People & Culture Director (Maternity Cover)

• Act as custodian of PROPER’s People & Culture strategy and priorities, ensuring continuity and momentum across the maternity cover period
• Partner closely with the CEO and Senior Leadership Team to provide smart, strategic support, help teams to perform at their best and navigate a fast‑growth, pacy environment
• Lead the People & Culture team, providing inspiration and stability, while giving them the direction to deliver against agreed plans
• Champion and role‑model PROPER SNACKS’ culture and values, ensuring they are consistently lived across teams and sites
• Oversee delivery of key people activity across the full employee lifecycle, including engagement, wellbeing, reward, development and performance
• Maintain focus on JEDI, wellbeing and community impact, activities which are core to how we operate as a purpose-led business and proud B Corp.
• Provide oversight and guidance on all organisational design and workforce planning activity ensuring alignment to business needs and budgets
• Run a slick People Planning process for 2027, working effectively with the SLT to form strategic, commercial people recommendations and the finance team to build the budget
• Ensure a clear, compelling Employer Value Proposition continues to be embedded and communicated internally and externally
• Maintain rigour around people data, reporting and insight to enable sound decision‑making and visibility of progress
• Ensure strong people governance and compliance, proactively managing risk while enabling the business to move quickly
• Provide a thoughtful, well‑structured handover at the end of the maternity cover period to ensure a smooth transition back into role

• Significant experience in a People / HR / People & Culture Senior Leadership Role (Director or CPO), ideally within a fast‑growth or challenger business
• Proven experience operating as a trusted advisor to CEOs and Senior Leadership Teams
• Strong track record across broad people agendas, not just certain specialisms
• Experience joining organisations mid‑cycle or in interim / maternity cover roles is a plus, with the ability to add value quickly while maintaining continuity
• Proven ability to lead and support high‑performing teams through periods of change
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law, governance and compliance
• Commercially astute, with confidence using people data and insight to inform decisions

Experience joining organisations mid‑cycle or in interim / maternity cover roles is a plus, with the ability to add value quickly while maintaining continuity