People Operations Manager

Talon; England; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global media company is seeking a People Operations Manager in the UK. This role involves overseeing employee lifecycle processes, leading a small team, and ensuring compliance across EMEA, APAC, and MENA regions. Ideal candidates will have operational leadership experience and a CIPD qualification. The position promotes a collaborative environment and encourages innovative, people-centric practices.

Qualifications

• Proven experience of successfully leading, developing, and inspiring small People teams.
• Experience of People Business Operations across international regions.
• In-depth understanding of HR compliance and operational best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a small team responsible for best-in-class onboarding.
• Ensure timely and accurate execution of all employee lifecycle processes.
• Partner with teams to ensure policies respect regional differences.

Skills

Operational Leadership

Proactive Problem-Solving

Empathetic Support

Data Fluency

Collaborative Partnering

Education

CIPD qualified – level 5 or working towards

Tools

HRIS platforms

Job description

Join to apply for the People Operations Manager role at Talon

At Talon, our mission is to unlock the full potential of out of home, making it more effective, creative, measurable and sustainable than ever.

We’re passionate about OOH and are on a mission to drive the growth of this sector within the media industry. In just over a decade, our desire to offer intelligent, creative, technology-led OOH solutions and a full-service OOH offering saw us grow into a team of over 450+ people located in key cities across the globe. In that time, we have been awarded for our approach to our people, our clients and our industry. We hire the finest talent to help us unlock the full potential of the Out of Home (OOH) environment for our clients; and pride ourselves on the individuals who represent our business.

The Role

Reporting into the Head of People, the People Operations Manager will be highly experienced and operationally focused to shape and elevate our People Operations function. This newly created role will lead a small but impactful team, including the People Operations Administrator, to deliver seamless employee lifecycle processes, ensure compliance and governance, and empower our regional People Partnering teams with data-driven insights and operational excellence.

As the Manager of our shared service hub, you’ll oversee first line support for employees across EMEA, APAC, and MENA, ensuring consistent, compliant, and people-centric operations. You’ll also collaborate closely with our small team in North America, sharing best practices to ensure alignment and consistency across regions.

Your work will be instrumental in building scalable processes, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and enabling a globally connected and operationally excellent people function.

A Day in the Life

• Lead, coach, and develop a small team responsible for delivering best-in-class onboarding, offboarding, HR compliance, and governance.
• Oversee the execution of all employee lifecycle processes (probation, contract changes, promotions, relocations) with a focus on timeliness, accuracy, and employee experience.
• Embed a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing processes, identifying efficiencies, and implementing new ways of working.
• Collaborate with Global People teams to harmonise policies and processes while respecting regional differences.
• Ensure SLA and KPI targets for People Operations are met and communicated to the Head of People.

Compliance & Governance

• Prepare and process international employee documentation in line with local legal and compliance requirements.
• Partner with regional People Leads to maintain, update, and communicate policies and procedures in line with local employment laws and organisational values.
• Ensure People operations are always audit-ready, maintaining meticulous documentation and version control.
• Support the People Operations Administrator with Right to Work queries for new starters.
• Manage all Right to Work renewals as part of the EU Settlement Scheme.
• Work with Newland Chase to manage and process all visa, sponsorship and immigration applications and other statutory compliance requirements across regions, ensuring the Right to Work Tracker, Sapling and employee personnel files are always accurate and up to date.
• Produce documentation and letters relating to visa/sponsorship clawbacks.
• Identify and mitigate operational risks through regular compliance reviews and proactive governance.

HRIS & Payroll Coordination

• Own and optimise the global HRIS, ensuring system efficiency, data accuracy, and positive end user experience.
• Manage data flows between HRIS, payroll systems, and other integrated tools.
• Responsible for submitting, reviewing and correcting UK monthly payroll and pension changes, with the support of Finance and the Company’s external payroll provider.
• Partner with Finance and regional teams to ensure payroll sign-off deadlines are met.
• Lead HRIS-related projects such as upgrades, new implementations, and automation initiatives.

Data & Insights

• Analyse People metrics (headcount, attrition, absence, recruitment trends) to inform business decisions.
• Support the Head of People to build dashboards and reporting tools for HR and leadership stakeholders.
• Provide exit interview and turnover analysis to the People Partners, identifying actionable insights for retention and engagement.
• Support Centres of Excellence (COEs) with HRIS data and process coordination to enable strategic initiatives.

Shared Services & First-Line Support

• Ensure the People Portal is up to date and accurate at all times.
• Monitor the People inbox daily, answering any queries in your remit within 24-48 hours.
• Act as the first point of contact for People-related queries in EMEA, MENA, and APAC.
• Ensure queries are resolved promptly or escalated appropriately to regional People Leads or subject matter experts.
• Create and maintain resources such as templates, process guides, and FAQs to drive efficiency and self-service capability.
• Partner with internal teams (IT, Finance) to ensure a smooth employee experience across operational touchpoints.

What We're Looking For

• Operational Leadership: Owns complex, cross-regional processes and confidently drives scalable improvements that enhance efficiency and employee experience.
• Proactive Problem-Solving: Anticipates challenges, identifies root causes, and implements solutions before issues escalate, even in ambiguous or fast-changing environments.
• Challenging the Status Quo: Regularly reviews and questions outdated processes, championing innovative, people-centric, and compliant ways of working.
• Empathetic Support: Guides the team to act as a trusted first line of support, applying policy with empathy and fairness in all employee interactions.
• Collaborative Partnering: Builds strong, respectful, and productive relationships with regional People Leads, cross-functional teams, and external partners.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information with discretion.
• Culturally aware and adaptable in supporting diverse international teams.
• Global Operational Expertise: Demonstrates deep knowledge of international HR operations, compliance, and governance frameworks.
• Data Fluency: Leverages data to generate insights, shape decisions, and equip regional teams with meaningful and actionable reporting.
• Systems Thinking: Designs processes with an understanding of how people, systems (HRIS), and operations interconnect within the global ecosystem.

Requirements

• CIPD qualified – level 5 or working towards.
• Proven experience of successfully leading, developing, and inspiring small People teams to achieve high performance.
• Experience of People Business Operations across international regions, with strong exposure to EMEA, APAC and/or MENA is highly desirable.
• In-depth understanding of HR compliance, UK and international employment law, governance, and operational best practices across multiple jurisdictions.
• Strong track record of working with HRIS platforms, optimising system use, and coordinating payroll.

Talon is an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. We seek to employ and develop a workforce representative of the markets that we serve and brands that we represent.