About the role
Role purpose
The People & Talent Manager is the US People lead, responsible for delivering high-quality HR generalist support and managing end-to-end talent acquisition for primarily consulting roles across Texas and New York. The role ensures compliant, pragmatic HR advice grounded in US federal and state employment requirements, and partners closely with TriNet to oversee payroll, benefits, leave, and HR administration. This is a hands-on role requiring strong stakeholder management, sound judgement in employee relations, and the ability to drive efficient, high-touch recruitment in a client-facing professional services environment.
You will work as part of the Global People team (based predominantly in London) with day to day partnership and operational alignment to the President, North America.
Key responsibilities
HR generalist & employee relations (TX + NY scope currently)
- Provide day-to-day HR support across the employee lifecycle: onboarding, performance, conduct, attendance, grievances, investigations, and exits.
- Coach and advise managers on documentation, performance improvement, and decision-making consistent with at-will employment principles and relevant federal/state frameworks.
- Manage employee relations issues end-to-end, including investigations where required; ensure clear, defensible documentation and consistent application of policy.
- Support organizational change activity, including role changes and restructures; coordinate process steps and documentation with TriNet and, where needed, external counsel.
Employment law, compliance & policy (focus on multi-state execution)
- Maintain strong practical working knowledge of US federal employment law plus Texas and New York considerations (e.g., wage & hour practices, paid leave requirements, anti-discrimination/harassment, accommodations, employee classification).
- Localize and maintain US policies, templates, and manager guidance in partnership with the global People team and TriNet.
- Ensure compliant offer letters, employment documentation, and recordkeeping; maintain audit-ready employee files and HR data.
- Coordinate required trainings and compliance activity (e.g., NY harassment prevention requirements as applicable) and track completion.
TriNet partnership: payroll, benefits & HR administration (operational ownership)
- Own the relationship with Trinet ensuring the effective delivery of payroll, benefits, leave administration and compliance support.
- Oversee payroll inputs and approvals, coordinate changes (new hires, salary changes, bonuses/allowances where applicable), and troubleshoot employee payroll queries to resolution.
- Manage benefits administration and employee support: onboarding/offboarding benefits, qualifying life events, open enrolment communications, and escalations.
- Monitor service delivery and SLAs; ensure issues are tracked, resolved, and communicated effectively.
Talent acquisition (consulting-focused experienced hire recruitment)
- Lead end-to-end recruitment for all US roles.
- Partner with leaders to scope roles, define success profiles, aligned to consulting competencies (problem solving, client management, communication, delivery leadership).
- Drive proactive sourcing strategies (LinkedIn Recruiter, referrals, targeted outreach, networks, search partners where needed) to build pipelines for priority capability areas.
- Ensure consistent selection documentation, equitable assessment, and strong candidate experience; manage offers and negotiate within approved ranges in partnership with leadership.
- Own recruitment reporting (pipeline health, time-to-hire, conversion rates, offer acceptance, and themes from candidate feedback).
Onboarding & employee experience
- Own the US onboarding journey from offer acceptance through first 90 days, coordinating logistics and systems with TriNet and internal stakeholders.
- Partner with hiring managers to ensure role clarity, integration into teams, and early performance enablement; identify and address early attrition risks.
- Support local engagement and culture initiatives aligned to global People priorities.
Reporting, insights & continuous improvement
- Track and report core US People metrics (headcount, attrition, ER themes, hiring funnel metrics, payroll/benefits issue trends).
- Identify improvements to policies, processes, and templates to increase compliance, speed, and employee/candidate experience quality.
- Contribute to global People projects (performance management, DEI, reward, HR tech) as the US SME.
Success measures (example KPIs)
- Delivery of consulting hiring plan: improved time-to-hire, strong shortlist quality, and high offer acceptance.
- Positive hiring manager and candidate experience feedback.
- Payroll accuracy and timeliness; benefits queries resolved within agreed timelines; low rework/escalation rates.
- ER matters managed consistently with high-quality documentation and minimal external escalation.
- Improved new joiner ramp-up indicators and reduced early attrition.
Working pattern & travel
- Hybrid based in either New York or Houston, with some travel between the offices for key hiring activity, stakeholder engagement, and team sessions (roughly every 4-6 weeks).
- Three days per week – can be spread across more days.
- Please note that the salary range listed is the part-time annual salary.
Requirements
Required experience & qualifications
- 7–8+ years’ progressive HR experience with significant exposure to talent acquisition in the US.
- Experience working in consulting, professional services, media, technology or other knowledge-worker environments
- Comfortable working in a scaling, global business
- Experience partnering directly with senior leadership teams
- Strong practical knowledge of US employment law, with multi-state experience strongly preferred and direct exposure to Texas and/or New York ideal.
- Demonstrated success recruiting for consulting / professional services roles.
- Experience operating within a PEO model—TriNet experience strongly preferred (not essential).
- Hands-on experience overseeing payroll and benefits administration in partnership with a provider/PEO.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; PHR/SPHR or SHRM-CP/SCP desirable but not required.
Skills & behaviours
- Commercial, pragmatic HR mindset with strong risk awareness and ability to balance pace with compliance.
- Confident communicator who can influence senior stakeholders and coach managers.
- Strong recruitment craft: sourcing strategy, competency-based assessment, offer management, candidate care.
- Highly organized and detail-oriented with excellent follow-through (critical for payroll/benefits governance).
- Discreet and trusted with sensitive ER matters and confidential data.
Benefits
Finance
- 401K Plan
- Basic Life Insurance and AD&D Plans
- WageWorks Commuter Benefits
- Discretionary Performance related bonus
Health & Wellbeing
- Health Insurance (Medical, Dental and Vision)
- Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance
- Employee Assistance Program
- Access to Health Advocate
- Internal Wellbeing Program