People Director, iwoca
£110-150k
1-3 days a week in office
Online loans for small businesses
Be an early applicant
Online loans for small businesses
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
£110-150k
1-3 days a week in office
201-500 employees
Company mission
To fund one million small businesses.
Role
Who you are
- At least 10 years’ experience in a senior management role, where you’ve been instrumental in driving organisational performance and a healthy team culture; you take a clear and strategic approach for doing so
- Ideally, you’ll have experience of leading a People Operations team as well as experience of being a leader in another area of the business which has been supported by a People Ops team
- You’ll have experienced first-hand where a such a team can (or ought to) add value both from the perspective of being its leader and its stakeholder
- Experience of working within a high-growth tech scale-up; it doesn’t matter which sector(s) you have worked in previously (no experience of Financial Services? That’s fine)
- What’s more important is that you have worked at different organisations in terms of size, culture, management challenges, etc., and you thoughtfully distill what you have learnt and apply it to achieve great results at iwoca
- Strong logical reasoning skills and critical thinking - you’ll apply this in every area of people operations to ensure that all decisions are well thought through, with a clear and accurate understanding of the problem and justification for the optimal solution
- You’re able to structure your thinking and communicate your ideas really effectively
- A “first principles” approach to people strategy; we’re looking for someone who can innovate and tailor strategies specifically for iwoca
- Commercial acumen, able to make smart decisions about where to invest and get most bang for buck (in terms of benefits, office space, etc.)
- Excellent project management skills, you know how to scope and implement projects which enhance our people strategy or drive operational improvements, and manage stakeholders through that process
- Superb ability to manage up, down and side-ways; you’ll be one of the most networked and well-trusted people in the organisation, you’ll connect easily with people at every level of the organisation and be able to engage and influence in every direction
- Humility and empathy
- Sound judgement and gravitas
- A strong desire to learn and develop both yourself and others
- This role will cover both UK and Germany, so understanding of both UK and Germany employment law would be a big plus
- At iwoca, we look to hire smart, passionate, humble individuals with a growth mindset
What the job involves
- Iwoca’s People Director will be responsible for ensuring iwoca is hiring, developing and retaining the people we need to achieve our business goals, and those people truly love being part of iwoca
- They will build a world-class People function that drives our next phase of growth
- You’ll be a commercially astute leader, who is the most senior people leader in the business
- You will shape the people strategy, act as a key strategic partner to the business, and safeguard our culture as we scale
- Define and set the strategy for each team; you’ll be curious about every area of People Operations and look for ways in which we can become even more efficient and effective at hiring, retention, learning & development, performance management, paying fairly etc. across the company
- Ensure iwoca is investing smartly in its People Ops team, benefits, policies and real estate in order to support the needs of the business. Have the courage and commercial acumen to smartly dial investment up or down as required to deliver the needs of our fast changing community and its requirements
- Be a guardian and steward of our culture, have a strategy for how to ensure iwoca maintains what makes it special and keeps it vibrant as we continue to expand our team and scope
- Mentor, develop and work closely with your People Ops team (currently 14 people)
- In your role, you’ll balance day-to-day delivery of operational people processes with more strategic work that helps to drive greater efficiency and quality of each People function
- Examples of projects you will lead include:
- Analyse recruitment funnel data and work with Talent Partners to identify ways of improving our recruitment strategies to more efficiently find the right talent to fill roles, e.g. by optimising how we leverage agencies, referral bonuses, recruitment platforms, etc
- Review the effectiveness of our performance management processes across iwoca, avoid that they become stale, and identify ways of making such processes more useful and less onerous
- Own iwoca’s ESG strategy, to ensure we are delivering against commitments we’ve made to our customers and lenders regarding our environmental and social impact
- Analyse how we are investing in iwoca’s employee benefits and shape a competitive value proposition which delivers bang-for-buck
Application process
- We’re open-minded, so definitely include your salary goals with your application
Salary benchmarks
Our take
UK SMEs are the backbone of a complex economy that is constantly changing, so the need for fast and responsive access to finance is becoming more and more important to ensure their success and growth. iwoca allows SMEs access to business loans in less than a minute, with its API and business marketplace partnerships.
With offerings like iwoca's, gone are the days where waiting up to eight weeks for a loan decision was viable. Its simplified business loans of £1,000 - £500,000 come with no fees attached, and applying online takes no more than five minutes. The ready availability of iwoca loans gives business owners a level of certainty, so that they can make instant decisions to help their business grow.
iwoca has made a number of partnerships with other players in the business finance space, including an impressive industry-first invoice checkout integration with QuickBooks. Funding raised by the company, which is now operating at net profitability, will enable it to meet a recent surge in demand for corporate loans and offer more to larger SMB businesses. And the company has made several billion in funding available to over 100,000 businesses since launching, positioning itself as a leading European fintech.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Employee endorsements
Opportunities to learn
"Great opportunities available to learn from both individuals through shadowing, and teams through presentations and even secondment opportunities -..."
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
Aug 2019
$13.5m
GRANT
Feb 2019
$26.9m
SERIES D
Total funding: $97.6m
Company benefits
- Work where you work best: Twice a year we rent houses in places like Sicily and the French Alps where each team can work together for a week poolside. We champion flexible working in all our teams
- Invest in iwoca: We want people to be invested in iwoca's success so after six months you'll be awarded share options
- Keep yourself healthy: We offer comprehensive health insurance and cash plans. You'll also get gym discounts and we host yoga classes in the office every week
- Start (and end) your day right: Each floor of iwoca HQ has a fully stocked fridge for breakfast and every Friday we unwind with beers and wine
- Life-work balance: We know your life outside of work comes first. We offer enhanced maternity and paternity leave for new parents plus a nursery benefit. We also have unlimited unpaid leave
- Learning and development: Whether you want to learn to code, experiment with motion design, or beat cognitive biases, you'll have time and budget to invest in your professional development
Company values
- Motivated: Going to work shouldn't feel like a slog, so we want everyone in the team to personally care about what they're working on. We stay motivated by celebrating our wins, learning from our mistakes, and always looking for new gaps to step into
- Smart: At iwoca being smart isn't about what you know, it's about how you think. Smart thinking means looking at each problem by asking ‘why’ first, then figuring out ‘how’
- Humble: We know all ideas are flawed, all code has bugs, and everyone makes mistakes - it’s how we learn. For us, being humble means you question yourself first, rather than your team
- Growth Mindset: We think there's always a better way to solve a problem. So we never let ourselves get comfortable with being good enough
Company HQ
Fitzrovia, London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Christoph Rieche
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously spent 7 years at Goldman Sachs as a Vice President before co-founding iwoca in 2011.
Joost Versteeg
(CMO)Joost initially joined iwoca in 2017 as an Intern. Since then, they have held a number of roles, from Growth Analyst to Head of Commercial Strategy and became CMO in 2024.
People progressing
Serita joined as a Customer Onboarder, before moving into the Broker Team. Most recently they have been promoted to Partnership Manager.
Leo joined in 2018 as a Client Onboarder. Since then, they have worked in a number of roles and now serve as the Product Manager.
Jenny originally joined the Client Onboarding team and now leads the Customer Success department for the German business.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at iwoca
- We work hard to make iwoca a place where everyone feels welcome, where you can confidently be yourself. We understand that diversity isn't an optional add-on, it's the core ingredient of what makes us great.
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