Global HR Business Partner in London

About ApprovalMax

ApprovalMax is a fast‑growing B2B SaaS company that helps businesses automate their approval workflows and financial controls. With a global team of over 100 people spanning the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, and South Africa, we build software that matters and we're scaling quickly. Our People team is at the heart of that growth. We're building an HR function that's strategic, commercially aware, and deeply connected to the business and this role is central to that ambition.

The Role

This is a newly created position and an opportunity to shape the people agenda across ApprovalMax's functions. Sitting within a small, high‑impact People team and reporting directly to the Head of HR, you'll act as the primary HR Business Partner for our Commercial (Revenue & Marketing), R&D, Product and Operations functions. You will work closely with senior leaders to drive performance, engagement, organisational effectiveness, and growth. With a global remit spanning Europe, North America, Australia, and South Africa, you'll need to be comfortable navigating complexity across geographies, employment frameworks, and cultures, while keeping a clear line of sight to business outcomes. This is a hands‑on role: you'll be working at pace, often moving between strategic input and practical execution in the same day.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Business Partnering
  • Serve as the trusted HR partner to the business, building credible, high‑trust relationships that enable open dialogue on people matters.
  • Contribute to the design and execution of people strategies aligned to business priorities, including organisational design, workforce planning, and capability development.
  • Support senior leaders in building high‑performing teams, advising on team structure, role design, performance management, and succession.
  • Provide commercially grounded HR counsel on a range of issues including compensation decisions, restructuring, and workforce change.
• Employee Relations
  • Own and manage employee relations cases across your business units, including performance improvement plans, disciplinaries, grievances, and absence management.
  • Provide confident, pragmatic guidance on ER matters across multiple jurisdictions including the UK, EU, North America, Australia, and South Africa, escalating to the Head of HR where appropriate.
  • Ensure ER processes are handled fairly, consistently, and in line with local employment law, with appropriate documentation throughout.
  • Identify trends in ER data and proactively raise themes with the Head of HR and relevant business leaders.
• Performance & Development
  • Drive the performance review cycle including calibration support, manager coaching, and ensuring consistent application of frameworks.
  • Work with managers to identify high‑potential individuals and support the development of meaningful career pathways.
  • Support the design and delivery of manager capability programmes, in partnership with the Head of HR.
• Engagement & Culture
  • Champion a strong, inclusive, and high‑performance culture across geographically dispersed teams.
  • Analyse engagement survey data and partner with leaders to develop and track action plans.
  • Support the onboarding experience for senior hires and in tandem with the Global TA Partner, ensure new joiners are set up for long‑term success at ApprovalMax.
• Organisational Effectiveness
  • Partner with the Head of HR on compensation reviews, benchmarking, and salary band decisions for your client groups.
  • Lead or support projects on organisational design, workforce planning, and headcount management across your functions.
  • Act as a point of expertise on employment matters across your geographies, working alongside legal advisors where needed.
• People Team Collaboration
  • Work closely with the Global TA Partner to ensure a seamless hiring experience and strong alignment between recruitment and HRBP activity.
  • Collaborate with the People Operations Lead on process, policy, and compliance matters affecting your client groups.
  • Contribute to People team projects and initiatives as required, including policy development, systems improvement, and annual planning cycles.

Experience

• Proven HRBP experience in a fast‑paced, scaling technology or SaaS environment, operating at senior level across commercial and/or technical functions.
• Proven experience working in Eastern Europe, specifically Serbia, Bulgaria and Moldova.
• Track record of partnering with senior stakeholders on strategic people matters.
• Solid experience managing complex ER cases across multiple geographies independently.
• Experience working with international teams and navigating multi‑country employment frameworks, particularly across the EU, UK, North America, and/or APAC.
• Comfortable moving between strategic work and hands‑on operational delivery without loss of quality.

Skills & Approach

• Strong commercial acumen; you understand how the business works and what drives performance.
• Exceptional relationship‑building skills; credible and trusted at senior leader level without being deferential.
• Confident, balanced approach to ER; pragmatic, fair, and legally sound.
• Data‑literate: able to draw insight from people data and use it to inform recommendations.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to adapt your style across different audiences and cultures.
• Resilient and adaptable; comfortable with ambiguity and energised by building in a growing company.

3–6 years of experience as a hands‑on HR Business Partner in fast‑growing technology companies. Experience making a large impact, cultivating leadership and people potential across an organization. Deep understanding of scale‑up culture and experience partnering with both Engineering and non‑Engineering leadership/colleagues. Track record of building strong strategic relationships, enduring processes and thriving in environments where priorities pivot.

What We Offer

• Salary of £50,000 - £60,000, dependent on experience.
• Health Insurance and Health & Wellbeing Benefit Stipend.
• Home Office Setup – one‑off £500 reimbursement, post probation.
• Pension – Aviva: Employer contribution of 6%, Employee contribution of 5%.
• Hybrid working with flexibility around how and when you do your best work.
• 26 days annual leave plus UK public holidays.
• 1 day Birthday Leave.
• A genuinely collaborative People team with the space to own your remit and make it your own.