People and Culture Director

Lane7; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 77,000 - 94,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary up to £85k

Performance bonus

Health insurance

Pension

Free bowling for you and guests

Food & drink discount 25%

Social activities

Annual awards party

Cycle2Work

Refer a friend

Job summary

Lane7 is hiring a People and Culture Director to lead the people agenda across our venues with a hybrid/remote-from-venue setup. You’ll translate business priorities into practical people plans, design L&D programs, and build policies that support culture, wellbeing and productivity.

You will partner with the CEO and SLT, coaching leaders, leveraging people data to drive capability, retention and performance across multiple sites.

Qualifications

• Significant senior experience in People or L&D leadership within multi-site hospitality or similar operational business.
• Proven track record of implementing people and L&D strategies that improve capability and business performance.
• Experience in internal communications, organisational change and boosting manager effectiveness.
• Commercial judgment linking people investment to productivity, retention and service outcomes.
• Strong communication, influencing and coaching skills for senior leaders.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver a group-wide people and culture strategy aligned with Lane7’s goals.
• Design and implement onboarding, training, leadership programmes and career pathways.
• Create robust, accessible people policies and ensure legal compliance.
• Own internal communications policy and operating rhythm for company-wide and departmental comms.
• Coach leaders, use people data to prioritise activity and demonstrate impact.

Job description

People and Culture Director -Hybrid / Remote from venue

About Us

Lane7 is the UK's fastest growing and biggest independent boutique bowling destination. We have multiple venues across our Lane7, Level X, Gutterball and ML7 brands. Bowling has always been our thing - since launch in 2013, but really, we're all your best nights in one: Pool, golf, darts, karaoke, arcades and a ton of next-level gaming experiences, combined with great drinks and fabulous food. A night with friends, date night, special celebrations and private functions… we've got every occasion covered.

Could you be what we’re looking for?

The People and Culture Director will lead the people agenda across Lane7, ensuring our growth is supported by capable leaders, confident teams and a consistent employee experience. The role will design, build and implement a business‑wide learning and development strategy for department heads and frontline teams. It will also strengthen our culture of support, opportunity and wellbeing, while establishing clear, practical policies and communications that help people perform at their best.

The Role

Working closely with the CEO, SLT and department heads, this role will translate business priorities into practical people plans, learning programmes, policies and internal communications. It is a visible, hands‑on leadership role that must balance employee experience with commercial discipline, operational simplicity and measurable productivity.

Key Responsibilities include:

People and culture strategy

• Develop and deliver a people and culture strategy aligned with Lane7’s commercial goals, growth plans and operational priorities.
• Advise the CEO, SLT and department heads on organisation design, workforce planning, succession, capability and change.

Learning and development

• Design, build and implement a group-wide L&D strategy based on clear capability needs and business priorities.
• Create effective onboarding, role‑specific training, management development, leadership programmes and career pathways.
• Give department heads the tools, standards and support required to develop their teams consistently.

Policies and people governance

• Build and maintain a robust, accessible set of people policies that supports all teams and promotes fair, consistent decision‑making.
• Ensure policies remain legally compliant, commercially sensible and straightforward for managers and employees to use.

Internal communications and productivity

• Own the internal communications policy and establish a clear operating rhythm for business‑wide and departmental communication.
• Work with leaders to ensure communications result in understanding, action and improved productivity, with feedback loops to test effectiveness.

Leadership and continuous improvement

• Build trusted relationships across support functions and venues, providing constructive challenge as well as practical support.
• Coach leaders and managers to handle people matters confidently, consistently and at the appropriate level.
• Use people data, employee feedback and operational insight to identify priorities and demonstrate impact.
• Lead and develop the People and L&D team, setting clear standards, priorities and measures of success.

To be a success with Lane7, you’ll have:

• Significant senior experience in a People, Organisational Development or L&D leadership role, ideally within a multi‑site hospitality, leisure, retail or other operational business.
• A strong record of creating and implementing people and L&D strategies that improve capability and business performance.Experience developing practical people policies and embedding them consistently across dispersed teams.
• Demonstrable experience of internal communications, organisational change and increasing manager effectiveness.
• Commercial judgement and the ability to connect people investment to productivity, retention, service and financial outcomes.
• Excellent communication, influencing and coaching skills, with the credibility to challenge senior leaders constructively.
• Strong analytical skills and confidence using people data to prioritise activity and measure impact.
• CIPD qualification or equivalent professional experience is desirable.

What We’ll Offer

• Salary - Up to £85,000 Per Annum
• Plus performance bonus
• 28 days holiday per year (Plus 1 day holiday for every year worked - Up to 5 years)
• Private Health insurance & benefits through Vitality
• Company pension contribution
• Free bowling and activities for you and up to 3 others when you aren’t working (off-peak time)
• 25% off food and drink
• Get involved with different social activities throughout the year through our team social calendar
• Annual team awards party
• Cycle2Work scheme partnered with Halfords
• Refer a friend scheme