Senior Portfolio Talent Lead (B2B) - Octopus Ventures

Octopus; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading investment firm in the United Kingdom seeks a B2B Portfolio Talent Lead to guide founders and investors on building high-performing leadership teams. This role involves designing talent strategies, advising on organizational change, and fostering a strong network in the AI and SaaS sectors. The successful candidate will influence decision-makers and help shape scalable organizations. The position offers competitive compensation, benefits, and hybrid work arrangements.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Bonus

Untracked holiday

Wellness hub

Up to 6 months paid parental leave

Life insurance

Health insurance

Electric vehicle leasing

Qualifications

• Deep experience in executive talent and organizational design.
• Proven ability to influence with credibility and empathy.
• Strong understanding of compensation structures and European market dynamics.

Responsibilities

• Partner with portfolio founders to build leadership teams.
• Design tailored talent strategies for growth-stage companies.
• Act as an advisor on people and culture to founders and boards.
• Develop a high-quality network of operator talent across Europe.
• Track and report talent interventions and impact.

Skills

Executive talent design

Organizational design

Leadership advisory

B2B SaaS knowledge

AI leadership archetypes

Exceptional relationship-building

Job description

About Octopus Ventures

At Octopus Ventures we back the people ideas and businesses that will change the world. Within our B2B Fund we invest in early-stage technology companies shaping the future of work AI data infrastructure and software. Our mission is not just to fund founders; it’s to help them build companies that scale faster and more sustainably through exceptional leadership and people strategy. The B2B Portfolio Talent Lead plays a critical role in making that happen.

What’s in it for you

You’ll lead our Talent Platform for the B2B fund advising founders investors and boards on how to build high-performing leadership teams scalable organisations and enduring cultures.

You’ll work at the intersection of investment talent and strategy helping our portfolio companies unlock growth through talent while shaping a market-leading founder proposition that enhances Octopus reputation as a true value-add investor.

What you’ll be doing

Build High-Performing Leadership Teams

• Partner with portfolio founders and CEOs to assess design and build world-class executive and leadership teams.
• Support critical C-level VP & Senior Leadership (CRO CTO CPO CFO VP Sales etc.) and key senior IC hiring by defining role scope benchmarking compensation scoping process and facilitating introductions.

Define and Deliver Talent Strategy

• Design tailored Talent & People strategies for growth-stage portfolio companies aligning structure capability and culture with scale objectives.
• Deliver succession planning and leadership assessment frameworks to ensure team readiness for Series B and beyond
• Advise founders on organisational change leadership development and people infrastructure (e.g. compensation OKRs equity).

Advisory and Impact

• Act as a trusted advisor to founders CEOs and boards on people and culture from founder transitions to exec team dynamics.
• Partner with investment teams to integrate talent insight into investment decisions and post-investment plans.

Build and Leverage a Strong Network

• Develop and maintain a high-quality network of growth-stage operator talent across Europe especially in AI SaaS and data infrastructure factoring in all key impact areas (GTM finance product technology etc). Curate community events (e.g. B2B Leaders Exchange Founder Forums) connecting founders with operator talent.
• Maintain a structured talent database and intelligence system for candidate tracking and market insights.
• Share regular market data on compensation equity trends and candidate expectations to guide portfolio hiring strategy.

Measure and Communicate Value

• Track and report the measurable impact of talent interventions from reduced time-to-hire to leadership team retention.
• Produce quarterly Talent Value Reports for internal and external stakeholders highlighting outcomes and success stories.
• Collaborate with investment partners to include Talent value-add metrics in fundraising narratives.

Qualifications

• Deep experience in executive talent organisational design or leadership advisory ideally within venture capital growth-stage tech or executive search.
• Proven ability to influence founders CEOs and boards with credibility and empathy.
• Strong understanding of B2B SaaS and AI leadership archetypes compensation structures and European talent market dynamics.
• Exceptional relationship-builder connector and communicator.
• Comfortable balancing strategic advisory with hands-on delivery.
• Passionate about helping founders scale through people not just capital.
• We encourage you to apply even if you dont tick every box. Whats the worst that can happen
• This role will evolve as we grow and develop. So if you are looking for a challenge in a fast paced and dynamic business we can deliver on that.

Additional Information :

• A competitive salary bonus pension and share incentive plan
• Untracked holiday
• Hybrid working our people spend 3 days a week in the office
• Anchor (our wellness hub) which includes Headspace one to one coaching through Wellness Cloud Digital GP Shout & more
• Up to 6 months paid parental leave regardless of gender
• Life insurance critical illness cover and income protection
• Private medical insurance for you and your family
• Electric vehicle leasing

Our Values

At our core we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. Thats why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders employees customers communities environment and shareholders are considered in every decision we make.

We are committed to building a workplace where diversity is valued and inclusion is a priority. By providing equal opportunities for growth and development we embrace and celebrate all races genders religions sexual orientations ages disabilities and socio-economic backgrounds. We believe teams achieve their best when every member feels safe respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.

Were proud to be disability confident and are committed to supporting candidates with a disability including neurodiversity and mental health conditions throughout the recruitment process. Applicants are welcome to opt-in to the disability confident scheme as part of our application process. If you require any adjustments to the interview process well be happy to accommodate where possible.

Remote Work : No

Employment Type : Full-time

Key Skills

Project / Program Management,Project Portfolio Management,Portfolio Management,Credit Analysis,Banking,Pricing,Analysis Skills,Project Management,Financial Analysis,Budgeting,Property Management,Contracts

Experience : years

Vacancy : 1