Job Title: Head of People
Location: Milton Keynes
Salary: up to £70,000 + bonus
Role: Permanent – Full-Time Permanent
Are you an inspiring, commercially astute People leader ready to shape and elevate the HR agenda in a fast‑paced, entrepreneurial retail environment? This is a rare opportunity to join a successful, multi‑site fashion retailer as their new Head of People, driving cultural evolution, building capability and ensuring the business continues to be an exceptional place to work and grow.
About the Role
In this pivotal position, you will set and deliver a progressive People strategy that strengthens organisational capability across UK and European markets. You’ll partner closely with senior leaders, bringing a balance of commercial pragmatism, strong HR governance and an engaging, people‑first approach.
You will:
- Develop and execute a modern People strategy aligned to business growth, culture and long‑term ambitions
- Provide confident, commercial HR partnership to senior and operational leaders
- Lead and develop a small HR team, elevating capability and embedding a strong, cohesive culture
- Oversee people operations across the UK and support international colleagues across Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Ireland
- Influence and coach leaders on best‑in‑class people practices, ER, performance, talent and organisational effectiveness
- Ensure policies, processes and compliance are robust, relevant and enable fast‑paced retail operations
- Drive people‑related change projects, including organisational design, system upgrades, employee experience, and cultural development
- Lead on complex ER matters with a balanced, pragmatic view
- Support the organisation through future transformation or event activity, such as investment, sale or growth‑focused restructuring
About You
You’ll thrive here if you are both strategically minded and hands‑on, with genuine passion for people, culture and commercial outcomes. You will also bring:
- Experience in a multi‑site retail, hospitality, or consumer‑facing environment
- Strong UK employment law expertise with good grounding in European employment frameworks
- Ability to influence senior stakeholders and hold your own with strong personalities
- High emotional intelligence with the ability to coach, challenge and support teams
- A collaborative leadership style that fosters trust, pace and accountability
- CIPD Level 7 (or equivalent experience) preferred
- Experience managing change and improving HR processes and systems
Commutable Locations: Northampton, Milton Keynes, Watford, Oxford, Bedford, Kettering, Banbury, Luton
If you’re a career motivated and driven Head of People or Head of HR, ready to take on a new challenge and make a significant impact, we’d love to hear from you! APPLY NOW for immediate consideration.
This role is handled by McCarthy Recruitment, an award-winning multi-sector recruiter. We are committed to unlocking your full potential and finding your perfect role.
Start your journey today. Apply now or find us online:
- Web: McCarthy Recruitment
- LinkedIn: McCarthy Recruitment
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The Legal Bit: We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age. By applying for this role, you are explicitly consenting for McCarthy Recruitment to hold and process your data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations. And your details will be added to our holding database. We process certain personal information about you for our legitimate business interests to identify and contact suitable candidates about positions that may be relevant to them. Details are set out in our privacy policy at privacy. If you wish to exercise your right to access, erase or restrict the processing of your data please contact us at the office and we will respond to your query.