Human Resources Director

HR Director / Chief People Officer - Confidential Fast-Growth Manufacturer West London / Thames Valley base, with regular UK travel £120,000-£150,000 + bonus + benefits

Our client is one of the UK's fastest-growing manufacturers, a founder-led, growth capital-backed business With c.1000+ colleagues across multiple manufacturing sites and an ambition to double or treble in size, both organically and through acquisition

This is a genuine build. People practice has historically been led at site level the next phase of growth needs a group-wide people strategy, infrastructure and leadership bench created from the ground up while protecting the founder-led culture that has made the business what it is.

What you'll own

• The group's first unified people strategy across a multi-site, shift-based manufacturing footprint
• A seat on the senior leadership team, acting as the people voice into the board and institutional investors
• Recruitment, retention and engagement in some of the UK's most competitive labour markets, across a workforce of 25+ nationalities
• Leadership bench and succession planning to reduce single-site dependency as the group scales
• A repeatable people and culture integration playbook for future acquisitions, including due diligence and harmonisation
• Core people infrastructure - HRIS, workforce reporting, board-level people metrics - largely from a standing start

Who we're looking for:

• A proven HRD, People Director or CPO from multi-site food manufacturing or FMCG
• A builder, not a caretaker: you've created or substantially professionalised a people function, not just run one
• A player-coach - equally credible on a night shift on the factory floor and in front of institutional investors
• Experience of rapid growth in founder-led, family-owned or PE/growth-capital-backed environments
• M&A people integration experience, ideally across more than one transaction
• Low ego, high pace, and a natural fit with a culture built on humility, kindness and hard work

If your background is with a scaled food manufacturer or contract caterer and you're ready to build rather than inherit, we'd like to hear from you.

All applications and conversations are strictly confidential. The client's identity will be shared with shortlisted candidates only.