People Director

BOXPARK; Padstow; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Part time

Job summary

A hospitality group is searching for an exceptional People Director to shape the culture and future of their business. This part-time role requires proven leadership experience in multi-site environments and a strong belief in the power of engaged employees to deliver exceptional guest experiences. Responsibilities include overseeing the employee journey, ensuring legal compliance, and leading cultural change initiatives, making it essential for candidates to have a deep appreciation for hospitality and strong HR leadership skills.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Qualifications

• Proven senior HR leadership experience in a multi-site, customer-facing environment.
• Strong track record in designing and delivering leadership development strategies.
• Experience in shaping employee journeys in complex organizations.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic design and delivery of the people agenda in hospitality.
• Champion an inclusive employee experience that reflects workforce expectations.
• Build a culture of empowerment and ownership within the organization.

Skills

Leadership

Employee engagement

Organizational change

Coaching and mentoring

Strategic HR development

Job description

At Rick Stein Restaurants We are all about fresh seafood, warm service, and a genuine passion for people. From our kitchens to our front-of-house teams, we believe great learning creates great guest experiences.

We’re looking for an exceptional People Director to shape the culture, capability and future of our hospitality business — someone who understands that great guest experiences begin with engaged, empowered people.

This role is a part-time position - 2 days a week, based in Padstow with travel to other locations as required.

This is a rare opportunity for a senior people leader with a deep appreciation of hospitality, craft and service. You will bring proven experience operating at leadership level within multi-site, people-intensive environments, and a clear belief that culture, leadership and ownership are the true drivers of commercial success.

As People Director, you will lead the strategic design and delivery of our people agenda — from attraction and retention of hospitality talent to leadership development, learning and engagement. You will champion a culture of empowerment, ownership and stewardship, putting in place practical processes, clear expectations and supportive frameworks that give teams the confidence to take responsibility, make decisions and deliver exceptional service.

This is a role for someone who truly embraces hospitality— a People Director ready to build a culture where people feel valued, developed and empowered to deliver outstanding guest experiences, every day.

Responsibilities

• Strategically review and continuously evolve the end-to-end employee journey, from attraction and onboarding through to progression and retention.
• Ensure people processes are simple, consistent and fit for the realities of a multi-site hospitality environment.
• Oversee employee relations, ensuring legal compliance and best practice.
• Champion a modern, inclusive employee experience that reflects changing workforce expectations and ways of working.
• Partner with operational leaders to ensure the employee experience translate into confident, engaged frontline teams.
• Build and sustain a culture of empowerment, ownership and stewardship where people are trusted to make decisions and take responsibility.
• Embed clear leadership expectations, behaviours and rhythms that drive accountability and performance.
• Lead cultural change initiatives that support growth, evolution and continuous improvement.
• Act as a visible role model and trusted advisor to leaders, reinforcing value, through everyday actions and decisions.
• Leverage technology and modern people practices to support engagement, transparency and effective leadership.
• Design and lead a commercially aligned L & D strategy that develops confident, values-led and entrepreneurial hospitality leaders.
• Embed clear career pathways and capability frameworks across frontline, management and senior leadership roles.
• Champion coaching and mentoring as core leadership behaviours to build accountability, ownership and performance.

Experience and Skills

• Proven experience in a senior People / HR leadership role, ideally within hospitality, leisure, retail or another multi-site, customer-facing environment.
• Strong track record of designing and delivering Learning & Development strategies that build leadership capability and drive measurable business impact.
• Demonstrable experience of shaping and improving the end-to-end employee journey in fast-paced, operationally complex organisations.
• Deep understanding of how to build progressive, values-led cultures that empower people, encourage ownership and support high performance.
• Experience coaching and mentoring senior leaders and managers, with the credibility to challenge and influence at executive level.
• Confidence leading organisational change, cultural transformation and people-led initiatives in evolving or growing businesses.
• Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to link people strategy to operational outcomes such as engagement, retention and guest experience.
• Experience implementing and leveraging HR technology and digital learning tools to improve efficiency, insight and employee experience. Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, able to engage frontline teams and senior stakeholders with equal impact.
• High levels of personal integrity, resilience and judgement, with a calm, pragmatic approach to complex people matters.

For more details, click on the link: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:87814ce9-a20f-494c-9b85-fd4f563e0d29

Compensation: Competitive salary