Head of Performance

About Freshfields

Freshfields is a leading international law firm with a global footprint. We advise top-tier corporations, financial institutions, and organisations on their most critical matters, transactions, and disputes.

Our people are at the heart of our success. To support them in doing their best work, our People function is committed to delivering modern, forward-thinking, and seamless experiences. As part of this commitment, we are transforming our approach to performance—moving away from traditional, periodic review processes toward an innovative, continuous, and AI-enabled model that empowers colleagues every day.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a visionary and hands-on Head of Performance to lead our performance practice and redefine how the firm assesses, develops, and recognises talent globally.

Reporting within Performance and Reward, you will lead our dedicated Performance team across London and Manchester. Your primary mandate will be to pioneer an AI-first performance capability—shifting the firm from retrospective annual evaluations to continuous, insight-driven performance enablement embedded into everyday ways of working.

In this role, you will set the strategic vision and roadmap for integrating generative and agentic AI across the entire performance lifecycle (from objective-setting and feedback to calibration and developmental conversations), ensuring every application is responsibly governed, highly effective, and widely adopted.

This role can be based in either London or Manchester.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Define and own the firm’s multi-year performance strategy and roadmap, ensuring alignment with overarching business priorities and our wider People strategy. Act as the firm’s subject-matter authority on modern performance enablement.
• Pioneering an AI-First Practice: Drive an innovative "AI-first" approach across the performance cycle. Oversee the design, deployment, and ongoing enhancement of enterprise AI tools, prompts, skills, and playbooks to reduce administrative burden and elevate conversation quality.
• Integrated People Decisions: Partner closely with Reward, Talent, Learning & Development, HRIS, and HRBPs to ensure fair, transparent, and cohesive links between performance outcomes and compensation, promotion, succession, and career development.
• Team Leadership & Culture: Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of three direct reports across London and Manchester. Foster a high-performing culture of experimentation, psychological safety, continuous learning, and AI-confident ways of working.
• Responsible Governance & Operations: Establish and uphold robust responsible AI guardrails, data privacy safeguards (including GDPR), and fairness standards in close partnership with Legal, IT, and Data Privacy teams. Oversee end-to-end cyclical performance delivery.
• Systems & Analytics: Act as the senior business owner for performance technology (including Workday talent modules), partnering with HRIS and IT to drive continuous system evolution. Leverage data and insights to evaluate consistency, equity, and business impact.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Change: Build trusted relationships with senior leadership across practices and functions, championing organisation-wide adoption of new performance habits and methodologies.

What We Are Looking For

Essential Requirements

• Proven Performance Leadership: Substantial experience leading performance management, talent development, or broader people practices within a complex, global organisation.
• Practical AI Expertise: A demonstrable track record of integrating artificial intelligence into HR/talent processes, including direct, hands-on familiarity with generative AI/LLM tools and platforms.
• Strategic & Pragmatic Execution: The ability to articulate an ambitious, modern vision and translate it into clear, measurable roadmaps and operational change.
• Cross-Location People Leadership: Experience leading, coaching, and developing collaborative, high-performing teams across multiple offices.
• Influencing & Change Management: Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with the credibility to advise senior stakeholders and guide cultural transformation.
• Data Literacy & Responsible AI: Strong analytical acumen, with a sound understanding of fairness, equity, responsible AI principles, and data privacy legislation (including GDPR).
• Technical Proficiency: Experience with modern HRIS platforms (preferably Workday) and enterprise collaboration tools (Microsoft 365).

Desirable

• Exposure to agentic AI workflows, agile product ownership, or human-centred design thinking methodologies.
• Prior experience within a legal, professional services, or partnership environment.

Why Join Us?

This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of performance in a world-class professional services firm. You will have the mandate and sponsorship to experiment responsibly, build cutting-edge capabilities, and create a genuine benchmark for how global professional firms enable and celebrate their people.

Inclusion

Freshfields is an equal opportunities employer and all applications received by the firm will be considered by the firm on the basis of their merit alone and we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals regardless of background. All offers of employment will be conditional on the candidate having/securing the right to work in the UK and providing the firm with evidence of that right (as required by the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) prior to employment commencing.

Freshfields is a Ban the Box employer. We ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions only when a conditional job offer is made. A conviction does not automatically lead to withdrawal of the offer: we make decisions on a case by case basis and take a number of factors into account (eg the role you are applying for and the circumstances of the offence). You would have the opportunity to discuss the matter with us before we make a decision.