People Operations Manager, Mission-driven HealthTech, up to £60k in London

The Opportunity:

Hawkwood is partnering with a VC-backed mission-driven healthtech business tackling one of the most significant challenges facing healthcare today.

Combining behavioural science, clinical expertise and technology, the business has built a healthcare platform designed to help people make lasting improvements to their health. Already operating at meaningful scale, they are now looking for a People Operations Manager to join their People team and play a key role in how the organisation develops as it grows.

This is a broad role sitting at the intersection of People Ops, Partnering and team management. You’ll manage and develop two members of the People team, partner directly with managers on people and performance challenges, and take ownership of ensuring the foundations of the People function run brilliantly.

There is also a meaningful build component to the role. The business is actively exploring how technology and AI can simplify internal processes and create a better employee experience, rather than defaulting to additional systems, policies or bureaucracy.

As a result, this isn’t a role for someone who automatically reaches for the HR playbook. They’re looking for someone pragmatic and commercially minded who understands excellent People practice, but is equally comfortable questioning established ways of working and thinking from first principles.

For someone who enjoys breadth, ownership and solving problems in a fast-moving environment, there is significant scope to make an impact in an exciting, purpose-led business.

What you'll do:

• Manage, coach and develop two members of the People team.
• Partner with managers across the business on performance, employee relations and broader day-to-day people challenges.
• Support performance reviews, calibration, progression and reward processes across the organisation.
• Ensure People policies and practices remain appropriate and aligned with UK employment legislation.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes across the employee lifecycle, simplifying areas that create unnecessary friction.
• Explore how technology and AI can make People Operations smarter, more efficient and more scalable.
• Contribute to wider projects spanning culture, engagement, compliance, hiring and business operations.
• Help create an excellent employee experience while balancing individual needs with the commercial realities of a growing business.

You will bring:

• Proven experience in a People Operations or People Generalist role, ideally within a startup, scale-up or similarly fast-moving environment.
• Experience partnering directly with managers on people, performance and employee-related matters.
• Sufficient employee relations experience to confidently own processes, alongside the judgement to recognise when additional support is required.
• A good working knowledge of UK employment law.
• Strong judgement and maturity when handling sensitive conversations and confidential information.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to constructively challenge stakeholders when needed.
• A pragmatic and commercially minded approach, balancing empathy for individuals with the needs of the wider organisation.
• Curiosity about technology and AI, particularly how they can improve the effectiveness of People teams.
• A willingness to question established processes, form your own views and clearly explain the thinking behind your decisions.
• Comfort operating with ambiguity, changing priorities and a high degree of ownership.
• Some experience managing, mentoring or coaching others would be valuable, although previous formal line management is not essential.
• CIPD qualifications are welcome, but equivalent hands-on experience is equally valued.

We recognise how challenging this current job market is for candidates, and Hawkwood are therefore striving to provide the best candidate experience we can. If you are interested in this opportunity, we kindly request that you apply via this LinkedIn advert, as opposed to sending us an email or LinkedIn direct message. We are eager to ensure that each candidate application is considered fairly, and receives a consistent experience.