Head of People

Head of People

UK, Remote (occasional travel to London required)

About the Company

Aria Intelligent Solutions is a global AI technology and consulting firm that partners with leading retailers and consumer brands to deliver measurable commercial impact. We combine deep industry expertise with advanced AI and analytics to help clients transform how they plan, trade, and grow.

Alongside our consulting business, we have developed HarmonIQ, our agentic AI platform, and are entering our next phase of growth. We are looking for a hands-on Head of People to lead our People function and build the processes, capability and culture needed to support that growth.

About the Role

Reporting to the CEO, you will own the People agenda across Aria, working closely with leaders across Consulting, Product, Data Science and Operations and support teams in our UK and India regions. This is a highly autonomous role for a proactive, commercially minded self-starter who can set priorities, make clear recommendations and carry initiatives through to implementation. You will combine strategic thinking with a practical, hands-on approach, supported by specialist partners across payroll, finance and employment law where required.

Key Responsibilities

Global People Strategy & Leadership

• Own and develop a Global People strategy aligned to Aria’s business plans and growth ambitions.
• Set and manage the annual People calendar across performance, reward, recruitment, development and engagement.
• Work with functional leaders to translate pipeline, utilisation, capability and growth plans into workforce requirements, using this insight to identify capacity pressure, wellbeing risks, skills gaps, succession needs and future headcount early.
• Act as a trusted adviser to the CEO and leadership team on people, organisation and culture.

Performance, Development & Capability

• Own and continually improve our performance, progression and promotion processes, partnering with functional leaders to embed clear competencies and career expectations.
• Develop and drive a training and capability strategy based on business priorities, skills gaps and future needs, and review its effectiveness.
• Equip managers to set expectations, give effective feedback, manage performance and support development.

Remuneration, Reward & Benefits

• Develop and manage Aria’s total reward approach across base pay, quarterly bonuses, annual bonuses, annual pay reviews, share options and employee benefits.
• Benchmark remuneration, share options and benefits against relevant professional services, technology and AI markets, recommending how our approach should evolve.
• Own reward cycles, with clear timelines, governance, manager guidance and employee communications.
• Ensure reward and progression frameworks are transparent, fair and consistently applied.

Talent Acquisition & Onboarding

• Own Aria’s talent acquisition strategy, employer brand, inclusive recruitment processes, agency relationships, candidate experience and recruitment governance.
• Work with functional leaders to translate capability needs into clear hiring requirements and effective assessment approaches.
• Own and continually improve onboarding from pre-start communications through role-specific induction and training, helping new joiners understand Aria, their role, our culture and what success looks like.

Culture, Values & Engagement

• Build a clear approach to employee engagement, gathering feedback regularly, building trusted relationships across the organisation and ensuring important themes are understood and acted on.
• Own the People communications calendar, including the quarterly company newsletter, ensuring communications are clear, timely, inclusive and appropriate for the audience.
• Develop and manage a purposeful company and cultural events calendar, including Knowledge Shares, with clear objectives and outcomes.
• Make Aria’s values clear and relevant across the business, embedding them in communications and People processes and working with leadership to simplify or evolve them where needed.

People Operations, Risk & Continuous Improvement

• Own BambooHR, employee records and the People inputs required to support accurate monthly UK payroll, ensuring data is accurate, well maintained and GDPR-compliant.
• Provide employee relations guidance and ensure policies and employment practices remain compliant, using specialist advisers where required.
• Use People data, employee feedback and external best practice to identify emerging risks, trends and opportunities and provide useful insight to leadership.
• Continuously improve People processes so they remain simple, effective and appropriate as Aria grows.

Skills & Experience

Essential Experience

• 8+ years’ HR generalist experience, including leading a People function in a fast-paced start-up/SME environment.
• Experienced leading HR across dispersed global locations.
• CIPD Level 5 or 7 qualification.
• Proven success designing, implementing and improving People strategy, policies and processes in a growing organisation.
• Strong experience across performance and progression, remuneration and reward, recruitment, employee relations, learning and development, and engagement.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and good practice, with the judgement to use local or specialist expertise for international requirements.
• Experience supporting remote and internationally distributed teams.
• Evidence of working autonomously, setting priorities and delivering initiatives with limited day-to-day oversight.
• Excellent communication skills, emotional intelligence and judgement, with the ability to build trust, coach managers and promote inclusive, fair People practices.
• Strong commercial awareness, organisation and follow-through, with the ability to connect People priorities to wider business needs.

Desirable Experience

• Experience in professional services, consulting, technology, SaaS or AI.
• Experience in a business combining professional services with software or product teams.
• Experience supporting international teams, particularly in India and/or the US.
• Experience with BambooHR and using People data to support decision-making.
• Experience with employee share option schemes, broader reward design or workforce planning in a project or utilisation-led environment.

Salary & Bonus

£70,000 - £80,000 per annum DOE + 10% bonus and benefits.

Benefits

Private medical insurance: Comprehensive healthcare coverage, including optical, dental and cover for family members.

Vitality Active Rewards: Cinema tickets, coffee and gym discounts through Vitality.

25 days annual leave: Increasing with length of service.

Personal charity day: One paid day each year to support a cause of your choice, plus donation matching.

Champion Health: Physical, mental and financial wellbeing support through the Champion Health app.

Wellbeing days: Additional paid leave to support wellbeing.

Why Join Us

Aria is growing across both consulting and HarmonIQ, our AI platform. You will work directly with the CEO and leadership team, with the autonomy to shape the People function and how we recruit, develop and reward our people as the business grows.