Head of People / Head of Human Resources / HR Lead

Job Title: Head of People / Head of Human Resources / HR Lead

Location: London (Notting Hill)

Salary: Competitive

Recruiter: Lutyens Advisory

Industry Sectors: Human Resources, Private Office / Family Office, Hospitality/Retail

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Part Time (potential with time for Full-Time)

Workplace: On Site

Head of People ● Head of Human Resources ● Head of HR ● HR Lead ● Private Office ● Family Office ● Hospitality ● Retail ● Human Resources

The family/private office is looking to hire an experienced and pragmatic Head of People / HR to establish and lead its people function during a critical phase of expansion. Current headcount is c.27 and will scale to 50–60+ in the near term. This is the family office’s first in-house HR leadership hire. The role will suit someone hands-on, commercially aware and confident operating in a growing, performance-driven and increasingly rigorous environment.

This individual will play a key role in embedding values, strengthening people processes, and proactively managing employee relations as the organisation grows.

The Role

This is a broad, operational and strategic HR role focused on building structure, driving performance, mitigating risk, and supporting a growing, relationship-driven organisation.

This individual will work closely with the CEO and COO/CFO to translate values into practice, ensure robust HR processes are in place and address people-related challenges early and effectively.

The role will initially be part-time, with the potential to transition to full-time. The role will report to the COO/CFO.

Location

The office is based in Notting Hill.

Key Responsibilities

People, Strategy & Culture

• Support the development and implementation of the organisation’s values and behavioural framework
• Embed these values into recruitment, onboarding, and performance management processes
• Contribute to building a scalable, cohesive culture within a flat, collaborative structure
• Advise on incentivisation, engagement, and retention strategies

Performance & Development

• Design and implement a practical, structured performance management approach, including regular check-ins (rather than annual appraisals)
• Support managers in conducting effective, consistent performance and feedback conversations
• Help establish clear expectations around performance, accountability, and progression
• Elevate day-to-day management capability across the organisation

Employee Relations & Risk Management

• Act as a trusted advisor on employee relations issues, addressing concerns early, directly, and pragmatically
• Lead on disciplinaries, grievances, absence management, and conduct-related matters with confidence and clarity
• Manage and advise on long-term sickness, absence trends, and capability issues
• Ensure appropriate processes are followed across:
• Absence management
• Disciplinary and grievance procedures
• Conduct and workplace expectations
• Proactively identify and address emerging issues before they escalate

Policies, Procedures & Compliance

• Review, build, and implement clear, robust HR policies and processes appropriate for a scaling organisation
• Provide unambiguous guidance to staff on expectations (e.g. conduct, confidentiality, communication norms)
• Ensure compliance with UK employment law and best practice

Recruitment & Growth Support

• Support ongoing recruitment activity during a period of growth
• Ensure hiring processes are consistent, structured, and aligned with organisational values
• Help build a high-quality, repeatable onboarding experience

HR Operations & Delivery

• Operate as a fully hands-on HR lead, owning delivery across the full HR lifecycle
• Work alongside external providers managing payroll, benefits, and administration; assess where processes should be improved or brought in-house
• Ensure operational execution aligns with overall people strategy

Candidate Profile & Attributes

The successful candidate will possess a combination of experience, skills, and personal qualities that enable them to lead a rigorous, high-performing people function in a growing operational environment:

Experience & Expertise

The ideal candidate will bring significant senior HR / People experience within an operationally intensive environment (e.g. private/family office, hospitality, retail, logistics, or similarly process-driven organisations), where consistency, standards and throughput are critical to performance.

They will have a strong track record in employee relations and be confident handling disciplinaries, grievances, absence, sickness, and conduct issues with clarity, firmness and sound judgement.

They will demonstrate deep experience in:

• Designing and running robust HR processes at scale
• Driving performance through structure, standards, and management capability
• Applying UK employment law in a practical, business-focused way

This individual must understand how process, tools, habits and management discipline drive consistent performance.

Operational Excellence & Performance Mindset

This individual will bring strong operational “process muscle” and be highly structured, detail-oriented, and focused on execution quality.

This individual will:

• Build and embed clear, repeatable HR processes
• Elevate managerial capability, particularly in feedback and accountability
• Drive consistency and standards across a growing workforce

This individual will be as comfortable improving frameworks as they are handling underperformance directly or coaching managers through difficult conversations.

Hands-On, Systems-Literate & Pragmatic

This is a lean function by design, and this individual should be willing to ‘get their hands dirty’.  They should be able to move seamlessly between high level strategic management level conversations and being in the weeds.

This individual will be:

• Highly systems-literate
• Comfortable using AI tools and HR platforms to manage administration efficiently
• Able to own the full operational HR cycle end-to-end

Judgement, Edge & Business Partnership

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong judgement and backbone in people related matters
• The ability to be clear, direct and firm when required
• A style that is supportive but not overly soft or ambiguous

They will act as a true business partner to managers, working collaboratively to improve performance and capability. This individual must be comfortable holding standards, making difficult calls, and driving accountability.

Mindset & Approach

The successful candidate will be:

• Practical, observant, and solutions-oriented
• Comfortable in a structured, performance-driven environment
• Motivated by building rigorous, well-functioning systems and teams

They will take pride and thrive in creating an environment where:

• Expectations are clear
• Managers are effective
• Issues are addressed early and decisively

Please note that due to the high volume of applicants responding to our adverts we are regrettably not able to feedback on all applications; only successful candidates will be contacted.