People Director

Amber Labs; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days’ annual leave

Private medical insurance

Employer pension contributions

Remote-first working

Personal training budget

Perkbox membership

EV scheme

Regular team socials

Referral scheme up to £3,000

Choice of PC or Mac

Job summary

Amber Labs is seeking an experienced People Director to own our People and Culture function, partnering directly with the CEO and COO. This is a leadership role designed to shape how we manage and develop our people as the business scales.

You will set the direction, build the operating model and raise the standard of leadership, ensuring robust policies, processes and compliance, including IR35 obligations, while guiding a growing HR team.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a People Director or senior People leader in a scaling business, ideally in technology or professional services.
• A track record of building People functions and improving performance culture, not just operating within existing frameworks.
• Confidence advising at CEO and board level, with the credibility to challenge as well as support.

Responsibilities

• Designing and delivering the People roadmap in partnership with the CEO and COO
• Building a performance management framework, addressing existing issues and improving manager capability across the business
• Identifying key talent, building retention plans, benchmarking reward and creating clear career pathways
• Leading workforce planning and organisational design across permanent and contractor populations as the business scales
• Coaching managers, closing leadership gaps and raising the standard of people leadership across the business
• Making sure policies, processes and compliance are robust and fit for a scaling business, including IR35 obligations
• Developing and guiding our existing junior HR team

Skills

People leadership

Board-level advisory

IR35 knowledge

Workforce planning

Organisational design

Contractor management

Job description

Location: Remote-first, with a base at our Liverpool Street office

About Amber Labs

The digital transformation partner for highly regulated industries.

Our teams deliver digital transformation for organisations operating in complex, highly regulated environments. From securing national borders to supporting critical defence operations, we deliver secure AI, data, cloud and software solutions across high-stakes programmes.

What You’ll Be Doing

We’re looking for an experienced People Director to own our entire People and Culture function, partnering directly with our CEO and COO. Amber Labs is growing fast, and the people joining now will shape what this business becomes.

This is a leadership role, not a process one. You’ll set the direction, build the operating model and raise the standard of how we manage and develop our people, moving Amber Labs from founder-led and reactive to structured, accountable and scalable. We already have junior HR capacity; what we need is a senior leader who can challenge where needed and be the one accountable owner for everything People and Culture.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Designing and delivering the People roadmap in partnership with the CEO and COO
• Building a performance management framework, addressing existing issues and improving manager capability across the business
• Identifying key talent, building retention plans, benchmarking reward and creating clear career pathways
• Leading workforce planning and organisational design across permanent and contractor populations as the business scales
• Coaching managers, closing leadership gaps and raising the standard of people leadership across the business
• Making sure policies, processes and compliance are robust and fit for a scaling business, including IR35 obligations
• Developing and guiding our existing junior HR team

What We’re Looking For

You will need:

• Proven experience as a People Director or senior People leader in a scaling business, ideally in technology or professional services
• A track record of building People functions and improving performance culture, not just operating within existing frameworks
• Confidence advising at CEO and board level, with the credibility to challenge as well as support
• Experience managing blended workforces, including contractors and fixed-term contracts, with working knowledge of IR35
• Experience in a business of 50 to 200 people moving at pace: you know what good looks like at this stage of growth

Missing a skill or two?

Research shows that job requirements can put great candidates off applying – and some groups are more likely to count themselves out than others. So, if this role sounds like a good fit but you don’t tick every box, don’t let that stop you. We’d still love to hear from you!

What’s In it For You:

We believe benefits should be practical: things that genuinely support your day-to-day, give you flexibility and help you keep developing.

Here are a few of our perks:

• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Private medical insurance with Bupa
• Employer pension contributions
• Remote-first working, with access to our Liverpool Street office
• Personal training budget to support your professional development
• Perkbox membership, with discounts across retail, travel, dining and wellness
• Electric Vehicle Scheme after one year of service
• Regular team socials
• Referral scheme offering up to £3,000 for successful hires
• Your choice of PC or Mac

How We Work

We’ve worked hard to build a team of people who are experts at what they do. Because of that, we’ll trust you to get on with your job and give you the space to do it well. But you’ll always have plenty of support around you whenever you need it - whether that’s to sense-check an approach, tackle a tricky client challenge, or simply bounce ideas around.

We keep our structure flat and our processes straightforward. If you have a good idea, you’ll be encouraged to run with it, and if something could be done better, we’ll encourage you to say so. Ultimately, we work with people who take pride in their work, support their team and want to leave things better than they found them.

What Happens Next?

Once you’ve applied, our in-house Talent team will review your application and, if it looks like there could be a good fit, they’ll be in touch.

A Human Approach to Hiring

We use AI responsibly, in our client projects and internally. When it comes to hiring, though, there are always real people behind the process. Decisions throughout - from CV review and progressing to interview through to making an offer - are made by our Talent team (who are real people, we promise!).

Diversity & Inclusion

Amber Labs is an equal opportunities employer, and we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to do their best work, regardless of background, identity or experience.

If there’s anything we can do to make the recruitment process more accessible or comfortable for you, just let our Talent team know, we’ll be happy to help!