People Lead in London

The People Lead owns the full employee experience at Theodo, from the moment an offer is made through to the day someone leaves the business, ensuring every part of that journey is standardised, reliable and genuinely good to be on the receiving end of. This is a hands-on ownership role: you'll make sure onboarding sets new joiners up to contribute from day one, that our HRIS data is accurate enough to be trusted for real decisions, and that leavers are offboarded cleanly and securely. Beyond day-to-day operations, this role is about building the systems that let Theodo scale without losing what makes it work. You'll bring rigour to workforce planning and compensation, build out people development and manager training so skill gaps get caught and closed, and act as the internal owner of employee relations and compliance risk. You'll also be a guardian of culture and retention as we grow across the UK and Cape Town. This is a role for someone who wants to build the operational backbone of a growing people function, not just maintain one.

Key Responsibilities

• Review and improve our coaching system, build a structured onboarding path for new managers focused on reinforcing culture day-to-day, and collect, analyse and act on employee feedback at regular intervals.
• Ensure new joiners have the correct access and security provisions, and that leave, handover and offboarding processes run to a documented standard, including timely access removal and capturing useful feedback from leavers.
• Own onboarding flows for contractors and permanent hires, and manage the offer-to-start process, including visa applications and renewals, right to work checks and contract issuance, so new joiners are fully equipped from day one.
• Track and act on skill gaps surfaced through client dissatisfaction.
• Keep our HRIS data accurate and GDPR compliant so it can support fast, trustworthy people intelligence.
• Maintain a live, regularly reviewed workforce plan, working with system owners on hiring, development and internal mobility across the group.
• Own the group mobility (exchange) programme in the UK, enabling people to move between locations.
• Establish formal training for managers and coaches, and own and document our people development system to ensure every employee receives an effective annual review.
• Ensure fair employment practices, with policies kept current and reviewed on a standing cycle, and own grievances, disciplinary actions and terminations through well-defined, well-run processes.
• Re-design the contractor experience to better reflect our values, and lead annual salary benchmarking and benefits reviews across the UK and Cape Town.

About You

• Proven experience in a senior people role, ideally within a fast-growing, scaling business or consultancy environment.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and GDPR, with experience managing employee relations cases (grievances, disciplinary, termination) fairly and confidently.
• Comfortable owning end-to-end processes, from onboarding and HRIS data integrity through to offboarding.
• Experience with visa sponsorship, right to work checks and international mobility is a strong plus, especially across UK and Cape Town or similar multi-location setups.
• A systems-builder mindset: you enjoy turning ad hoc processes into documented, repeatable standards.
• Experience running or contributing to salary benchmarking and benefits reviews.
• A track record of designing or improving manager training, coaching frameworks or people development programmes.
• Genuine interest in culture and retention, with ideas about how to preserve a strong culture through growth.
• Excellent judgement and discretion, with the ability to handle sensitive employee situations with empathy and professionalism.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, able to work with leaders across departments and locations to turn strategic people decisions into operational reality.

What you'll get

• 25 Days annual leave.
• Learning and Development Support throughout your career at Theodo.
• Private Health Insurance via Vitality.
• 3 week work from anywhere policy.
• Equipment budget for your tech set up.
• Enhanced company pension.
• Monthly Socials.

You'll work on a hybrid basis from our office based in London.

Who are we

Theodo UK is a software consultancy specialising in full-stack development, mobile and web applications and cloud solutions. We are a 70-person team based in the UK and South Africa, and we’re growing quickly. Theodo UK operates with the entrepreneurial drive, agility and ownership mindset of a start-up, but with the financial stability, global reputation and technical depth of the wider Theodo Group behind us. This unique position allows our team to innovate quickly, take smart risks, and build real value for clients—without compromising on quality. We follow Lean and Kaizen principles to continuously improve and deliver high-quality digital products at speed. While headquartered in the UK, our reach is global. Supported by our South African team, we manage projects across English-speaking markets worldwide.

Values

• Team Spirit: Our team has a natural ability to work together to achieve a common goal. Taking on the role of a good teammate requires courage; it means challenging and giving each other feedback. It's key to our teams succeeding.
• Pragmatism: Achieving effective results by utilising resources efficiently and avoiding unnecessary waste of time, energy and money. Emphasising agile practices, employing concise and direct interactions and engaging in firsthand experiences to challenge beliefs.
• Willingness to Improve: Actively identifying areas for improvement rather than tolerating good enough, promptly learning from problems and embracing challenges outside of one’s comfort zone. These are all skills we promote in our team to benefit themselves, fellow Theodoers, Theodo and the wider community.