Head of People Operations

Onodrim Industries; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Onodrim Industries is building Europe's largest defence and industrial platform. As Head of People Operations you will assess the people, leadership and culture of acquisition targets and ensure the team is set up to thrive post-close.

You will split time between deal execution and building our own people function across multi-country operations, shaping policies, compensation, and culture to support fast, responsible growth.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in people operations in complex environments.
• Hands-on M&A due diligence and integration experience.
• Strong knowledge of employment law across Europe and the UK (TUPE, works councils).

Responsibilities

• Lead people due diligence on targets and assess leadership and culture.
• Flag retention, contractor misclassification, and pension liabilities.
• Shape deal structures including retention and SPA terms.
• Plan integration: org design, leadership appointments, payroll migration.
• Manage post-close people work streams: onboarding and restructuring.
• Build a repeatable people integration playbook.
• Develop internal people function: policies, contracts, compliance.
• Support hiring and workforce planning across Europe.

Skills

People operations

M&A due diligence

Employment law (EU/UK)

Financial modeling

People function scaling

Stakeholder communication

English communication

Travel flexibility

Right to work (EU/UK)

Job description

About the role

Onodrim is building Europe's largest defence and industrial platform. We acquire specialist manufacturers in critical defence and dual-use supply chains, then invest behind their growth with capital, technology and operating know-how.

Onodrim is growing through acquisition, and every deal we do is ultimately a people decision. As Head of People Operations, you'll make sure we understand the people, leadership and culture of a business before we buy it – and that its team is set up to thrive once we integrate.

About 70% of your time goes on our deal pipeline: people due diligence on targets, integration planning, and leading the people workstream through close and the first 100 days. The other 30% is spent building Onodrim's own people function – hiring, policies, processes and culture that every acquired team will join.

The two halves feed each other. What you build internally is the landing zone foreach acquisition; what you learn in each deal shapes how Onodrim's people model needs to grow.

What you'll do: platform (70%)

• Lead people due diligence. Assess each target's leadership, organisation design, key-person dependencies, culture, compensation and benefits, contracts, pensions, employee relations and HR compliance across jurisdictions.
• Spot the deal risks. Flag people-related liabilities and value risks early –retention exposure, misclassified contractors, unfunded obligations, works council or union requirements – and quantify them for the deal team.
• Shape the deal. Work with corporate development, finance and legal on deal structure, retention and incentive packages for founders and key staff, and the people terms of the SPA.
• Plan the integration. Build the people integration plan before close: org design, leadership appointments, harmonisation of terms, systems and payroll migration, and the Day 1 and first-100-days plan.
• Run the people work stream post-close. Lead integration on the ground – communications, consultation processes, onboarding into Onodrim, and any restructuring – handled fairly and lawfully.
• Retain the talent we bought. Identify the people who carry the value of each business and keep them engaged, informed and committed through the transition.
• Integrate cultures, not just contracts. Assess cultural fit during diligence and lead the work of bringing each team into how Onodrim operates, while keeping what made them good.
• Build a repeatable playbook. Turn each deal into a better template – diligence checklists, integration plans, communication templates – so we get faster and better with every acquisition.

What you'll do: Onodrim (30%)

• Build the people function. Set up the foundations a growing, multi-country business needs: HR policies, employment contracts, handbooks and compliance across the UK, Switzerland and the EU.
• Design the operating model. Shape the organisational operating principles, compensation and benefits frameworks that work for Onodrim today and can absorb acquired teams tomorrow.
• Own the people stack. Choose and run HRIS, payroll and benefits providers that scale across countries and acquisitions.
• Support hiring. Partner with leaders on workforce planning and recruitment, including roles like our Forward Deployed Operators.
• Develop leaders. Put in place performance management, feedback and development practices that suit a hands-on, results-driven team.
• Look after culture. Advise the leadership team on engagement, employee relations and culture, and act as a trusted adviser on sensitive people matters.

What you'll bring

• At least 5 years' of experience working with people operations in complex environments.
• Hands-on M&A experience: you've led people due diligence and integration on multiple acquisitions, ideally in a buy-and-build, private equity-backed or serial-acquirer setting.
• Strong working knowledge of employment law and practice across continental Europe and UK, including TUPE, information and consultation, and works councils.
• Commercial and financial fluency: you can model the cost of harmonising terms, size a retention pool and explain people risk in deal-value terms.
• Experience building or scaling a people function in a growing business, not just running an established one.
• Credibility with founders, CEOs and deal teams, and the empathy to support employees through uncertain change.
• Clear, direct communication in English, written and spoken.
• Willingness to travel regularly to target and acquired companies across Europe.
• Right to work in the UK, Switzerland or the EU.

Nice to have

• We operate our business in English but fluency in one or more additional European languages – German, Dutch, Italian, Polish or French – especially helps when working with local teams and works councils.
• Experience integrating acquisitions in manufacturing, industrial or operations-heavy businesses, with frontline and unionised workforces.
• Background in M&A advisory, a Big Four people-transactions team, or a private equity portfolio operations role.
• Clearance in at least one of our operating countries.