People & Engagement Lead in London

Nine Elms, London - Full-time (5 days a week on-site)

Zapp is building something rare - a premium brand in a fast-moving market, with a team that holds itself to a standard most companies don't bother to set. As People and Engagement Lead, you will own the full people function at a critical stage of that build. This is not a process maintenance role. It is an organisational design role. You will be reporting directly to the Director of Growth and Strategy, and working closely with the founder and leadership team to shape how Zapp attracts, develops, and retains the people it needs to win. You will manage a small, high-impact team and be accountable for everything from culture and performance to hiring quality and compliance.

About Zapp

Zapp is London's leading premium convenience retail platform. Founded in 2020, our vision is to disrupt the multi-trillion dollar convenience retail market, currently dominated by major players, by developing best-in-class customer‐centric technology and fulfilment solutions. Zapp partners with some of the world's leading brands to deliver an exclusive range of hand‐picked products 24/7, delivered in minutes.

Key Responsibilities

• Organisational Design and Development
  • Lead the design and evolution of Zapp's organisational structure as the business scales - reporting lines, team shapes, spans of control, and role architecture.
  • Partner with the leadership team on headcount planning, workforce strategy, and how the organisation needs to evolve to meet commercial goals.
  • Identify capability gaps across the business and build the frameworks to close them - whether through hiring, development, or structural change.
  • Own the design and continuous improvement of Zapp's performance management system, ensuring it drives genuine accountability and rewards high performance.
• Culture and Leadership
  • Be the keeper and builder of Zapp's culture - ensuring the Leadership Principles are lived, not laminated.
  • Design and run the people moments that matter: onboarding, performance cycles, calibration sessions, promotions, and offboarding.
  • Partner with senior leaders to coach them on people management, team health, and how to have the conversations that make a difference.
  • Identify and build Zapp's internal leadership pipeline - who are the next generation of leaders and what do they need to get there.
• Talent Acquisition
  • Set the standard for how Zapp hires - the bar, the process, the candidate experience, and the employer brand.
  • Oversee and develop the TA Partner, ensuring pipeline quality, pace, and consistency across all open roles.
  • Own senior and business‐critical hiring personally, partnering with the founder and leadership team on the most important decisions the business makes.
  • Continuously improve how Zapp assesses for both skill and culture fit without sacrificing speed.
• HR Operations and Compliance
  • Ensure Zapp's HR operations are clean, compliant, and scalable - contracts, policies, right to work, payroll coordination, and everything in between.
  • Own and evolve Zapp's employee handbook and policy framework, ensuring it reflects both legal requirements and the kind of company Zapp wants to be.
  • Manage employee relations with judgement and care - handling sensitive situations with discretion, fairness, and commercial awareness.
  • Oversee the HR Coordinator and ensure day‐to‐day people operations run without friction.
• People Data and Insight
  • Build and own the people metrics that matter - attrition, time to hire, engagement, headcount versus plan, and flight risk.
  • Present a regular people dashboard to the leadership team that surfaces what is working, what is not, and what decisions need to be made.
  • Use data to drive decisions, not just report them.

Requirements

• Proven experience in a high‐growth B2C, e‐commerce, or technology business where pace and quality both mattered.
• Strong organisational design instinct - you have restructured teams, redesigned roles, and built functions that did not exist before.
• A credible, confident presence in a room with founders and senior leaders - you can give honest counsel without needing a hierarchy to hide behind.
• Commercially minded - you understand that great people work drives business outcomes and you know how to make that case.
• A builder, not a maintainer - you are energised by creating things from scratch and frustrated by bureaucracy for its own sake.
• Experience managing or developing a small team.

What You Will Not Find Here

• A large HR team to delegate to - this role requires someone who leads and does.
• A business that confuses process with progress - we care about outcomes, not paperwork.
• A culture that tolerates average - the bar at Zapp is high and the People & Engagement Lead sets the standard for that more than almost anyone.

Benefits

• Competitive salary & equity package.
• Enjoy 25 days of holiday per year (plus all bank holidays).
• Private Health Insurance.
• Extended sick pay and maternity/paternity leave pay.