Head of People

HEAD OF PEOPLE & CULTURE | JOB DESCRIPTION

About S&S

Sullivan & Stanley is not a traditional consulting firm. We are intentionally building something different.

We are a company of relationship builders, consultants and entrepreneurs who believe that how work gets done matters just as much as what gets delivered. We exist to challenge ineffective change and outdated consulting models, replacing them with approaches that are human, pragmatic and built for the realities of modern organisations.

Culture at S&S is a daily practice, not a certification. We create an environment where people are trusted, supported and encouraged to bring their full selves to work, balancing high standards with humanity, care and accountability.

We are deeply mission driven. We want to change business for good, so that the next generation, including our founder Pat Lynes’ sons, Sullivan and Stanley, after whom the company is named, inherit organisations that are healthier, fairer and better equipped for the future.

As we grow, we are pioneering a Service-as-a-Software approach to consulting, blending community, capability, technology and delivery at scale. This is an opportunity to join a firm in its next phase of growth and help shape what consulting becomes next.

Our Values

• Stand Connected
• Stronger Together
• See it Through
• Stay Sharp
• Say it Straight

About you and the role

You’re a hands-on, senior people leader who knows culture is built in everyday moments, not in a handbook. You’ll own both the people foundations and the cultural operating system that help S&S scale without losing what makes it distinctive, making our values visible in how we hire, onboard, lead, perform, develop, recognise and support one another. You believe people grow fastest when learning is part of the work, not a break from it, and you create the conditions for that to happen.

The Head of People and Culture owns the people function for S&S employees. That covers the full employee lifecycle, embedding our A-Player framework at every touchpoint from attraction and onboarding through performance, learning and development, reward, wellbeing and exit. It also covers the policies, processes and compliance that keep S&S a safe, fair and well-run place to work.

The role is internal in scope, covering our employed team across Consulting, Growth, Marketing and Operations. As we grow, and as UK employment law evolves, you will keep S&S ready ahead of change, help managers understand what it means for how they lead, and make sure the business is well governed.

You’ll be a member of the Senior Leadership Team at L3 Principal / Head in our Career Framework, reporting to the COO and working directly with the COO and CEO on people, culture, leadership and organisational design.

This role is for someone who can turn our values into the way we work: practical, people-first and quietly excellent.

Responsibilities

1. People Strategy & Operations

• Own and deliver the people plan for S&S employees, aligned to firm growth objectives and the Target Operating Model.
• Run an efficient, well-documented people operation, including BambooHR, contracts, HR data and reporting.
• Give the COO and SLT a clear, accurate view of headcount, attrition, absence, engagement and people cost.
• Own and lead our Great Place to Work accreditation and related activities.

2. Employment Law & Compliance

• Keep S&S compliant with UK employment law and lead readiness for each phase of the Employment Rights Act 2025.
• Update contracts, handbook and policies ahead of key dates.
• Strengthen harassment prevention to meet the “all reasonable steps” duty in force since 30 October 2026, including risk assessment, training and third-party risk for colleagues on client sites.
• Manage employee relations cases fairly and consistently, using external legal advice where appropriate, and in line with the revised ACAS Code once in force.

3. Performance, Probation & Career Framework

• Own our A-Player framework, Personal Development Review cycle, Career Framework and Role Profile Cards, making sure managers use them consistently.
• Rebuild probation as a genuine, well-evidenced decision point, given the shorter route to unfair dismissal protection.
• Coach line managers to hold timely, honest performance conversations and act on development signals early.

4. Learning & Development

• Own the S&S learning and development strategy and budget, linked to our Career Framework, Role Profile Cards and the capabilities the firm needs to grow.
• Turn PDRs, A-Player conversations and business priorities into focused development plans, and close priority skills gaps.
• Design and deliver leadership and line manager development, so every manager can coach, give honest feedback and grow their people.
• Build AI and digital capability so our people are confident using new tools in their own work and with clients.
• Bring our Stay Sharp value to life through coaching, mentoring, peer learning and knowledge sharing.
• Own professional qualifications, accreditations and partner certifications, and make sure mandatory training is completed and tracked.
• Select and manage learning partners, platforms and funding routes (including apprenticeship funding), and show the return on our investment.

5. Talent Acquisition & Onboarding

• Lead the internal hiring engine with Talent colleagues, so every hire strengthens capability and culture.
• Make sure every candidate has a great experience, whether they receive an offer or not.
• Deliver onboarding that gets new joiners productive, connected, learning and living the values quickly.

