Head of Talent & People Ops

About Forward Partners

Forward Partners (FP) is an £81m seed stage venture capital fund, established in 2013 by pre-eminent VC Nic Brisbourne, with a mandate to make long-term investments in British digital businesses at the pre-seed and seed stage.

Mission: The goal of Forward Partners is to deliver outstanding returns to its investors through unlocking the potential of the best entrepreneurs by offering world class operational help at every step of their journey.

Strong tech investment credentials & exciting portfolio:

Nic Brisbourne: has >17 years experience in the venture capital industry and prior to founding Forward Partners, was a Partner at leading venture capital firm Draper Esprit. He has worked and invested in London and Silicon Valley, leading over 25 investments and enjoying a number of successful exits including buy.at (acquired by AOL for $125m) and Zeus Technology (acquired by Riverbed for $140m). Nic also authors one of Europe's most popular VC blogs: The Equity Kicker.

Portfolio: we have helped some incredible companies including Appear Here, Thread, Wonderbly (LostMyName), Big Health, Live Better With, Patch and Spoke. We have a portfolio of over 40 companies and that continues to grow. Many of our portfolio companies appear in the Startups 100 list and go on to raise millions of $$$'s. We are immensely proud to think that our work helped make that happen.

Location: Based in the heart of the UK tech scene Forward Partners’ offices are a few minutes walk from Old Street roundabout.

Future plans: Forward Partners is now embarking on the process of deploying fund II with an expanded investment focus (Applied AI). It’s ultimate aim is to redefine the VC model and unseat Y Combinator on the global stage as the number one startup platform.

Culture: We have three simple values. Enjoy The Journey, Execute with Skill & Pace, Get Better Every Time. We truly hold ourselves to these three values. We give each other bonuses (for real), we display our great work on TV's around the office (permanently), we have free food and drinks and all the cool startup stuff you'd want.

But, most importantly, we live Radical Candour. Every week 30 minutes is dedicated to pairing up with a team mate and sharing candid feedback on how to improve. We rotate pairs every week and it really works - our happiness (that we measure every week) is super high and we get better every time. And that makes us happy (but also better at what we do)...

Role Overview

Reporting to the Managing Partner, Nic Brisbourne, and working closely with the wider leadership team the Head of Talent & People Ops will be part of the senior leadership team from the outset.

The Head of Talent & People Ops will devise and execute a first class talent and people strategy for Forward Partners & its portfolio (partner) companies. They will act as a commercially driven partner to the Forward Partners management team and it’s partner entrepreneurs, ensuring that there is alignment of business and people strategies. Critically they will build a best in class talent function that is effective and can scale as Forward Partners & it’s portfolio continues to rapidly grow.

The responsibilities of the Head of Talent & People Ops will include: defining the future Talent and People strategy for Forward Partners and it’s partner companies, building an outstanding talent ‘platform’ for the portfolio, refining and building on Forward Partners’ culture and values, coaching the executive team and partner entrepreneurs, building a strong recruitment engine and brand for Forward Partners, developing the right compensation and benefits packages for Forward Partners and its partner companies, succession planning for key talent at Forward Partners, establishing training and development programmes for Forward Partners and it’s partner companies, implementing highly efficient people processes (onboarding, performance reviews, engagement), and developing a world class, highly scalable, organisational structure for Forward Partners as it starts to embark on its vision of being a truly global, multi fund VC platform unseating Y Combinator as the world's pre-eminent startup platform.

At the outset, given the urgent needs of Forward Partners and its pre-seed partner companies, the Head of Talent & People Ops’ specific priorities are likely to include talent acquisition (all levels from Co-Founder/C’Level through to junior tech hires & interns), developing the correct organisational structure and roles for both Forward Partners and its partner companies, building on the talent systems and processes already in place and designing performance development frameworks and incentivisation structures for Forward Partners in particular.

As Forward Partners scales up and increases in size and complexity over the course of the next few years, the Head of Talent & People Ops will be expected to support the hiring agenda and ensure consistency of processes and values as the Forward Partners portfolio grows and evolves.

It is critical that the Head of Talent & People Ops be able to build strong, trusted relationships with the senior management team at Forward Partners and the partner entrepreneurs. This individual must be capable of driving change and transformation both at Forward and in its portfolio companies by leveraging exceptional influencing skills, and their success in doing so will be a factor of the relationships they are able to quickly foster.  

The role of Head of Talent & People Ops is broad and all encompassing, combining strategy with hands-on implementation. It is suited to someone with a real appetite to embrace a challenge and ‘get stuck in’. This role represents an exceptional opportunity for a seasoned talent executive wanting to broaden their experience and join an already successful, dynamic business and make a tangible impact on hundreds of startups whilst also playing a key role in Forward Partners growth trajectory and success.   

Profile Overview

Given the dynamic culture and range of challenges the Head of Talent & People Ops will face at Forward Partners and in its portfolio, we are looking for an exceptionally talented individual with a proven track record of building high performance talent operations.

Ideally, this individual will have helped a business through rapid scale, and will in any event have worked in non-political, fast-growth, innovative environments, and be adaptable to new situations.

He or she is likely to have built a career in talent/recruitment, or at least gained solid talent experience as part of a broader career. This individual will be immediately credible with senior leadership.

High-Level Objectives

• Developing and applying an Talent and People strategy that contributes to the achievement of Forward Partners and its portfolio businesses goals.
• Being the ambassador of Forward Partners’ culture and values. Helping to develop a strong culture that develops consistently as the organisation scales.  
• Acting as an executive coach to the management team.
• Designing effective organisational structures for FP and portfolio companies that effectively scales.
• Formulate a strategy that attracts and retains the best talent in the business.
• Owning, reviewing and implementing relevant HR policies and practices to comply with best practice and legislation whilst maintaining a flexible, innovative performance culture.
• Providing high quality and cost effective support to Forward Partners and it’s portfolio on all People matters and advising on employment legislation where required.
• Ensuring succession planning at Forward Partners is considered from the outset and that strong bench strength is built up for all critical roles in the business.
• Developing a performance management framework and techniques including devising relevant behavioural frameworks for teams and leadership and implementing a performance appraisal system that drives the organisation’s objectives.
• Facilitating one-to-one and group sessions with the Forward Partners team and it’s portfolio and to enhance overall individual, team and organisational performance.
• Undertaking senior level headhunting as required.

Summary of required experience and attributes

• Recruitment/Talent experience: Proven experience in all aspects of Recruitment and Talent Acquisition, Talent Policies and Systems, Onboarding, Compensation and Benefits.
• Strategic and implementation focused: Ability to create and drive a Talent and People Strategy from the top down, as well as being very hands-on, results and implementation focused; willing to get stuck in and roll up sleeves.
• People management and leadership: Natural leader of people as well as a strong team player with a collaborative style. Worked cross-functionally so is able to gain trust and buy-in with ease. Ideally has operated as part of a senior management team or displays the gravitas and impact that inspires confidence they will be able to do so.
• Communication: Strong communicator with a logical, structured, clear, credible and inspiring style.
• Business acumen and commerciality: ability to understand overall business objectives and align the people/talent objectives appropriately.
• Digital, Technology or Growth experience: To be suited to the culture, ideally will have digital/tech sector experience and ideally have experience of working in a high-growth, fast-paced experience also.
• Culture fit: non-political, high integrity, energetic, dynamic, engaging, down to earth, pragmatic, start-up/small company style (even if not demonstrable experience), hands-on, can-do.
• Values are: Execute with Skill & Pace, We Enjoy The Journey, We Get Better Every Time