People and Performance Manager

People and Performance Manager 

Closing date : Monday 2nd November 2026 

About Restless Development

Restless Development is a globally connected, locally led network incubating youth-led change. For 40 years, we’ve supported young people to take on the world’s biggest challenges. We shift power and resources directly to young people, equipping them with leadership skills, and connecting them with their peers and decision makers to drive long-term change.  We run youth-led programmes to tackle the issues that young people care about the most –  We also run the Youth Collective – a growing network of over 4000 local youth civil society groups and organisations in 185 countries. We are committed to creating an agency that walks the talk on power shifting, using the power shifting checklist, both internally and externally.

Our approach to safeguarding

Restless Development considers the welfare and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults to be an organisational imperative with primacy over the success of programmes or strategic objectives. We recognise that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and we expect all of our staff, volunteers and partners to ensure we protect the communities in which we operate from harm and abide by our Safeguarding Policy.

About the role

The People and Performance Manager is a new role within our Global People team. You will be the day-to-day operational lead for the People function across the Agency, working closely with the Director of People and Operations to ensure our people are supported, well and delivering their best work.

You will lead on performance management, talent development, staff wellbeing, HR policy, people data and employee relations advice across our Hubs and globally distributed teams. You will be confident moving between hands-on HR delivery and guiding Hub Directors, Hub Heads and line managers on how best to handle performance and people matters.

You will line manage the Assistant People Coordinator (who in turn supervises the People Officer), and lead the global People Community of Practice made up of our Hub people leads, strengthening consistent HR/People approaches across the Agency. You will work closely with the Safeguarding and Safety Manager, who retains responsibility for safeguarding, safety and security 

Key responsibilities:

Leading People operations across the Agency 

• Take ownership for the day-to-day running of the People team and the delivery of the People team workplan, as agreed with the Director of People and Operations.
  
• Line manage, coach and develop the Assistant People Coordinator, and through them ensure the People Officer is well supported and performing.
  
• Lead the People Community of Practice for Hub people leads, providing updates, training and guidance on HR decisions and practices to drive positive and consistent HR practice across the Agency.
• Draft, review and update People policies, procedures and the employee handbook for approval by the Director of People and Operations, and ensure they are understood and applied consistently in Hubs.
  
• Act as the first point of escalation for People queries that cannot be resolved by the Assistant People Coordinator or Hub people leads. 

 Performance management and talent

• Working with Hub teams, review, improve and embed performance management throughout the Agency, using Bamboo HR to capture goals, feedback, probation reviews and performance oversight.
  
• Coach and guide line managers, Hub Directors and Hub Heads on managing performance, including probation, performance improvement and capability processes.
  
• Monitor completion and quality of performance reviews across Hubs and report on trends and gaps.
• Support the Director of People and Operations to manage the community of practice for the next generation of Hub Directors, including talent development and succession planning.
  
• Coordinate the Agency’s learning and development offer, including identifying training needs and evaluating the impact of learning activities.

Employee relations

• Advise managers on employee relations matters (grievances, disciplinaries, capability and absence) in line with policy, best practice and local labour law, escalating high-risk or complex cases to the Director of People and Operations.
  
• Ensure employee relations cases are documented, tracked and resolved in a timely and fair manner.
  
• Manage the relationship with external people services such as our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and HR Advisory support services. 

Staff wellbeing and engagement

• Lead the Agency’s staff wellbeing work, ensuring wellbeing is measured, reported on and prioritised through pulse surveys and other initiatives in Hubs.
  
• Oversee the annual Agency Survey and other staff feedback mechanisms, and ensure findings are used to improve our Employee Value Proposition and culture work.
  
• Work alongside the Safeguarding and Safety Manager where wellbeing, safeguarding or safety issues overlap, ensuring staff are referred to the right support.
  
• Support the planning of Quarterly Staff Workshops, Re-induction and the annual leadership conference from a People perspective. 

People data, HRIS and reporting

• Hold day-to-day ownership of Bamboo HR, ensuring data quality, appropriate access levels and that we make full use of its reporting capabilities, with capacity built across Hubs.
  