6. Culture, Employee Experience, Engagement & Wellbeing

• Define and evolve S&S’s culture operating model, including values, leadership behaviours, onboarding, communications, recognition, manager expectations and employee feedback, keeping culture consistent and visible as we scale.
• Act as guardian of the S&S culture, turning our values into everyday practice and rituals.
• Measure engagement regularly and work with the SLT to act visibly on what people tell us.
• Lead wellbeing, inclusion and family-friendly practice, including day-one paternity and parental leave rights.
• Challenge leadership decisions, behaviours and ways of working that conflict with S&S values, and bring recommendations to the CEO and SLT.

7. Reward & Recognition

• Maintain a fair, transparent and affordable approach to pay, benefits and recognition.
• Run the annual pay review with Finance, benchmarking roles against the market.
• Keep holiday, sick and family pay processes accurate and auditable, ahead of Fair Work Agency enforcement.

8. Leadership & Accountability

• Advise the CEO and SLT on organisation design, capability and people risk as the firm scales.
• Build a small, high-performing people team where needed, and manage external HR and legal partners.

Key Accountabilities

• Legal compliance and readiness for each phase of employment law change
• Quality and consistency of performance, probation and career conversations
• Attraction, retention and development of S&S employees
• Growth in capability across the firm, and the impact of our learning investment
• A healthy, clearly embedded culture that keeps values, leadership behaviours and employee experience consistent as the firm scales
• Fair, well-governed and auditable people processes

Success Measures & KPIs

These are indicative and will evolve as the firm grows.

• Compliance: policies, contracts and training updated ahead of each Employment Rights Act milestone.
• Probation: every probation reviewed and decided, with evidence, well before six months’ service.
• Retention: low regretted attrition.
• Engagement / eNPS: engagement improves or stays strong, with visible SLT action on survey themes.
• Performance: PDRs completed on time and calibrated against Role Profile Cards.
• Employee relations: cases resolved early and fairly, with minimal tribunal exposure.
• Culture: values, leadership behaviours and rituals embedded in onboarding, manager practice, recognition and performance conversations.
• Manager effectiveness: managers role-model S&S values and create a supportive, high-accountability environment.
• Learning & development: every employee has a live development plan, spend targets priority skills, and impact shows in performance and progression.

Skills & Qualifications

Experience

• 7+ years in People, Culture or HR roles, including at least 3 years leading the people function in a growing business.
• Experience in professional services, consulting or another knowledge-based, client-facing business.
• CIPD Level 7 (or working towards it).

Employment Law & Employee Relations

• Strong, current knowledge of UK employment law, including the Employment Rights Act 2025 and its implementation timetable.
• Confident handling employee relations cases end to end, from early resolution to formal process.
• Experience translating legal change into clear, practical policy and manager guidance.

People Operations & Performance

• Track record of building scalable people processes and HR systems, ideally BambooHR.
• Experience running performance, career framework and reward processes in a fair, data-led way.

Learning & Development

• Experience shaping and delivering learning, including leadership and manager development, in a growing business.
• Able to link learning investment to performance, progression and business outcomes, using data to show impact.
• Curious about how AI and new technology are changing the way people learn and work.

Culture & Influence

• Demonstrable experience building and embedding culture at scale in a fast-growing or multi-function organisation. This includes defining leadership behaviours, integrating culture into the employee lifecycle and using engagement data to drive visible change.
• Credible coach and adviser to senior leaders and line managers.
• Lives the S&S values and can bring them to life for others.

Benefits

• Monthly gym membership contribution
• Flexible holiday, with 25 days annual leave
• Learning and development opportunities, linked to your career path
• Healthcare
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Electric Vehicle and Cycle to Work salary sacrifice schemes
• Pension and Life Assurance
• Hybrid working

Additional information

S&S values difference. We are committed to providing an inclusive, safe and amicable environment for all people, regardless of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and religion (or lack thereof). We are an equal opportunity employer and our recruitment process is based on capability and experience.

Business for Good is one of our 5 strategic pillars. We believe that to be good you need to do good. Our Business for Good objectives are:

• Good for our people: create an exemplary and equitable working environment in which to learn and develop
• Good for our community: create a positive impact for the charities we support and provide our associate network with purposeful work
• Good for our clients: deliver meaningful and sustainable change