Head of Talent & Leadership in London

Are you an inspiring strategic leader with a passion for developing exceptional talent and building high‐performing organisations? We are looking for a Head of Talent & Leadership to join us at Pinnacle Pet Group, to shape and deliver a forward‐thinking talent, leadership, and succession strategy that strengthens organisational capability and drives long‐term performance. In this pivotal role, you will work closely with our Talent & Culture Director, senior leaders, and teams across the business to ensure we have the right skills, leadership strength and talent pipelines to thrive in an evolving and highly regulated market.

Here's what you will be doing with us:

• Strategy & Leadership
  • Lead a cohesive talent and leadership strategy aligned to business priorities, culture and regulatory requirements.
  • Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on leadership effectiveness, succession risk and future capability needs.
  • Build a strong, inclusive leadership culture that drives accountability and high performance.
  • Identify future skills and leadership gaps, translating them into targeted development actions that support growth.
  • Lead and develop the Talent & Leadership team, ensuring strong delivery, stakeholder engagement and effective budget/supplier management.
• Talent & Succession
  • Develop and embed a consistent talent assessment and succession framework to build a strong leadership pipeline.
  • Oversee succession planning for senior and critical roles, ensuring robust risk mitigation and fair, consistent decisions.
  • Define future capability needs and convert them into practical talent and development solutions.
  • Embed a data‐driven performance management approach aligned to company values and leadership behaviours.
  • Build transparent career pathways and internal mobility frameworks to support progression and retention.
  • Use workforce insights to guide decisions, monitor talent risk and evidence impact.
  • Ensure all talent and leadership processes meet governance, employment law and regulatory requirements, collaborating closely with Talent Acquisition and HRBPs.
• Leadership Development
  • Embed leadership behaviours across the organisation and deliver impactful development at all levels.
  • Ensure leadership programmes are commercially focused, measurable and deliver clear ROI.
  • Leverage blended learning, internal expertise and digital tools to maximise development impact and efficiency.
  • Support organisational change and transformation through targeted leadership and talent interventions.
  • Use data and insights to drive decisions and demonstrate the value of leadership development.

Our wish list of your previous experience:

• Senior-level experience in talent, leadership or organisational development, ideally within insurance or a regulated financial services environment.
• Good understanding of FCA conduct principles, SMCR, and the link between leadership capability, culture and regulatory outcomes.
• Proven experience of succession planning, leadership development and workforce capability planning.
• Ability to operate as a trusted advisor to executive and senior leadership teams.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management.
• Commercially focused, able to link people strategy to business outcomes and risk.
• Strong understanding of leadership development, talent management, succession planning and workforce capability.
• Confident using data, insight and metrics to shape decisions and measure impact.
• Skilled in influencing, facilitation and stakeholder management at senior levels.

What you can expect from us:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and we give you your birthday off.
• Fully paid day off for charity work.
• 95% of our employees own pets, we are able to provide up to 50% off insurance along with free access to our Vet consultation app JOII.
• We believe looking after employees' health is important, so we offer discount on gym membership, access to a Wellbeing hub.
• We like to celebrate success and recognise excellent employee performance; we will donate £3k to the charity of our employee of the quarter's choice.
• Most importantly, you will be working within a courageous, passionate and kind‐hearted team.

What we are all about:

We are the Pinnacle Pet Group (PPG) – a pan European fully integrated pet insurance and health services platform operating in several markets across Europe including the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Our sister group Independence Pet Group (IPG) operates in North America (USA and Canada). We are one of Europe's largest pet insurance and services organisations, with over 1400 colleagues supporting over 2 million pets in 8 countries. At PPG, we are on a mission to strengthen the unique bond between you and your pet, through our innovative products and services. We are guided by our values of Performance, Exploration, Togetherness and Sustainability and as pet owners, many of us at PPG feel a personal connection with our mission. We take pride in the contribution we each make in delivering an ecosystem that will change the future of pet insurance and healthcare services for the benefit of our customers and their pets.

As an FCA regulated business, we require successful applicants to clear our pre‐employment screening process which includes a credit check and references checks. Under the latest UK Right to Work regulations, we will require successful applicants to evidence their right to work in the UK, either in person, online, or digitally via a third party subject to circumstances.

Department: HR

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: 37.5

Salary: Up to £80,000 depending on experience