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Head of People Technology and Operations

Zopa

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See open jobs at Zopa.See open jobs similar to "Head of People Technology and Operations" Alpaca.

IT, People & HR, Operations

London, UK

Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Our Story

Hello there. We’re Zopa.

We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don’t like about finance and does the opposite. We’re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre — we’ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com!

We’re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It’s not just industry awards we’re winning, we’ve also been named in the top three UK’s Most Loved Workplaces.

If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us, and make it count. Want to see us in action? Follow us on Instagram @zopalife

We are looking for an exceptional talent to lead our People Technology and Operations team – driving design and delivery of the framework of services, policies, processes and systems that provide best in class employment experiences for our Zopians.

Reporting directly into our VP People, our Head of People Technology & Operations will play a pivotal role in ensuring that our People Operating model is fit for purpose. We are embarking on a maturity journey which will see you and your team deliver a new HRIS to the company, as well as evolving our existing shared services experience.

The role forms part of the People Leadership team and will play a broader role in shaping the People Strategy that will support Zopa’s ongoing growth story, including readiness for IPO. This role requires you to be based in our London office, two days per week.

We’re incredibly proud of the culture we have been able to nurture within Zopa, which is also recognised externally:

In 2023, we were rated as the second most loved UK company by Newsweek

We currently have a Glassdoor rating of 4.6 out of 5 and our CEO currently has a 99% approval rating.

We were shortlisted for every employee-facing award we applied for in 2023, winning the Employee Experience Award at the Personnel Today Awards 2023 and the Best Wellbeing Initiative at the Business Culture Awards 2023.

A day in the life:

You will lead a small team to design people services, policies and processes which deliver a highly engaging employee experience, ensure compliance, and reflect our company mission and values. Update these as required to deliver people goals, and in respect of changes to the legal and regulatory environment.
Accountable for the People systems architecture and its effectiveness in delivering compliant People data for reporting and insight. We will implement a new HRIS during 2024/5 so a candidate with experience in deploying HRIS (ideally UKG or Workday) is preferrable.
Oversee the framework and delivery of employee administration, managing necessary third-party relationships.
Evolve how Zopians raise questions with the People Team by deploying a future-proofed ticketing solution. Use data to evaluate, assess and manage the quality of service delivery.
Point of escalation for people services, resolving issues in a timely and effective manner, identifying the root cause and delivering solutions.
Lead on People Team knowledge management and work closely with Internal Comms to deliver a People Team portal providing a tier 0 /self-service to Zopians.
Oversee SMCR governance, and Risk Management for the People function including monthly, quarterly & annual risk & control reporting.
Work in partnership with our wider People, Finance & Legal Teams to ensure new initiatives can be effectively enabled via technology and People operations such as new benefits.
Accountable for programme management and project tracking across our People function. Utilising collaboration tools such as Monday.com to ensure visibility and reporting across the People Team.
Understand the cost of services delivered, looking for ways to be more efficient while not impacting service quality and standards.
Measure the effectiveness of the People operating model and lead action planning to drive improvement, including regular audit activity.
Provide outstanding leadership for your team of five People professionals.
Invest in personal network and bring external insight and industry best practice into the team.

About you:

Demonstrable People Technology and Operations experience in a scaling Technology or FS led business, having previously worked with senior level stakeholders.
Experience in delivering people system transformations (ideally UKG and/or Workday)
Deep experience in supporting the maturity journey of a People Operations team delivering deeper levels of self-service and knowledge management, whilst removing red tape.
Analytical mindset with proven experience using data and data-driven insights to support decisions.
Strong program and project leadership and delivery expertise, overseeing scale change initiatives.
Experience managing Risk & Controls and/or SMCR (desirable but not essential).
Experience in supporting the integration of companies via M&A is desirable.
Excellent understanding of UK employment law
A reputation of unquestionable integrity, high EQ and an inclusive mind-set
An optimistic, direct and innovative nature. You’re comfortable with ambiguity and being part of deeply complex strategy discussions.
Experience of coaching teams to higher performance, in a growth context.
Ability to generate effective and pragmatic solutions to new situations and problems as they are presented.
Evidence of good judgement in difficult and deadline driven situations.
Ability to build trust and confidence across Zopa.

On a personal level, these are the qualities we'd like to see:

Agility, adaptability, pragmatism
Gravitas and credibility
Data oriented and results driven with excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Owned projects and initiatives using Agile and/or other project management principles
Ability to communicate, challenge and influence a range of stakeholders, equally comfortable working with senior managers and staff at all levels
Able to distil complex issues into component parts, identify causal links and think through alternative courses of action
Both initiate and translate ideas into tangible output to create value for Zopians
Keep Diversity Equity and Inclusion at the heart of everything you do

The ideal candidate will be thoughtful, collaborative, able to inspire others and to think creatively about solutions. To be successful you will be comfortable with ambiguity, ownership, and teamwork.

#LI-LK1

Flexible working? Yes please!

At Zopa we value flexible ways of working. We understand the benefits of face-to-face collaboration and the importance of a good work life balance. Our teams work in a hybrid manner from our open-plan, riverside London Bridge office and the comfort of their own homes at a frequency that suits the team and the work they do.

Not only that – you'll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year!* But no matter where you are, we’ll make sure you’ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one.

*Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice

Diversity Statement

Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&I forum made up of Zopians wanting to make a difference and we are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&I is reflected in our hiring process so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.