People & Culture Manager

Academy is a full-service, social-first agency that makes brands matter to the people who matter most to them.

We’re on a mission to connect what brands have to say with what people actually care about—through best-in-class strategy, creativity, and cultural insight.

We’re growing, and with that comes the need to be more intentional about how we hire, support, and develop our team.

Academy is looking for a People & Culture Manager to help us do exactly that.

This job is not easy. But it’s meaningful. It’s hands‑on. It’s a constant pursuit of betterment—for the agency and for the people in it. And it’s a chance to build an environment where smart, capable people can do the best work of their careers.

This is a high-impact, hands‑on role reporting to the President.

You’ll own the full employee lifecycle—from hiring great people, to helping managers lead better, to building the systems and structure that make the agency run more effectively.

You’ll operate as the sole HR / People lead
, which means being proactive, resourceful, and comfortable figuring things out without a playbook. You won’t just run processes—you’ll build and improve them.

You’ll work alongside our Ops function (focused on process and resourcing), while owning everything related to people, performance, and culture
.

Success in this role looks like a healthy, high‑performing, and engaged team
, with clear expectations, strong management, and a culture that supports great work.

On a day-to-day basis, the People & Culture Manager will be responsible for:

• Own end‑to‑end hiring across creative, strategy, and client‑facing teams (account management, production, partnerships)
• Partner with leadership to define roles, scorecards, and interview processes
• Improve the speed and quality of hiring while maintaining a strong candidate experience
• Build consistent, scalable hiring practices and workflows

• Maintain a strong pulse on team morale, engagement, and overall experience
• Act as a connector between leadership and the broader team
• Help define and reinforce what makes Academy, Academy
• Support team rituals, offsites, and cultural initiatives
• Identify friction points across the employee journey—and fix them

• Build and run performance review cycles and feedback processes
• Support managers in goal setting, professional development, and performance conversations
• Coach team leads through real-world people challenges
• Help establish and maintain a high bar for performance across the agency (including addressing underperformance when needed)

• Support salary benchmarking, compensation planning, offer letter creation, development, and promotions
• Manage and evolve core HR processes and policies to ensure compliance, consistency and scalability as we grow
• Oversee benefits administration while continuously evaluating and enhancing offerings to support employee wellbeing and retention
• Develop and refine onboarding and offboarding processes that enhance the employee lifecycle experience
• Maintain and improve employee documentation (contracts, handbook, policies)

• Ensure compliance with Ontario employment standards and regulations
• Handle employee relations matters with sound judgment and discretion
• Support sensitive situations (leaves, terminations, conflicts) appropriately and professionally

• Act as a strategic partner to leadership, providing guidance on people strategy, organizational design, and team effectiveness to support business goals
• Implement and manage HR tools (HRIS, ATS), including Hi Bob
• Build scalable processes and automate HR workflows as we grow beyond 50+ people
• Support leadership with organizational clarity (roles, responsibilities, team structure)
• Help source and coordinate external resources (e.g., training, development, coaching) to support team growth

• 5–8+ years in HR, People Ops, or Talent, ideally in a small or growing company
• Comfortable operating as a solo HR function with a high degree of ownership
• Strong generalist experience across hiring, performance, and employee…