HR Director at OLIVER Agency in London, England, United Kingdom

Established in 2004, OLIVER is the world’s first and only specialist in designing, building, and running bespoke in-house agencies and marketing ecosystems for brands. We partner with over 300 clients in 40+ countries and counting. Our unique model drives creativity and efficiency, allowing us to deliver tailored solutions that resonate deeply with audiences. As a part of The Brandtech Group, we're at the forefront of leveraging cutting-edge AI technology to revolutionise how we create and deliver work. Our AI solutions enhance efficiency, spark creativity, and drive insightful decision-making, empowering our teams to produce innovative and impactful results. Role:  HR Director Location:  London, United Kingdom (3 days a week from our London HQ) About the role: The HR Director - UK is a senior leadership role accountable for defining and delivering the UK people strategy, to drive OLIVER’s commercial objectives through its talent. As a core member of the UK leadership team, the HRD will shape organisational effectiveness, drive a high performance culture and sector leading employee experience, manage risk, and ensure the business is structured and resourced to deliver profitable growth. What you will be doing: Strategic Business Partnership Serve as a trusted advisor to the UK CEO and senior leadership team. Actively contribute to commercial strategy discussions, including growth planning, margin improvement, and client retention strategies. Translate business priorities into a practical and measurable people plan. Organisation Design Optimise our internal structure and skill mix to ensure sustainable cost ratios and utilisation levels, driving growth. Design and implement organisational restructures where required. Performance & Accountability Frameworks Own and continuously evolve the UK performance management framework. Drive a culture of accountability, high standards, and measurable outcomes. Support leaders in managing underperformance decisively and fairly while strengthening leadership capability across the UK. Employee Relations & Risk Management Oversee complex employee relations cases, ensuring consistency, legal compliance, and risk mitigation. Provide strategic oversight on redundancies, TUPE transfers, restructures, and sensitive or high profile exits. Maintain up-to-date knowledge of UK employment legislation and proactively manage risk exposure. Commercial Workforce Planning Partner with Finance to manage workforce costs including salary benchmarks, contractor usage, overtime, and bonus structures. Monitor cost-to-income ratios and provide insight-driven recommendations to protect profitability while maintaining talent quality. Talent & Succession Planning Lead succession planning for critical UK roles. Identify leadership gaps and implement development plans. Partner with Talent Acquisition to ensure hiring strategies align with long-term capability requirements and diversity ambitions. Engagement & Culture Drive engagement initiatives that reinforce OLIVER’s values and high-performance culture. Interpret engagement data and implement targeted action plans. Ensure leaders are equipped to foster inclusive, psychologically safe, and performance-driven teams. Partner with internal communications and the SLT to ensure effective and timely communication to our people, driving a culture of high trust in leadership and transparency. HR Operations & Governance Ensure robust HR governance, accurate people data reporting, and operational excellence across payroll, policies, compliance, and systems. Drive process improvement and digital enablement within the HR function. What you need to be great in this role: 15+ years extensive senior HR leadership experience within marketing, advertising, creative, or professional services environments. Demonstrated experience operating within complex, fast-paced, commercially driven businesses. Strong knowledge of UK employment law and employee relations frameworks. Proven track record leading organisational change and restructuring. Commercial acumen with confidence operating in P&L discussions. Req ID: 17393 #LI-KA1 #LI-Hybrid #LI-director Our values shape everything we do: Be Ambitious to succeed Be Imaginative to push the boundaries of what’s possible Be Inspirational to do groundbreaking work Be always learning and listening to understand Be Results-focused to exceed expectations Be actively pro-inclusive and anti-racist across our community, clients and creations OLIVER,a part of the Brandtech Group, is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive working environment where all employees are encouraged to reach their full potential, and individual differences are valued and respected. All applicants shall be considered for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, neurodivergence, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by local laws. OLIVER has set ambitious environmental goals around sustainability, with science-based emissions reduction targets. Collectively, we work towards our mission, embedding sustainability into every department and through every stage of the project lifecycle.