People Director in London

Founded in Dubai only 4 short years ago, and we're already growing internationally.

Humantra is a global wellness brand on a mission to help people achieve optimal hydration and unlock their best daily performance.

We believe hydration is the most overlooked foundation of health, energy, and mental clarity.

Our electrolyte solutions are designed to support modern lifestyles - whether that's training, travelling, working, or simply getting through a busy day.

The Opportunity

Humantra is scaling fast across international markets, and our team, culture and people infrastructure need to scale with it.

We have built a fantastic culture with a lean, ambitious and high-performing team, and we are looking for a People Director to build on that foundation and help us create a truly world-class organisation.

Reporting into the COO, you will own Humantra’s People strategy across three core areas: Talent, Culture and People Processes.

This means attracting exceptional people, raising the bar on how we hire and develop talent, protecting and strengthening our culture as we grow, and putting in place the systems, processes and ways of working that allow the organisation to scale at pace.

This is a highly hands-on leadership role.

You will be expected to think strategically about the organisation we need to become while being comfortable getting into the detail and building what is needed today.

You will partner closely with your team, the Founder, COO and SLT, act as a trusted advisor to leaders across the business, and build the People function and team as Humantra grows.

This is a pivotal role in Humantra’s next phase of growth: an opportunity to shape the company we become, build on a culture we are proud of, and create an environment where exceptional people can do the best work of their careers.

• What you'll own
• Set and own Humantra’s People strategy, translating our business ambitions and growth plans into a clear roadmap.
• Partner closely with the Founder, COO and SLT on organisational design, workforce planning, leadership capability and the people decisions required to support rapid international growth.
• Build and develop the People function as Humantra scales, ensuring we have the right capability, structure and resources for each stage of growth.
• Act as a trusted advisor and coach to leaders, helping them build high-performing teams, navigate difficult people decisions and become exceptional people managers.
• Use people data, commercial context and sound judgement to identify organisational opportunities and risks early and take action.
• Ensure the People function combines a high level of care for our team with the pace, accountability and performance standards required in a rapidly scaling business.
• Talent & Building a World-Class Team
• Own Humantra’s talent strategy, ensuring we consistently attract, assess and hire exceptional people who raise the bar for the organisation.
• Build a rigorous, scalable hiring approach across functions and geographies, from workforce planning and role design through to sourcing, assessment, selection and onboarding.
• Partner with hiring managers to define what exceptional looks like for every role and build consistent assessment processes that prioritise capability, potential and alignment with our Humantras.
• Build Humantra’s employer brand and talent proposition so that we become a destination for ambitious, high-performing people.
• Develop proactive talent pipelines for critical and senior roles, reducing our reliance on reactive recruitment.
• Establish clear talent management and succession processes, identifying our strongest performers, future leaders and critical capability gaps.
• Track and continuously improve recruitment effectiveness, including quality of hire, time to hire, hiring funnel performance and retention.
• Culture, Performance & Development
• Protect and strengthen Humantra’s culture as the company grows internationally, ensuring our Humantras are at the centre of how we hire, lead, recognise, develop and make decisions.
• Build a high-performance culture where expectations are clear, great work is recognised, feedback happens regularly and underperformance is addressed quickly and constructively.
• Design and own Humantra’s performance management approach, creating a simple and effective framework that drives accountability without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Build career development and progression frameworks that give exceptional people clarity on what growth looks like.
• Develop leadership and management capability across the business, giving managers the tools, expectations and support to build and lead world-class teams.
• Own employee engagement and listening, turning feedback into meaningful action while maintaining the qualities that make Humantra a special place to work.
• Design meaningful company rituals, communication rhythms and experiences that strengthen connection and togetherness across an increasingly international team.
• People Processes, Systems & Reward
• Build the People infrastructure required for Humantra’s next stage of growth, moving from start-up processes towards simple, scalable and best-in-class ways of working.
• Own the employee lifecycle from onboarding through performance, development, reward and progression to offboarding, ensuring an excellent and consistent employee experience.
• Select, implement and optimise the People systems and technology stack needed for a growing international org.
• Identify opportunities to use automation and AI to make People processes faster, smarter and more effective, while retaining the human judgement that matters.
• Develop clear, practical People policies and processes that support the business without creating unnecessary complexity or bureaucracy.
• Own Humantra’s approach to compensation, benefits and reward, ensuring we remain competitive, commercially responsible and able to attract and retain exceptional talent.
• Partner with Finance and external specialists on headcount planning, People budgets, payroll and employment requirements across different markets.
• Ensure Humantra has appropriate employment practices and compliance in existing and new markets.
• Build meaningful People reporting and dashboards, giving the Leadership Team visibility across headcount, hiring, retention, performance, engagement and other critical People metrics.

Skills & behaviours

Must haves

• Significant experience in senior leadership roles, within rapidly scaling, high-growth businesses.
• A track record of building and scaling People functions, processes and teams rather than only operating within established structures.
• Strong talent and recruitment experience, with evidence of building high-performing teams and consistently raising the quality bar through hiring.
• Experience designing and implementing best in class performance management, talent development and progression frameworks.
• Experience working closely with Founders, COOs and senior leadership teams as a trusted People partner.
• Experience supporting organisations through significant growth and organisational change.
• Experience within consumer, DTC, omni-channel, FMCG, health & wellness or similar brand-led business.

Ideal

• Experience supporting international teams and establishing People operations across multiple markets.
• Experience implementing HRIS, recruitment and other People tech, including automation & AI-enabled tools.
• Commercially minded and able to connect People decisions directly to company performance and growth rather than viewing People as a standalone support function.
• An exceptional judge of talent with high standards and the confidence to challenge hiring decisions when the bar is not high enough.
• Strong cultural instincts, with the judgement to understand what should be protected as Humantra scales and what needs to evolve.
• Excellent leadership and coaching skills, with the ability to challenge senior stakeholders constructively and have Proper Conversations when needed.
• Strong analytical skills, comfortable using data to identify trends, diagnose problems and influence decisions at leadership level.
• Comfortable moving between strategy and execution - from organisational design with the Founder, COO and SLT to personally solving a People challenge when required.
• Pragmatic and solutions-focused, with a bias towards simple processes that enable the business rather than bureaucracy that slows it down.
• Strong decision making under pressure, comfortable operating with pace, change and ambiguity.
• Ownership mindset: excited by the opportunity to build a world-class People function and organisation, rather than inherit a finished one.

Why Join Humantra?

Joining Humantra means real ownership and impact from day one. It's that simple.

In every role you'll work closely with our lean, high-performing team that values impact, pace, and collaboration.

We're looking for those who never settle for the status-quo to help build the engine to power our next stage of growth.

• Our Hu MANTRA's
• Impact over Ego
• Togetherness
• Radical Ownership
• Proper Conversations
• Wired for Growth
• Monthly wellness perk (gym, supplements, etc.)

• 25 days annual leave + your birthday off!

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