partner or in a comparable generalist People role within a complex, fast-paced organisation.
• Experience partnering with senior stakeholders, building credible relationships and providing constructive challenges and commercially focused advice.
• Strong generalist HR knowledge across the employee lifecycle, including employee relations, performance management, talent and succession, workforce planning and organisational change.
• Sound knowledge of employment law, with the ability to translate legal and policy requirements into pragmatic business solutions.
• Experience supporting workforce planning, organisational design, restructures and change programmes, including employee consultation where appropriate.
• Experience partnering with leaders on performance, talent, succession and capability planning.
• Strong analytical skills and experience using people data and organisational insight to influence decisions and identify workforce risks.
• Experience leading People projects from concept through to implementation and adoption.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to appropriately challenge senior stakeholders and navigate differing perspectives.
• A proactive, solutions-focused approach with strong accountability, sound judgement and the ability to operate independently while knowing when to seek input or escalation.
• A clear and proactive communication style, keeping stakeholders informed, sharing relevant context and ensuring there are no surprises.
• Resilience and the ability to remain pragmatic and effective when managing complex or challenging People matters.
• Comfort operating through ambiguity and change, adapting quickly as priorities evolve.
• A collaborative, curious and empathetic approach to problem-solving, with the commercial judgement to balance employee experience, business priorities and organisational risk.

Additional Skills That Could Add Value:

• Experience supporting compensation reviews, engagement surveys, career frameworks, job levelling, succession planning or learning and development initiatives.
• Experience with headcount, workforce and financial resource planning.
• Experience supporting operating model or organisational design changes.
• Experience working across global or multi-jurisdictional People environments.
• Experience within Technology, Music Technology, Music/Entertainment or Gaming.

What Success Looks Like

By Month 3: You’ll have developed a strong understanding of the business areas you support, their leadership teams, operating models and key people and workforce priorities. You’ll be building trusted relationships with leaders and confidently managing day-to-day People matters.

By Month 6: You’ll be independently partnering with leaders across employee relations, performance, talent and succession, workforce and capability planning, and organisational change. You’ll be using people insights to identify priorities and risks, while contributing to broader People projects and initiatives.

By Year 1: You’ll be a trusted adviser to senior leaders and managers, proactively identifying organisational, workforce and talent challenges and influencing decisions through insight and constructive challenge. You’ll be delivering practical People solutions that strengthen organisational capability, support high performance and balance employee and business priorities.

Key Behaviours for Success

Resilient & Adaptable: Remains calm and effective through ambiguity, challenge and changing priorities. Can pivot quickly, take feedback on board and move forward constructively when circumstances or direction change.

Accountable & Delivery Focused: Takes responsibility for commitments and outcomes, follows through and can be relied upon to get things done. Raises risks or blockers early rather than allowing issues to drift.

Commercial & Solutions Focused: Understands the wider business context and provides pragmatic People solutions that balance employee experience, commercial priorities and organisational risk.

Interview Process

Introductory call with a member of our Recruitment Team

Interviews with the hiring manager and team

Final stage interview and Q&A

Feedback at each stage

We aim to complete the full interview process from initial application to offer within three to four working weeks. While we do our best to meet this timeline, there may be occasional delays. If that happens, our Recruitment Team will keep you updated every step of the way.

Why Choose Us

At Kobalt, we’ve championed creators since 2000. Our technology and music services are built to make the industry more transparent, fair, and rewarding for artists, songwriters, and rights holders. We’re proud to work with some of the world’s most influential talents including Phoebe Bridgers, Sam Fender, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Karol G, Young Thug, Kali Uchis, and Andrew Watt as well as acclaimed writers like Simon Aldred (Rag'n'Bone Man, Liam Gallagher, Celeste) and Clarence Coffee Jr. (Dua Lipa, Lizzo, The Snuts).

We’re a company that thrives on creativity, collaboration, and progress. Our values: Music First, Transparent, Tech Powered, and Transformative shape how we work, build, and grow together. We are a community of people who care deeply about making a meaningful impact in music and technology.

Important Notice

Applicants must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom. A full DBS check will be conducted on acceptance of the offer.

Kobalt is an equal opportunity employer encouraging diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or any other status or characteristic protected by law.