Head of People - Maternity Cover

You’ll join us for an approximately eight-month maternity cover, with a structured two-month handover before taking full ownership of the People function in December. You’ll step into a People function with a clear strategy, an ambitious 2027 roadmap and a handful of important work streams already in motion, in a fast-moving, ever-changing organization, and you’ll be trusted to take them forward.

You’ll own the full People agenda across our multi-country organisation, reporting directly to the CEO and being an active part of the Leadership Team, working together to achieve the goals. It’s a hands-on leadership role for someone who enjoys being close to the business, is comfortable making decisions independently and can quickly turn strategy into action.

In short: we’re looking for someone who can hit the ground running, make good calls and keep momentum moving.

You’ll take full ownership of the day-to-day People agenda and lead the team through a period of continued change and growth. This includes:

• HR strategy execution and People team leadership

• Employment law and compliance across NL, UK, DE and FR

• Organisation design and workforce planning

• Compensation and benefits

• Employee relations, including active casework

• Internal communications

• Developing and supporting the People team (3 current members: 1 People Manager, 1 Talent Manager and 1 Office Intern)

Our 2027 People agenda is centred around two priorities: AI Transformation and Ownership Culture. The foundations are already being laid; you’ll take them from strategy into execution.

AI Transformation

We started this work in H2 2026, building AI literacy, strengthening Tech × People collaboration, and embedding AI into areas such as onboarding and our Career Framework. In 2027, you’ll take this further by driving:

• AI-enabled impact into the Growth cycle

• Our review of how roles evolve in an AI-enabled organisation

• Updated job profiles across all functions

• The transition towards upskilling and reskilling

Ownership Culture

After 1.5 years of significant internal change, we’re continuing to rebuild and strengthen our culture around ownership, engagement and accountability. Together with the People team and our Chief of Staff, you’ll help turn this into action through our 2027 initiatives, from the engagement survey and Value Weeks to our culture and company events.

There are a few important pieces of the 2027 puzzle where you’ll play a central role:

Academy
Lepaya’s learning and development programmes are an important part of how we build our capabilities. Together with our Talent Manager, you’ll identify the organisation’s 2027 needs and turn them into a practical Academy plan.

Workforce planning
Q4 is a key moment for headcount and People cost planning. The current Head of People will set the direction and prepare the groundwork; you’ll take it through to the final People cost budget and help hold the Leadership Team accountable for it throughout 2027.

Office move
We’re moving out of our current office in April and are currently in the search phase. Together with our Office Manager, you’ll help bring the new office to life and coordinate the move from planning through execution.

We know that interim roles can sometimes mean walking into a mess of half-finished projects and trying to figure out where everything stands. That’s not the plan here.

The 2027 plans for the key work streams above are being shaped now, together with the current Head of People, specifically so you inherit a running start rather than a blank page. The current Head of People will go on maternity leave at the end of November, with a structured two-month handover planned from…