Director of People & Agent Operations

Talentful is shaping the future of how high-growth companies build world-class teams. We partner with some of the fastest-scaling technology businesses to turn talent into a durable competitive advantage and help them win in the market by attracting, engaging, and retaining the top talent who accelerate growth.

Founded in 2015, Talentful brings together seasoned talent leaders who embed seamlessly alongside in-house teams. Through a flexible, subscription-based model, we provide the strategic horsepower and operational execution needed to scale with precision—from executive hiring and workforce planning to improving talent processes, employer brand activation, and building inclusive, high-performing organizations.

Our focus is not simply filling roles, but enabling talent functions to deliver measurable business outcomes. We’ve helped global innovators scale efficiently and thoughtfully, including Alphabet, Microsoft, Pinterest, Atlassian, Expedia, Instacart, Miro, and many more.

With a global team across Europe and the US, we’re united by a single mission: to help every company we work with grow to its highest potential. As we continue building the world’s leading talent consultancy, we’re looking for people who want to help redefine what “recruitment” can be by transforming it into a true driver of business value and long-term competitive advantage.

Why This Role Exists

Talentful is a 350-person talent company that embeds recruiters inside the world's best tech companies. We've built the model. Now we're rebuilding how we operate it.

We're creating a company where AI agents and humans work side by side — not as a novelty, but as the default. Where retention strategy is informed by data, not gut feel. Where L&D is continuous and personalised, not annual and generic. Where compensation is a system, not a spreadsheet.

This role exists because we believe the People function should be the most operationally sophisticated part of any company — and almost nowhere is.

What You'll Own

People Operations

• Culture strategy — building and sustaining a high-performance environment across two geographies

• Compensation architecture — pay bands, equity, benchmarking, total rewards philosophy

• Retention & internal mobility — making Talentful the place people stay and grow, not just start

• Learning & development — skills frameworks, career paths, manager development

• Employee experience — from onboarding to offboarding, every touchpoint designed intentionally

Agent Operations

• Identify where AI agents should replace manual People processes (and where they shouldn't)

• Design and deploy agent-powered workflows: onboarding automation, sentiment analysis, people analytics, knowledge management

• Build the playbook for how humans and agents collaborate inside the People function

• Set the standard for AI-native people operations that the rest of the industry will follow

What You're Like

You think in systems — from first principles. When you see a process, you don't ask "how do we improve this?" – you ask "should this exist at all?" You start from the outcome and work backwards, questioning inherited assumptions. You design workflows, feedback loops, and operating rhythms — not just policies.

You're analytical. You make decisions with data. You can build a dashboard, interrogate a trend, and translate numbers into action. Vibes are not a strategy.

You've worked in professional services. Agency, consulting, law firm, staffing — you understand the dynamics of servicing external clients, managing utilisation, and building culture when your people sit inside someone else's company.

You care about performance, not perks. High-performance culture to you means accountability, clarity, growth, and standards — not ping pong tables and snacks.

You're curious about AI. You don't need to write code. But you need to see AI agents as tools that make the People function better, faster, and more human — not threats to your headcount.

Requirements

• 8+ years in People/HR leadership, with at least 3 in a professional services or agency environment

• Proven track record building people systems from scratch or transforming existing ones

• Experience with compensation design, L&D programs, and culture strategy at scale (200+ employees)

• Strong analytical skills — comfortable with data, dashboards, and making evidence-based decisions

• Genuine interest in AI, automation, and operational technology (you don't need to be technical, but you need to be curious and unafraid)

• Experience managing across multiple geographies preferred

What You Won't Find Here

• A maintenance role. This is a build.

• A traditional HR function. We're designing something new.

Our Global Benefits

• Learning & development
  Accelerating your personal and professional growth.

• Flexible working
  Hybrid or Remote work to suit your lifestyle - we trust our people.

• Healthcare options
  From employer contributions to health insurance.

• Wellness allowance contributions
  Improve either your physical, financial, or mental health with our monthly stipend.

• Global co-working
  Deskpass memberships for everyone in our team to work globally on-demand.

• Enhanced parental leave
  14 weeks paid maternity & 3 weeks paid paternity after 1 year service.

• Retirement plan
  Matched pension contributions or 401(k) plan to start saving.

At Talentful, we recognize our people are our strongest asset, and the diverse skills they bring to our international workforce are the driving force of our success. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.