About Phorest

Phorest Salon Software powers 9,000 Hair & Beauty salons globally and is the market leader in software in the UK and Ireland. Phorest has been named in the Deloitte Fastest 50 growing companies in Ireland for the last six years in a row.

Our mission is to help salon owners grow their business by getting their clients back more often while spending more. We currently do that by offering world-class marketing tools such as unique branded apps, loyalty programs, SMS + Email marketing solutions, and social tools that all sit on top of our easy-to-use salon software.

The Opportunity

We are delighted to add this key role to our leadership and people team, at an important time in the strategic development of our business. Reporting into the founder and CEO, this role will have ownership of the People strategy and be a key member of the leadership team (Strategy Team).

Phorest is known for our unique and people-focussed culture, which is driven by the strong people-centric values of our founder and our leadership team. We have grown rapidly over the last 5 years and are proud that through this period of growth and the challenges of Covid have maintained an engagement score of 87%, which demonstrates our commitment to our people.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the leadership team of a brilliant business, with big ambitions and a plan for continued growth across our global locations. Currently we employ nearly 300 people in Ireland, the UK, Germany, USA, Australia, Canada and Finland. The growth to date has been enabled by a passionate and committed People team. We have had an interim Head of People in place for some time and see that now is the right time to create a permanent role for someone who is as passionate about people as we are and can help us bring our approach to the next level.

The VP of People will own the People Strategy, enabling the achievement of the business strategy including ensuring that we are a leading workplace, maintaining high levels of engagement and retention, through creating an environment where everyone can learn, grow and flourish as they positively impact our business and customer.

Working with the People team, the VP of People will build and lead the People function and collaborate on developing a strategy that reinforces the values that are so critical to who we are and our unique culture. Priorities will include maintaining and building on our positive employee experience, supporting individuals and teams to contribute to high performance, and continuing to build on and communicate an employee brand that both retains and attracts great people.

We are a remote first business and this flexibility is part of our way of working. We welcome applications from candidates based in Britain or Ireland who are willing to travel to be visible at Head Office, and to travel occasionally

What you will do

• Lead the ongoing development of the People strategy, working collaboratively with the leadership team and senior colleagues in the People team, to create programmes and initiatives that enable achievement of business goals and build the structure that will support effectiveness and future growth

• Be a trusted advisor, coach and mentor to the Strategy team, having a real impact on the strategic direction of the organisation, ensuring people and values are reflected in our decisions

• Drive a learning culture of continuous development and an agile approach, through an innovative and aligned Learning & Development function

• Develop the reward, recognition and benefits programmes against relevant benchmarks and work closely with the Strategy and People team to ensure we are informed to make effective remuneration decisions

• Work in close partnership with the Strategy team and senior managers to maintain a respectful, values based, customer focussed and performance driven culture

• Build on the People data and analytics to continuously improve reporting, and the insights and trends that will inform the Strategy team’s decision making

• Lead and manage the People team, building a collaborative environment where senior colleagues are at the table and the team develop and excel under your mentorship

• Lead the talent acquisition strategy, to ensure effective and efficient processes that engage potential recruits, reinforce our values to all candidates and deliver high calibre people to the business

• Leverage and communicate our employer brand, to motivate and retain existing colleagues and attract high calibre talent to our team

• Work closely with the VP of Finance Director on workforce planning

Who you are

• Prior experience in a relevant senior leadership role, with ownership of the People strategy and representing the People function at a company level Demonstrable experience of playing a key role in delivering successful and sustainable People structures and strategies

• Excellent relationship builder with a minimum of 3 years experience being a member of a senior leadership team

• Experience leading strategic organisation development and learning projects, within a function or in a senior people role

• Experience in a global matrix organisation

• Strong knowledge of the current trends and good practice within People and OD, with developed professional networks that enable knowledge sharing and benchmarking

• Place significant emphasis on relationships, values and employee engagement

• Willing to roll up your sleeves and get involved at project level as appropriate to ensure your experience is utilised and projects gain momentum

• Passionate about our industry, the customer matters to you and getting to know the customer informs our people initiatives

• It would be a benefit if you have previous experience in a technology, SaaS or professional services organisation

Want to learn more about Phorest and our interview process? Check out nothingventured.rocks for our blog and Insights on building an evergreen company from the team here at Phorest.

Phorest is an equal opportunity employer. For this position, flexi-time and working from home is possible. We are also open to remote work. Get in touch to ask for more information or to chat about your future with Phorest!

Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalised folks tend to only apply when they check every box. So if you think you have what it takes, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch. We'd love to have a chat and see if you could be a great fit.