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