Director of People Systems & Strategy at Hadley Designs

United Kingdom

🚨 Urgent Hiring — Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. The selection process may take up to 4 weeks, but early applicants are strongly encouraged.Ready to Empower a Growing Team and Shape Our Future? At Hadley Designs, we believe that learning should be enjoyable, engaging, and screen-free. Millions of parents and teachers trust our beautifully designed, developmentally aligned educational tools to help children grow and thrive. As a fast-growing, family-founded brand, we are on a mission to make learning meaningful for families around the world. We are seeking a Director of People Systems & Strategy to join our team and build the systems that will drive our next phase of growth. If you are passionate about creating scalable people systems, empowering teams, and cultivating a culture that supports both personal and professional growth, this role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact. About Hadley Designs Hadley Designs is redefining early education with creativity and purpose. Every product we create is hand-drawn and teacher-designed, crafted with care to build confidence and connection. Our screen-free tools help families and teachers make learning fun and meaningful, nurturing curiosity and creativity in children. Our Mission: We design screen-free products that parents can trust to help their children learn, grow, and reach their full potential. We create beautifully designed, developmentally sound tools that replace noise and distraction with connection, curiosity, and real learning. Our Vision: We aim to build the most trusted children’s brand in the world, present in millions of homes, reshaping how families learn, connect, and grow. Our products will be so widely used and passed down that generations of children will grow up learning from them and choose them again for their own families. Role Overview As the Director of People Systems & Strategy, you will be responsible for leading the development of people systems and strategies that enable Hadley Designs to scale and grow. In this role, you will partner with leadership to create the talent systems required to attract, develop, and retain a high-performing workforce. Your focus will be on building scalable, high-performance systems that align with the company’s growth objectives and help foster a positive organizational culture. This position offers a unique opportunity to shape how we build and nurture our team, enabling both the company and our people to succeed. You will play an integral role in supporting our mission by ensuring that Hadley Designs has the right talent and organizational structure to achieve long-term success. Key Responsibilities People Systems Leadership: Design and implement systems for attracting, engaging, onboarding, and retaining talent, aligned with the company’s growth objectives. Organizational Design and Capacity Planning: Collaborate with leadership to ensure that the organizational structure and workforce planning meet the evolving needs of the business. Performance and Development Frameworks: Establish performance expectations, evaluation frameworks, and development pathways that drive accountability and growth across the organization. Talent Experience and Retention: Build a consistent and professional experience for talent that reinforces employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. Workforce Insights and Reporting: Provide insights and data-driven recommendations to leadership to guide decision-making and improve workforce effectiveness. External Partnerships: Partner with external service providers to enhance and support people operations as necessary. How Success Is Measured Successful implementation of people systems that directly support the business’s ability to scale. Strong employee retention rates, with high performance and engagement. Improved leadership confidence in people systems, talent readiness, and organizational alignment. Predictable, scalable people operations that contribute to the company’s growth and success. Who You Are You are a strategic, results-driven leader with a passion for creating systems that empower teams and enable sustainable growth. You thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and have a track record of building effective people systems in alignment with business goals. You Have: 5+ years of experience in People Operations, HR leadership, or a related field, ideally in a fast-growing environment. Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field. Proven ability to build scalable systems that attract, develop, and retain talent. Strong experience working with distributed and remote teams. A passion for people development, with the ability to design and implement programs that foster growth, learning, and employee satisfaction. Excellent communication and relationship-building skills at all levels of the organization. A growth mindset and a collaborative approach to solving problems. Experience using data to drive decisions and measure success. Why You’ll Love Working Here Impact: Your work will directly impact how families experience learning through the Hadley Designs brand. Culture: Join a passionate, mission-driven team that values trust, creativity, and collaboration. Flexibility: Enjoy the freedom of a remote role with flexible working hours. Benefits: Remote-first work environment Paid time off and holidays Access to learning resources and professional development Free access to Hadley Designs products Regular interaction with leadership, including the CEO and CMO Stability from a decade as a family-founded, mission-driven brand Apply Today If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact in a growing company that’s shaping the future of learning, apply now to join the Hadley Designs team as our Director of People Operations. Help us create a lasting impact on families, educators, and children worldwide. P.S: If you don’t hear from us within four weeks of your application, please consider that as our decision to move forward with other candidates, but we truly appreciate your interest in Hadley Designs.