Senior Manager, People

ABOUT LUMINATE

Luminate is a global foundation working to ensure that technology serves our needs and wellbeing. Founded by The Omidyar Group in 2018 and funded by Pierre and Pam Omidyar, we are a US foundation with an independent board of directors, operating through entities in the US, the UK, and Kenya. We ask who benefits from a technology, and who is harmed by it.

Digital technology must serve our needs and wellbeing. We know it has the potential to create connection, spark creativity, and provide a space of freedom and choice, because that was the promise of the early internet. But as state and corporate control tightened their grip on digital tools, that promise has narrowed. We want to change that trajectory, motivated by a radical vision: to restore the liberating potential of technology so that it serves the public good, planet, and people - particularly those historically marginalised.

In the end our pursuit isn't really about technology 's about the world we want to live in.

We work in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, with staff in those regions, including in Nigeria and Kenya, and locations in London, Washington, DC, and Nairobi. A global ecosystems programme strengthens the field as a whole. Since 2018 we have supported more than 500 partners and moved around $370 million to the field, with 252 partnerships live today.

We do not bet on a single route to change. We fund policy engagement, strategic litigation, campaigning, and narrative work at once, and support organisations at every stage, from an idea that needs incubating to an institution that needs sustaining. We fund shared infrastructure that no single grantee would build alone, run our own advocacy where we can add something to it, and convene other funders to bring new resources into the field.

As Senior Manager, People, you are Luminate's senior People practitioner and the day-to-day leader of the People function. You build and steward fair, effective, and scalable people practices for a globally distributed workforce, translating organisational needs, employment requirements, data, and employee insight into clear decisions and dependable practice.

You advise leaders and managers, lead the People team, manage external providers, and balance strategic foresight with hands-on delivery, so that people can do their best work in service of Luminate's mission.

Luminate's people system: the end-to-end employee lifecycle, including workforce planning and organisation design; talent acquisition and onboarding; performance, development, reward, and wellbeing; employee relations; and the data, policies, technology, and operating practices that connect them.

• Luminate's internal operating system: the interaction of people, money, processes, technology, legal, and risk in enabling mission delivery.
• Candidate, employee, and manager experience: the journeys of people in their interactions with Luminate's systems and leadership practices.

Employment type:

Full Time

Team:
Operations

Location:

London, United Kingdom

Reports to:

Director, Finance & Operations

Manages:
Manager, Compensation & Benefits;
Coordinator, People.

Works closely with: COO;
Executive and Leadership Team members; all people managers;
General Counsel;
Finance;
Systems & IT;
Operations; and external employment, payroll, benefits, EOR/PEO, recruitment, and other People partners.

Salary Range:
The recruiting range for this role represents the entry point into the salary band (not the full range). Actual salary will be determined based on skills and experience.

• UK: £100,000-£125,000

Benefits:
Visit out Careers page for more information.

Applications are due by Sundday - 23 August 2026 at 11:59pm (UK time).

• Designing coherent, scalable people systems across the employee lifecycle, and embedding them across the organisation.
• Equipping and challenging managers through clear expectations, practical frameworks, data, and coaching.
• Shaping incentives and behaviours through reward, performance, development, and recognition.
• Using evidence to surface patterns and inform organisational decisions, rather than treating cases and data points in isolation.
• Building trust through fair and transparent decisions, while adapting practice to legal and cultural context.
• Anticipating and managing people risk so that issues are addressed early and organisational change can be delivered responsibly.

Luminate encourages a leadership approach grounded in key mental models (ways of thinking) that reflect both our core values and global best practices.

Leaders and managers are expected to think strategically at a systems level, demonstrating the humility to challenge their own assumptions and mental models. This means embracing new ways of thinking and taking responsible risks to innovate.

They also continuously learn from experience and feedback to adapt and improve. Effective leaders here foster an inclusive, collaborative…