People & Experience Manager

X, bigly labs; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

X, bigly labs in Johannesburg seeks a People & Experience Manager to lead the People & Experience Operations team, driving end-to-end employee lifecycle, culture, and leadership development. You will partner with senior leaders to implement people initiatives, build scalable processes, and ensure operational excellence across the organisation.

You will be hands-on with processes, data, and tools, shaping strategy while delivering tangible employee experiences in a fast-paced, scalable

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in HR or industrial psychology.
• Experience in a People/HR ops role focused on operations.
• Proven track record leading a People/Experience Operations team.

Responsibilities

• Translate People & Performance strategy into annual and quarterly delivery plans.
• Partner with leaders to implement people initiatives that support business objectives.
• Lead end-to-end employee lifecycle delivery for a seamless experience.
• Support culture, engagement, wellbeing and inclusion initiatives.
• Deliver learning, succession and career development initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with legislation and governance standards.
• Lead and develop the People & Experience Operations team.

Skills

Start-up mindset

Leadership

HR processes

Onboarding

People analytics

Stakeholder management

Change management

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR or Industrial Psychology

Tools

Greenhouse

BambooHR

HiBob

Job description

We are X, bigly labs, Dis-Chem's high-performance innovation hub; a place where bold ideas meet data, design, and radical customer focus to reimagine what healthcare can be.

Our mission is to power the future of healthcare by lowering costs, unlocking new possibilities, and improving access to healthcare for all South Africans. We do this through cutting-edge digital solutions that deliver smarter, more human, and truly patient-focused experiences. Here, your work is not limited to a whiteboard; it becomes real. It drives decisions, shapes experiences, and moves healthcare forward. We are driven by one big question: How do we use data and today's technology to build breakthroughs to better health?

There's only one question left: are you ready to make healthcare smarter, and actually mean it?

This People & Experience Manager leads the delivery of the full employee lifecycle by managing the People & Experience Operations team and ensuring people initiatives, operations, and employee experiences are executed with excellence and consistency. Acting as the bridge between strategic direction and operational delivery, the role partners with leaders to strengthen leadership capability, team effectiveness, and employee engagement. The People & Experience Manager drives the effective implementation of people programmes, policies, and processes across the organisation.

This isn't a generalist HRBP role. You'll be hands-on with the operational engine of People, processes, tools, data, and the day-to-day complexity of a scaling teams while also holding your own in the room with senior leaders on strategy and org design.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR?

• Solid experience working inside a start-up, scale-up, or innovation hub, you know what "no playbook yet" feels like and you build one
• Proven experience supporting leaders in fast-paced, scaling, or start-up environments
• Bachelor'squalification inhuman resources or industrial psychology
• Experience leading or deeply embedded in a People/HR function focused on operations, not just policy
• Experience leading and developing a People operations team
• Strong knowledge of HR practices across the full employee lifecycle, including onboarding
• Hands-on fluency with modern, start-up-native HR/People tools (e.g. Greenhouse, BambooHR or HiBob for HRIS/people management) - not just theoretical exposure
• Proven experience supporting leaders in fast-paced, scaling, or startup environments
• Strong knowledge of HR practices across the full employee lifecycle
• Someone who builds process from scratch in the grey space, and doesn't wait for permission to fix what's broken
• A track record of advising, challenging, and partnering with senior leaders - not just supporting them

WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING?

• Translate the People & Performance strategy into annual and quarterly People & Experience delivery plans.
• Partner with business leaders to implement people initiatives that support business objectives.
• Lead the consistent delivery of the end-to-end employee lifecycle, ensuring a seamless employee experience.
• Support the implementation of culture, engagement, wellbeing and inclusion initiatives that reinforce the bigly way.
• Partner with Organisational Effectiveness & Development to deliver learning, succession and career development initiatives.
• Ensure all People practices comply with legislation, company policies and governance standards.
• Lead, coach and develop the People & Experience Operations team to deliver high-quality, customer-focused People services.

WHO YOU ARE?

• Someone who builds process from scratch in the grey space, and doesn't wait for permission to fix what's broken
• A track record of advising, challenging, and partnering with senior leaders, not just supporting them
• You own outcomes end-to-end, when something's broken, you fix it, you don't just flag itNot good. Let's keep with original.
• You bring clarity to complexity - leaders and teams come to you when things feel messy, not just when things feel structured
• You're comfortable being the person who builds the plane while flying it, start-up pace doesn't rattle you, it's where you do your best work

Our values show up in how we think, build, and make choices that make an impact. We are building a culture that drives progress; one that fixes friction, chases what changes, and owns the outcome. We design with tomorrow in mind, ask sharper questions, and answer them with care, urgency, and systems that scale.

Think you've got energy, curiosity, and guts? Come hold the space, make it matter, and own a breakthrough.