People Operations Manager

ABOUT AVANT ARTE

Avant Arte is a curated marketplace that makes discovering and collecting art radically more accessible for a new generation. Our team of passionate experts collaborate with leading contemporary artists from across the globe to create bespoke limited-edition artworks to browse and collect. We began as a cult blog of contemporary artists and since 2015 we've grown our community to over 3.3 million strong across more than 100 countries. We're proud to collaborate with leading contemporary artists to create limited edition works - from sculpture editions and works on paper to NFTs and hand-finished silkscreen prints.

OUR CULTURE

We’re a small team with really big ambitions, both for what we want to achieve and also the environment we’re building. We want to create a company that remains thoughtful as we scale and tries to be genuinely progressive in how we operate. We want people to really own what they do and be given the autonomy and freedom to make mistakes, learn, and create something meaningful.

We all work incredibly hard because we really care about what Avant Arte is here to do – we’re looking for exceptional people who are proactive, hungry to learn, and want to put their pride in our collective achievements.

We know that creating an inclusive environment that promotes and values diversity is critical if we want to build something with impact and meaning. We believe that having diversity in age, background, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective will make us an infinitely better company. We were shortlisted for Women in Tech’s Best Employer - Small Company and Best Benefits, and Otta’s top 100 startups to work at. 

WHAT WE NEED

We are seeking a proactive People Operations Manager to join our London team. This role will support the full spectrum of people processes, including recruitment, performance management, onboarding, and employee engagement. Reporting into the Operations Director, you’ll play a crucial role in growing the foundations for a high-performing, engaged and inclusive workforce. You’ll work closely with managers and function leads to develop high-performance teams and ensure smooth operations across the employee lifecycle. 

In this role, you will have the opportunity to shape the culture, processes and growth of our organisation, making a tangible impact on our People experience and business success. You’ll work alongside a passionate team and have the autonomy to bring innovative ideas to life, supporting the business in being a thoughtful, high performing and inclusive workplace. 

Whilst the core focus will be on the areas listed below, we encourage flexibility and proactivity in identifying opportunities for improvement across the organisation:

Key responsibilities: 

Team performance & business partnering

• People business partnering: Collaborate with managers and function leads to build high-performance teams. Ensuring Managers are well-versed in company policies and procedures, providing guidance and support as needed. 

• Growth & development: Develop and manage company-wide training initiatives and employee development plans, supporting the professional growth of employees. 

• Performance management: Drive a culture of continuous feedback and improvement, supporting managers with effective performance support and ongoing development conversations. 

• Employee relations support: Provide guidance on employee relations matters, fostering positive and productive relationships within teams and addressing issues proactively 

People foundations

• End-to-end people processes: Ensure smooth execution of all people processes across the employee lifecycle, including payroll, recruitment, benefits administration, onboarding and off-boarding 

• HRIS management: Oversee the HRIS (Hibob), maintaining it as the single source of truth for employee information, ensuring data integrity and compliance

• Recruitment, onboarding & off-boarding: Supporting recruitment efforts across the business and actively contributing to talent brand initiatives to attract high quality candidates. 

• Compensation & benefits: Manage employee benefit programs and lead regular compensation benchmarking to maintain competitive and fair packages. 

 Culture & experience 

• Employee engagement initiatives: Lead engagement initiatives aimed at improving employee engagement, including engagement surveys, regular people check-ins, and team social events. 

• EDI strategy & implementation: Champion equity, diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across policies, processes, and the workplace and supporting in fostering a culture of inclusivity and fairness. 

• Team events: Organise and execute team events to build morale and engagement in a hybrid working team across London & Amsterdam 

• Employee feedback & listening: Regularly collect feedback from across employees to identify trends, propose improvements and ensure an evolving and engaged workplace culture. 

BAU operations support

• Day-to-day operations: Provide ad-hoc support to the business cadences and IT operations, including addressing employee queries, office management and equipment coordination. 

The main skills we’re looking for are:

• Communication & relationship building skills: ability to work closely with and support diverse teams, building trust and collaboration across the business 

• Organisation & process-driven: Strong organisational and stakeholder management skills with the capacity to influence and manage multiple projects efficiently 

• Empathy & professionalism: A strong listener with the ability to handle sensitive information, fostering trust across employees.

• Proactive, adaptable and driven: An independent self-starter who anticipates challenges, is flexible in a fast-paced environment, and drives initiatives to completion

• Knowledgeable on employment law: Working knowledge of UK employment law (knowledge of Dutch employment law is a bonus), with a desire to stay updated on best practices and new regulations. 

We think you’ll probably have:

• 3-5 years of people operations experience: experience as part of a fast-growing company, ideally with broad exposure to various HR areas such as recruitment, performance management and employee relations 

• Passion for the employee experience: A commitment to fostering employee growth and building an environment where employees can thrive 

• Analytical: Comfortable looking into feedback, engagement data and HR metrics to drive improvements in people processes 

• HRIS & people systems proficiency: Proficient with HR systems (ideally HiBob) 
  

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Salary of approximately £40-50k dependent on experience 

• Generous equity allowance

• Private Healthcare (UK)

• Enhanced pension contributions and parental leave policies 

• 25 days of holiday plus four extra company wide days on Kings Day (national holiday in the Netherlands which falls in April) and for our winter office closure from 25th December to 1st January

• L&D budget of €1000 per year per employee

• Regular company socials