Role Info

12-month FTC

3-4 days per week

Role purpose

This role holds BrightLocal's people and culture agenda for a year while the Head of People Experience is on maternity leave. There is a plan already in motion and a team already doing good work. The job is to take both further, not to keep them ticking over.

You will own the things that make good work possible: people knowing what they are aiming at, being well managed, honest feedback about how they are doing, and working somewhere that makes the job easier rather than harder.

Two things sit at the centre of the year. The first is building high-performing teams. BrightLocal wants great performance to come from how the company works, not from individuals quietly carrying things, and this role is the one that makes that true. The second is leading the people side of change as AI agents become part of how our work gets done and uphold our people-first, AI-driven purpose.

That means helping leaders and managers rethink roles and teams around a mix of human and agent effort, giving managers the confidence to lead in that world, and being clear and unembarrassed about where human judgment has to stay human.

The role covers employees and contractors across the UK and Europe, reports to the Chief of Staff and Culture, and line manages the UK People Experience team. It suits someone who likes being both in the strategy and in the detail.

What you'll be doing

Owns the people and culture plan for the year, with high-performing teams and AI-driven change as the two headline priorities. Owns it end to end: the thinking, the doing and the results. Everything below sits underneath that.

Leading the change

Change leadership. Leads the people side of change as AI agents are adopted across the business. Brings team members with them rather than leaving them to work it out, and is straight with people about what is changing and why.

Organisational design. Owns the people input into how BrightLocal is structured. Works with leaders to redesign roles, teams, spans and reporting lines around a mix of human and agent contributions, and makes sure the shape of the organisation follows the work rather than the other way round.

Building high-performing teams

The performance standard. Sets the standard for how performance is managed, then holds the business to it. Goal setting, personal development plans, regular 1-2-1s, feedback, team meetings and formal reviews, all done properly rather than just done.

Manager capability. Accountable for the standard of line management across BrightLocal. Equips every manager to have the difficult conversation early rather than late, to develop their people deliberately, and to lead work that is now shared between people and agents.

Skills for a changing world. Owns how BrightLocal builds the skills its people will need next, not just the ones they need today. Keeps learning and development honest about what is changing, so team members can see a future for themselves here as the work evolves.

Looking after people

Engagement. Owns how it feels to work at BrightLocal and the evidence behind it. Runs the survey cycle, reads the result without flinching, and closes the feedback to action loop so people can see what changed because of what they said.

Culture, wellbeing and inclusion. Looks after the things that make BrightLocal a great place to work: wellbeing, EDI, the social side of work, and the physical spaces people work in.

Employee relations and compliance. Advises leaders and managers on employee relations across the UK and Europe, for employees and contractors alike. Accountable for keeping BrightLocal on the right side of the law in each country, and for people being treated with care while it happens. Both matter, and they are rarely in conflict.

Leading the People team

Team leadership. Leads the People Experience team: supported, clear on their goals, and genuinely developing.

A People team powered by AI. Puts AI to work inside the People function itself, so the team spends its time on judgement and on people rather than on admin. Sets the example the rest of the business is being asked to follow, and keeps a human decision-maker on anything that affects someone's job, pay or wellbeing.

What success looks like

Advice people can act on: What this role tells leaders and managers is accurate, legal in the country it applies to, and useful in practice. Where a decision needs a paper trail, the paper trail is there and it stands up.

Things land when they said they would: Performance cycles, employee relations cases, change programmes and agreed work all finish inside the timeframes set, and anything at risk of slipping gets flagged before it slips.

The numbers move: Measurable improvement against the performance and engagement indicators.

Change done well: Role and structure changes are delivered lawfully, on time, and with the people affected informed and supported the whole way through. How it felt matters as much as whether it happened.

Good judgement, early: Risk gets spotted and raised early rather than explained afterwards. The line between agent-supported work and human-only work is held consistently. Decisions balance what the business needs with fair treatment of the people in it.

Trusted across the business: Works well with the C-suite, the management team and the People Experience team, and gets on with the day to day without needing to be steered.

We’re looking for

Aligned with our beliefs. You live, breathe and champion them every day, in every interaction, and you set the standard for everyone else.

A change leader. You bring people with you through uncertainty, and you are straight with them about what is changing and why.

A deep love of organisational culture. You know how great cultures get built and how to develop them into working experiences people actually value.

A true player-coach. You are comfortable working strategically and looking at the big picture, while also being hands-on and close to the detail.

An excellent communicator. You engage and influence people at every level, in writing and in person, across cultures and locations.