People Partner

About Pencil

At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn’t just in the hands of big brands - we need to help global enterprises transform how marketing and creative operations work at scale.

We're solving real problems for people teams at scale, and we're hiring our first Senior People Partner to build world class people leadership from the ground up.

The opportunity: We're 100+ employees, scaling fast, and our leadership team deeply values people. We've invested in great tools (HiBob, Ashby & Claude). We have stood up version one of a number of People processes - you will own and improve these. You must be a builder - you naturally review processes and make sure they are fit for purpose, always looking for way to improve them both from an efficiency and employee experience perspective.

You're a builder by nature. You review processes, spot what's not fit for purpose, and fix it with both efficiency and employee experience in mind. You'll own performance management, manager development, and talent retention. Part coach, part strategist, part operator. Your challenge: take the signals we're seeing and turn them into systems and culture that move the needle.

Responsibilities

Own the full performance cycle - 360s, reviews, calibrations, and comp rounds

Coach and develop our managers, from new team leads to senior leaders

Lead employee relations: tough conversations, PIPs, and exits handled with care and clarity

Own and evolve our people infrastructure: onboarding, HRIS (HiBob), policies, and handbook

Partner with the leadership team on org design, headcount, and talent strategy

Drive retention and succession planning - identify flight risks early and build plans that work

Lead culture and engagement initiatives; we're open to novel formats and experimental approaches

Keep us compliant with UK employment law and evolving HR regulation

What We're Looking For

Must-Have

Deep expertise in UK employment law and employee relations

Experience building people infrastructure at a growing company

Comfort with tough conversations and coaching teams to excel (or exit)

Ability to think strategically and execute tactically

Nice-to-Have

Product company background (SaaS strongly preferred)

High-scale startup (50–300 people) + larger established company experience

Hands-on HRIS experience (HiBob a bonus) - comfortable owning data integrity, adoption, and new features

International hiring / EOR experience

Distributed/remote team experience

Our Values

Everything we do is shaped by five values. You'll be asked about these in your interviews, but more importantly, you'll live them in this role.

Fast: we move quickly and make decisions with the information we have

Surprising: we look for better ways, not the obvious ones

Simple: we cut complexity; clarity is a feature

Human: we build for people, and we treat people well

Owners: we take responsibility and see things through

Why Pencil

You won't inherit a polished function. You'll build one.

We've stood up v1 of most processes, but these will become yours to own and evolve, not just maintain

The leadership team has real conviction about people; you'll have a seat at the table, not a service desk

We use AI seriously, including in our own people processes

Novel performance formats, culture experiments, AI-led initiatives - we back new ideas when they're grounded

This role has a clear path to leading a team as we grow

Benefits

25 days PTO plus public holidays, although we operate a Flexible Time Off scheme

Health insurance / private medical cover

Monthly stipend towards wellness, fitness, and learning and development

Remote - work from anywhere in your home country

Enhanced parental leave policies, whether you become a parent through birth, adoption or surrogacy

Access to our Pencil office in The Shard, London for our UK employees

Flexible working hours