• Produce timely and accurate people reports and key people metrics for the Director of People and Operations, the Global Leadership Group, the People and Culture Committee and the Board of Trustees.
  
• Ensure People data is managed in line with our data protection policy and applicable national data protection legislation.
  
• Lead the review and updating of the Restless Way to provide a central induction site for staff across the network.

Power shifting, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

• Support the Director of People and Operations and the Power Shifting Director to monitor and report on DEI targets, power shifting ambitions and other relevant KPIs in our Agency Plan.
  
• Support Hubs to improve progress against People priorities identified through internal audit and other reporting mechanisms.
  
• Contribute to external reporting and benchmarking, e.g. Fair Share of Women Leaders.

Other

• You may occasionally be required to work on weekends and/or public holidays, for which time off in lieu will be granted.
  • Other duties as required.

Job title: People and Performance Manager

Location: TBC (To be based in one of Restless Development Hub : India, Sierra Leone or Zambia)

Salary: TBC (Based on the location of the successful candidate at the manager lever as per our Global Salary Scale)

Preferred start date: As soon as possible

Length of contract: 2 years fixed contract

Reports to: Director of People and Operations

Expected travel: Regular travel to London for staff meetings and other areas in the UK. Evening and weekend work for which time off in lieu will be given. Expenses for travel and work outside working hours will be given according to our policy.

About you

We are looking for people with the right competencies and skills for the role, and who demonstrate  the personal qualities consistent with our values.

Skills and experience

Essential

• Significant experience in a generalist HR/People role, including at least 5 years at officer/coordinator level or above, with experience of line management.
• Proven experience designing and embedding performance management processes and coaching managers to use them.
  
• Practical experience advising on employee relations casework.
  
• Experience leading staff wellbeing and engagement initiatives, including staff surveys.
  
• Strong working knowledge of an HRIS (ideally Bamboo HR) and confidence producing people data reports.
  
• Excellent written and spoken English and strong interpersonal skills.
  
• Ability to work across cultures and with remote, globally distributed teams.

Desirable

• Relevant HR qualification (e.g. degree or postgraduate qualification in HR or Business Psychology) or equivalent professional experience.
  
  
• Experience of HR in the international development / non-profit sector, or in more than one country.
  
  
• Experience working with DEI or power shifting frameworks.
  
  
• Experience in learning and development or talent management.
  

Restless Development is an Equal Opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community. Restless Development will ensure that no applicant or staff member receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, social status, caste, race, ethnic origin, religious belief, age, HIV status, disability, or any other factor that cannot be shown to be relevant to performance.

What we do for you

We are proud to commit to a transparent global salary scale, ensuring a fair and comparable system of pay across all global locations. In addition to salary, we offer pension contributions and other benefits in accordance with the local Hub.

Values and Culture

At Restless Development, we’re proud that the strength and integrity of our Values has been recognised by staff, young people, donors and others who we work with.  Beyond this, we have a culture of recognising and celebrating both our Values and our global achievements with monthly Values Champions and an annual Values Day.

Work-life Balance

It goes without saying that we work hard at Restless Development. We also recognise the importance of helping staff to maintain a positive work-life balance by offering:

• 24 days annual leave (in addition to public holidays and with an extra day of annual leave given for each full year of service, up to a maximum of 28 days).
• Birthday Leave
• Access to flexible working.
• Generous study leave, maternity, paternity or adoption leave, and other leave allowances.

Professional Development

Restless Development is proud to be an employer who recognises potential and invests in the development of its staff.  We are committed to the professional development of our staff through:

• Empowering opportunities to work on significant projects which stretch and inspire staff – allowing them to develop on-the-job. 
• Regular performance management.
• Training and development opportunities, including supporting our staff to identify mentors both within and outside of the agency.
• Quarterly Staff Workshops for all staff to give and receive agency updates, receive training, and socialise.

Travel and Medical Insurance

When travelling abroad with work, all staff will be covered by Restless Development’s travel and medical insurance.

See our full pay and benefits for more details.

For more tips on how to apply visit our website here.

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