Director of People and Talent

At Beam, you get to do work that really matters. We’re solving the world’s toughest social problems. And we’re growing fast 🚀

It’s not easy. Nothing worth doing ever is. But we take care of everyone who works here with everything from coaching to personal budgets and pay highly competitively. 

You’ll be joining a company that’s having a huge impact on people’s lives with a culture where you can be yourself, have fun and progress rapidly. 

About the role

This is an unrivalled opportunity to join the leadership team of the UK’s leading tech for good and one of the Hottest 10 Startups in London according to WIRED magazine.

Reporting directly to Beam’s CEO, Alex Stephany, you’ll play a uniquely impactful role in transforming the lives of thousands - and soon, millions - of the most disadvantaged people in the UK and beyond.

As Director of People and Talent, you’re building, developing and retaining the high performance team who deliver on our mission.

A proven leader with an exceptional track record across people, talent and culture-building, you’re ready for a role with incomparable legacy.

Please note this role is London based, requiring a minimum two days per week in our London office. We are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

You’ll be

• Developing and leading the People and Talent strategy to attract, hire, retain and develop a high performing team
• Building and coaching People and Talent teams that strengthen our culture and execute with focus and impact on strategy in the short, medium and long-term goals
• Leading Talent to attract and hire an exceptional, diverse team
  • Building a compelling employer brand which attracts the best talent in the startup ecosystem and further afield
  • Building our recruitment capabilities, including software, sourcing, ATS workflow management and channel optimisation
  • Managing company-wide hiring forecasts and capacity planning
  • Personally leading the hiring process for senior leadership roles including sourcing, interviewing and partnering with agencies
• Leading People to build an inclusive, high-performance culture
  • Leading on all aspects of People: everything from pay and benefits to progression, performance management and day-to-day HR processes
  • Providing strategic direction and sponsorship to Beam’s employee resource group (“Be Me”), and driving our D&I goals
  • Proactively identifying and managing retention and performance risks
  • Partnering with managers to continually raise the bar on the quality of management across functions, engagement and employee wellbeing
  • Partnering with SLT and the wider business to build our culture as we scale, ensuring our values are effectively embedded into everything we do

You are

• Passionate about innovation and social impact and committed to promoting equality of opportunity in the UK and far beyond
• Action-oriented and highly adaptable - you're a natural problem solver able to break down complex problems into simple solutions
• Excited by the prospect of rolling up your sleeves and building People and Talent functions almost from scratch as we scale
• A natural leader. Extremely emotionally intelligent and able to build strong working relationships with anyone
• Deeply analytical, as comfortable digging into data as you working collaboratively with your team
• Exceptionally high integrity and used to handling confidential and sensitive information

You’ll need

• Experience and demonstrable impact as part of a senior team in a high-growth startup, ideally leading People and Talent functions
• A track record for implementing at pace and building out simple processes in a rapidly scaling team
• A passion for building a highly engaged, high performance, inclusive team
• An inspirational and pragmatic leader, you know how to manage and get the best out of a team
• Results driven; you know the impact a people function can have, and are obsessed with understanding drivers of performance
• Exceptional communication and writing skills - you communicate clearly, concisely and positively
• An understanding of relevant HR legislation and the right priorities for a business of our stage

About Beam

We’re a team of over 70 working from our beautiful coworking space in Shoreditch and from home. We’ve picked up an armful of awards for our work (including one from our former Queen!) We’re one of the 10 hottest startups in London, according to WIRED magazine and one of LinkedIn’s Top 15 UK Startups for 2022

We’re proud to be rated a top company to work for by Escape the City and The Dots and are committed to hiring diversely and inclusively. You don’t need a degree to work here. We especially want to hear from ethnic minority candidates and/or those who’ve experienced social disadvantage.

63% of people we support come from ethnic minority backgrounds and 17% have disabilities. We believe we can serve these people best when we’re a diverse, inclusive team.

Our benefits

• Highly competitive start up salary of £80,000-£110,000
• EMI-qualifying share options
• Unlimited holiday (we recommend ~25 days + Bank Holidays per year)
• A laptop – choose between a MacBook Air or PC
• £500 annual personal development budget
• Annual company retreat 
• Unlimited 1:1 coaching with More Happi
• Hundreds of perks, discounts and freebies from Perkbox
• Free subscription to Calm meditation app
• Discounted bike and accessories with Cyclescheme
• Dedicated desk space in our beautiful Shoreditch office
• Hybrid working from our office or at home (min 2 days in the office)
• Your own financial wellbeing coach, through Bippit
• Regular team talks from leading UK tech entrepreneurs

Application process

We take hiring seriously. We have a five-stage interview process, giving you plenty of time to learn about Beam while we get to know you.

1. 30-minute video call with Beam's Chief of Staff, Rachel Astall or CEO Alex Stephany
2. 60 minute scenarios-based interview with Beam's CEO, Alex Stephany
3. Strategic presentation with Beam’s COO Seb Barker and CEO, Alex
4. Working session with a couple of members of the team you'll lead
5. Final culture and values meetings with members of the Beam team

Feeling excited? 

Start your journey to the most rewarding and challenging role of your career. We're excited to hear from you.

We’re proud to have a diverse team with broad talents. If you are unsure whether you tick every box but think you have the skills to make an impact - please apply!