Head of People – Job Description
Reports to: CEO
Location: Hybrid, Holborn, London 2-3 days a week in office
Package: £65-85,000 base + up to 15% bonus + share options (see below) + benefits
About Azur Technology
Azur Technology builds MGA Connect, the operating system for modern Managing General Agents (MGAs). Built on Salesforce, it runs the whole policy lifecycle, from submission and underwriting through to claims and bordereaux, for specialty insurance businesses including Aviva, Crux and Starfish Specialty.
We're insurance people who build better software. We're a product company, not a consultancy: when we build for clients, we work as an embedded team on top of MGA Connect, so what we learn makes the product better for everyone.
From our London HQ, we're a growing, distributed team across the UK, US, Philippines, India and Canada. You'll get real ownership, sharp colleagues and problems genuinely worth solving.
The role
We're looking for a full-time People Lead, based in our London office, to lead the next exciting stage of our growth and development.
Azur is around 90 people across five countries, and we've grown and evolved quickly. Now we need someone to bring stability, continue to build a culture people want to be part of, and give our leaders the tools to lead well. You'll sit on the Senior Leadership Team, report to the CEO, and further shape our people strategy. You'll also deliver it hands-on.
This role suits an experienced HR Manager or Senior People Partner ready for their next step, or someone already leading the people function in a smaller business. You'll bring experience from a tech, SaaS or regulated business, you'll be comfortable moving between strategy and hands-on work, and you'll enjoy building things that don't exist yet. We're a big Claude shop, so you'll be using AI every day to get things done. You'll work directly with the CEO, have a real voice at SLT, and the role can grow as Azur grows.
People strategy and leadership
- Set and own the people strategy, aligned to Azur's business plan, as a member of the SLT
- Advise the CEO and leadership team on all people matters, from organisational design to sensitive employee relations
- Report on people metrics (engagement, retention, performance, diversity) and use them to drive decisions
Culture, engagement and diversity
- Shape and embed a culture that reflects who we are: curious, high-trust and collaborative
- Lead our diversity, equity and inclusion agenda, with clear goals and measurable progress
- Build engagement across a distributed team, so people in the Philippines and across India, the US and Canada feel as connected as those in Holborn
Organisation design and development
- Design team structures, roles and career paths that support growth
- Lead change programmes with empathy and clear communication
- Partner with Talent Acquisition on headcount planning and strategic hiring
Learning, performance and leadership development
- Build and run a fair, simple performance and development process
- Coach and develop our leaders and managers, and lift the quality of people leadership across the business
- Design training and development that helps people grow their careers at Azur
People operations across borders
- Lead and develop our People Operations Partner in the Philippines
- Ensure policies, processes and employment practices are compliant across the UK, US, Philippines, India and Canada, working with our outsourced partners and advisers where needed
- Keep improving our HR systems and processes as we scale, using Claude and other AI tools to automate the manual and free up time for people work
Your first 6–12 months
- Stabilise. Get to know the business and its people, listen widely, and bring clarity and consistency after a period of significant change.
- Coach our leaders. Build a leadership coaching approach that helps managers lead confidently through growth and change.
- Performance and development. Enhance a performance and development framework people trust and actually use.
- Plan for growth. Work with Talent Acquisition on headcount planning and strategic hiring for 2027.
- Set the culture and diversity agenda. Agree priorities with the SLT and show early, visible progress.
