Chief People Officer

The People team at GoCardless fuels the overall growth and success of the business by bringing exceptional talent into the organization and giving them the tools and environment to succeed, enabling GoCardless to deliver on our ambitious vision to become the world's global payment network. Over the past couple of years, the team has aligned around a People vision of "making the GC journey irresistible", by focusing on 4 key areas:

1. Embedding efficiency & acceleration into our culture

2. Growing GeeCees to grow GC

3. Becoming a global talent magnet

4. Delivering remarkable experiences to all GeeCees, at scale

The People team will have a critical role to play in the next chapter for GoCardless, as it will require an evolution of our culture, more scalable and efficient People frameworks & processes (hiring, rewards, promotions, etc), and a renewed focus on creating a high-performing organization within a matrix operating model.

Key areas of responsibility will include:

• Talent acquisition
• Talent development / org performance / L&D
• Total rewards
• D&I
• Internal comms (in partnership with Brand & Comms team)
• HR operations
• Workplace

Over the next 18-24 months, we expect the main areas of focus to be the following:

• Defining the overall People strategy for the next 3 years (and potentially revising the People vision as needed), in the context of the GC strategy and path to profitability
• Embedding a culture of high performance and efficiency, while preserving the "GC magic" (our values and operating principles)
• Ensuring our new matrix operating model is successful and efficient, evolving our org design principles as needed
• Build more automation, flexibility, and self-service (where possible) into our operational HR processes in order to serve employees more efficiently
• Increasing the effectiveness and impact of our senior leadership (execs, VPs, Senior Directors, Directors)
• Delivering on our D&I objectives: 40% of women in leadership; 45% of women in middle management
• Building out our "HQ2" in Riga, by establishing GC as an employer of choice in the region and ensuring we deliver an employee experience that is on par with our other hubs
• Evolving our rewards strategy to align with our 3-year strategic objectives and path to profitability, across cash compensation (including incentives), equity, and benefits
• Setting up our international teams for success by doubling down on our "Global First" operating principle and evolving our People tools and processes as needed
• Continuing to embed our workplace model, Adaptive Working, into all of our hubs globally
• Successfully completing the integration of Nordigen (acquired in summer 2022) and delivering on any additional M&A integrations
• Reducing regrettable attrition and increasing (or maintaining) our employee engagement scores

• Candidates will need to be able to demonstrate the following:
  • Experience leading a People team, including talent acquisition, talent development, rewards, D&I/culture, and operations
  • Global experience (People team experience covering 3+ countries)
  • Experience in developing and executing on a People strategy in a context of transitioning a business to greater efficiency (or to profitability), driving increases in "revenue per employee" ratio
  • Structured thinker with the ability to frame and solve complex problems
  • Ability to build trust and influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization, including the board of directors
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• In addition the following competencies would be preferred, but not required:
  • Experience working in Tech or SaaS
  • Experience delivering on M&A integration programs (whether from a People perspective or other)