The Role
Lead Zinc's People function as a leadership team member. Define and execute a 2-year people strategy, own org design, culture/EVP, learning and development, and performance/progression frameworks to scale the company from ~150 to 200+ employees.
Summary Generated by Built In
We've grown from 45 to 170+ people in two years, and we are now ready to build our People function to scale us further, that starts with a People Leader.
We're hiring our first VP of People, a genuine leadership role that sits in the companies leadership team from day one and owns the strategy that takes Zinc from 150 to 200+ without losing what makes this place work. You'll partner directly with our COO and the wider leadership team on org design, culture, and manager capability, and build the infrastructure that lets every person at Zinc do their best work.
This isn't a support function role or a glorified HRBP. It's a seat at the table, a voice in the room, and real ownership of one of the most critical levers in a scaling business. If that sounds like the role you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you. 🎉
What You Will Focus on First 🏆
We're hiring our first VP of People, a genuine leadership role that sits in the companies leadership team from day one and owns the strategy that takes Zinc from 150 to 200+ without losing what makes this place work. You'll partner directly with our COO and the wider leadership team on org design, culture, and manager capability, and build the infrastructure that lets every person at Zinc do their best work.
This isn't a support function role or a glorified HRBP. It's a seat at the table, a voice in the room, and real ownership of one of the most critical levers in a scaling business. If that sounds like the role you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you. 🎉
What You Will Focus on First 🏆
- People strategy: define the 2-year plan for how we attract, develop and retain the talent we need to hit our growth targets. Translate business strategy into people priorities and present it to leadership quarterly.
- Culture and EVP: take ownership of what makes Zinc a great place to work and make it defensible as we grow.
Key Responsibilities
What You'll Own 📋
- People strategy: the 2-year plan, owned by you, shaped with the business
- Talent strategy: how do we attract top tier talent to work at Zinc!
- Org design: advising the leadership team on structural decisions as we scale: layers, reporting lines, team evolution
- Culture and EVP: defining what makes Zinc a great place to work and driving the initiatives that keep it real as we grow
- Learning and development: building a framework that works at 200+ people
- Performance and progression: owning the philosophy and cadence that sits above our existing frameworks
- Leadership partnership: sitting in leadership team as a peer, not a support function
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
What We're Looking For 🔍
- You've operated at VP or Director of People level in a SaaS or tech business, ideally at the 200–500 people stage
- You've worked on real org design decisions, not just advised from the outside
- You understand startup culture as a competitive asset, not a thing to be managed away
- You're comfortable in a room of opinionated, high-performing leaders and you push back when it matters
- AI-Nativity you know the power of what AI is bringing to organisations and you are fascinated about embedding this at Zinc, thinking about how the people/agent workforce will require new org design.
Benefits
Zinc offers a chance to work on a product that brings a fresh perspective on data ownership in hiring
- 24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off 🎉
- £1200 annual benefits allowance (ThanksBen, from month 2)
- Early finish Fridays (16:00)
- Yearly company retreat abroad ✈️ (This year Italy)
- 30 days to Work from anywhere 🌍
- Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave
- Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
- Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
- Unlimited access to MoreHappi coaching
- Company socials, quarterly team socials Free Monday lunches
- Nursery workplace benefit scheme (Yellownest)
- Option to lease an electric car through Electric Car Scheme
- Celebrated Zinc anniversaries 🥳
About
Who we are ⚡Zinc builds automated reference and background checking tools designed to improve candidate experience and set new industry standards. Founded in 2017 by a team with extensive HRTech experience, Zinc is an early-stage startup rapidly growing as it redefines efficiency, transparency, and fairness in background checks.📚Read more about our story here: https://zincwork.com/missionWe're a culture first company, by this we don't just mean an active calendar of both company and team organised events 🍔🍻🎯 (which we do have 🤩),Zinc's culture is defined by a respectful and autonomous approach to all employees, fostering support for new ideas, promoting a flexible work environment, and operating within a flat structure. While socials, lunches, and events enhance the experience, the core of Zinc's culture drives employees to embrace innovation, share successes, and feel motivated about the company's future.🪴We recently redefined our company values:🧩The pieces that make Zinc: Pragmatic, Integrity, Empathy, Collaborate, Empowered, Speed.
Skills Required
- Experience operating at VP or Director of People level in a SaaS or tech business (ideally 200-500 people stage)
- Hands-on experience making org design decisions (layers, reporting lines, team evolution)
- Proven track record owning people strategy, culture and EVP at a scaling company
- Experience building learning and development and performance/progression frameworks for growing teams
- Comfort engaging with high-performing, opinionated leadership and the ability to push back when necessary
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The Company
What We Do
Zinc builds automated reference and background checking tools designed to improve candidate experience and set new industry standards, offering automated pre-screening employment software for HR and recruiting teams to verify candidates' backgrounds and hire at scale.
