People & Analytics Manager in City of London

Exciting opportunity with our client: The People & Analytics Manager will be responsible for building, maintaining, and governing the global employee census for a new company during a period of significant transition and manual processes. What makes this role especially compelling is that you’re not just stepping into this function—you’re helping shape how the business operates moving forward, with strong visibility and real impact. It’s a unique opportunity to be part of a well-known global brand at a pivotal moment of transformation and growth.

Role Overview

The People Data & Census Manager is responsible for creating, maintaining, and governing the global employee census for the new company during a period of high transition and manual processes. The role will design and operate a Day 1 census management model that assembles data from multiple systems and local sources, increasingly leveraging agentic AI tools to automate integration and visualisations of people data for stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and own the global Day 1 census management process, including data flows, controls, and reconciliation routines across HR, payroll, finance, and TSA environments.
• Maintain a consolidated “system of reference” for employee and position data by extracting, cleansing, and reconciling information from multiple sources including HRIS, payroll vendors, benefits providers, mobility/tax vendors, recruiting partners, local spreadsheets, and TSA tools.
• Ensure all people events (hires, transfers, promotions, terminations, leaves, changes in working time, etc.) are accurately captured and updated across relevant systems and trackers in a timely manner.
• Partner with country HR, payroll, finance, and shared services to resolve discrepancies in headcount, grade, pay, or location data and to prevent recurrence.
• Develop and maintain standardised templates, work instructions, and data quality rules for local teams contributing to the census.
• Produce regular headcount and census reporting (e.g., by function, country, employment type) to support Finance, P&C, and investor requirements.
• Leverage agentic AI tools to assemble data from fragmented sources and to generate intuitive visualisations and dashboards that help P&C, Finance, and business leaders quickly understand workforce trends and risks.
• Support audit and compliance activities by providing accurate population data, change histories, and evidence of controls for key processes (e.g., payroll, benefits eligibility).
• Identify and prioritise opportunities to streamline and automate census-related processes over time, working closely with the HRIS Lead and Shared Services Vendor Manager.
• Manage and govern inbound and outbound people-data flows across the broader P&C technology and vendor landscape, including payroll vendors, benefits providers, mobility/tax vendors, recruiting partners, etc., ensuring data quality, control, and reconciliation across interfaces and manual transfers.
• Act as subject-matter expert on people data definitions, ensuring common understanding of terms such as FTE, HC, contingent, and internal vs external cost.

Experience & Qualifications

• Strong experience in HR operations, HR data management, or workforce analytics, with hands-on responsibility for maintaining core people data across multiple systems.
• Demonstrated ability to work with complex, fragmented datasets (spreadsheets, HRIS, payroll, finance) and to design pragmatic reconciliation and control processes.
• High attention to detail and a strong control mindset, with experience supporting audit/compliance requirements related to people data or payroll.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including the ability to work with country HR, payroll vendors, finance teams, and shared services to resolve issues and align on ways of working.
• Comfort operating in a transitional environment (e.g., carve-out, TSA, new system implementation) with a willingness to roll up sleeves and manage manual processes while building toward a more automated future state.

Goals

• First 30 days: Map all existing sources of people data (systems, local files, reports) and document current processes and ownership for census-related activities. Define core data fields, standards, and the initial Day 1 census template (e.g., minimum fields required for payroll, reporting, compliance). Establish working relationships with key stakeholders in P&C, Finance, payroll, and country HR teams.
• First 60 days: Stand up a working Day 1 census process, including intake channels for people changes, reconciliation checks, and a regular cadence for updating downstream systems/trackers. Complete an initial data quality assessment, identifying key gaps, inconsistencies, and risks in the employee population data. Implement basic control mechanisms (e.g., change logs, approvals, reconciliation reports) for joiners, movers, and leavers.
• First 90 days: Deliver a stabilised global headcount and census view used consistently by P&C and Finance for reporting and decision-making. Reduce data discrepancies between major sources (e.g., HR vs payroll vs finance) through targeted clean-up and process improvements. Propose a roadmap for transitioning from manual census management to a more automated, system-driven model in partnership with HRIS and Shared Services.

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

• Iconic brand: Help shape the financial and people-data foundation of a globally known lubricants brand with strong marketing visibility (including motorsports and OEM partnerships).
• Central role in building the new company’s “single source of truth”: You will create and own the core view of the workforce that underpins payroll accuracy, cost control, and investor reporting.
• Hands-on impact from Day 1: In a highly manual, transitional environment, the quality of your work will have immediate and visible impact on employees and leadership.
• Cross-functional exposure: Work at the intersection of P&C, Finance, HRIS, and outsourced shared services, gaining a broad understanding of how people data drives business performance.
• Platform for future growth: As systems mature and processes automate, this role can evolve toward a more strategic people analytics or people data governance leadership position.