People Partner, Director

About Marshmallow

We started Marshmallow when we found out how unfair insurance prices are for people who move to the UK. All because the industry hasn’t given this huge cohort of people a second’s thought, and isn’t set up to price them properly. 

We saw an opportunity to do things differently, so we made it our mission to back the ones who step outside the norm. Since we started, we’ve helped 100,000s of people get a fairer deal on their car insurance. Using technology, we serve people that are often overlooked by financial services companies, solving important problems for people who need it most. 

We know there are millions of marginalised customers out there. And we know that they face unique problems that most companies aren’t even aware of. We believe that our future is helping these people by learning about their experiences, and building our company around their needs. And there are strong signs that there’s a need for a company like us. Earlier this year we hit profitability, which is a huge milestone, but the most exciting thing is that we’re only just getting started.

How we work

We’re really proud of the culture we’ve created. We push for progress every day, because we know that we’ll only hit big milestones by taking lots of smaller steps. We’re always open to helping our team mates, sharing our ideas, experience and knowledge to solve problems together. We take risks, think creatively and experiment relentlessly to meet our customer’s needs, and never pass blame when things go wrong. We encourage people at all levels to take ownership of their work, and to be bold in challenging how we do things. Everyone has a voice and the opportunity to make an impact. 

And autonomy and ownership are only possible with clear direction. That’s why we collaborate to do in-depth planning twice a year, and make sure we leave with clear goals and objectives that flow from top to bottom. To make sure we’re as aligned as possible across functions, most of our work rolls up into four tribes; Acquisition, Retention, Claims and Pricing, Underwriting & Fraud. Each tribe has multiple teams embedded in it, working cross-functionally to do great work.

We’re so excited for all of the challenges up ahead, and we need more people to help us tackle them! If life at Marshmallow sounds like it could be for you, explore our culture handbook or read our blog to find out more.

Position Overview:

As a People Partner, you will play a critical role in driving the People strategy and culture across Marshmallow. In pursuit of a high performance culture, you’ll work closely with leaders on People initiatives, enabling people to grow, see the impact of their work and be part of an amazing community.

What you'll be doing

Strategic People Leadership:

• Serve as a trusted advisor and partner to leaders, providing both strategic and tactical guidance on people-related issues.

• Provide challenge to leaders to drive a standard of excellence across Marshmallow in terms of critical thinking, decision making and performance standard

• Collaborate with leadership to define and execute people strategies that align with overall business goals and drive employee engagement, performance, and retention.

• Influence business decisions through commercial awareness, shaping org design, talent development, successions planning and leadership capability.

Employee Experience & Culture:

• Champion Marshmallow’s culture, supporting leaders to raise engagement.

• Support leaders to implement initiatives to maintain a strong culture in remote or hybrid work environments, encouraging collaboration and connectivity.

Talent Management & Development:

• Partner with leaders to design and execute talent strategies, including succession planning, capability requirements, leadership development and org design.

• Identify key skill gaps and work with the Learning & Development team to create programs that promote career growth and continuous learning.

• Provide coaching and development for leaders to elevate their leadership capabilities and ensure alignment with company values.

Change Management:

• Support organisational change initiatives by guiding teams through periods of transition, ensuring alignment with broader business objectives.

• Develop communication plans and engagement strategies to minimise disruption and ensure employees feel informed and supported during change efforts.

People Data & Analytics:

• Leverage people analytics to assess trends in employee attrition, engagement, performance, talent and capability using data-driven insights to inform People plans.

• Establish dashboards and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for People initiatives to measure their effectiveness and impact on outcomes.

Compensation & Benefits Strategy:

• Partner with leaders to ensure competitive and equitable pay structures that attract and retain top talent.

• Guide managers in reward and recognition strategies to drive motivation and performance.

• Monitor and assess compensation trends to ensure the company remains competitive.

Compliance & Risk Management:

• Ensure compliance with all relevant labour laws, employment standards, and HR policies.

• Work to mitigate risks related to employment practices, investigations, and compliance issues.

Who you are

• Strong leadership and influencing skills with the ability to build relationships and credibility across all levels of the organisation.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to convey complex information in a clear and concise manner.

• Data-driven mindset with the ability to analyse People metrics and draw actionable insights.

• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and projects in a fast-paced environment.

• Strong problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills.

• Commercial mindset - has a view on all aspects of the business, not just people

• Strategic thinking and decision-making

• High emotional intelligence and interpersonal savvy

• Influential leadership and coaching ability

• Change management and adaptability

• Results-oriented with a strong focus on business impact

What we're looking for

• 10+ years of experience in human resources, with a strong background in People business partnering and people strategy.

• Significant experience working within tech or fast-paced, high-growth environments.

• Proven success as a strategic People partner to senior leaders, with expertise in employee relations, performance management, talent development, and organisational design.

• Experience managing People teams and leading complex, cross-functional projects.

Perks of the job

• Hybrid working - Spend 3 days a week with your team in our collaborative London office 🏢

• Competitive bonus scheme - designed to reward and recognise high performance 🌟

• Flexible benefits budget - £50 per month to spend on a Ben Mastercard meaning you get your own benefits budget to spend on things you want. Whether that’s subscriptions, night classes (puppy yoga, anyone?), the big shop or a forest of houseplants. Pretty much anything goes 💰

• Sabbatical Leave - Get a 4-week fully paid sabbatical after being with us for 4 years 🏝️

• Work From Anywhere - 4 weeks work from anywhere to use, with no need to come to the office 🛫

• Mental wellbeing support – Access therapy and mental health sessions through Oliva 💚

• Learning and development – Personal budgets for books and training courses to help you grow in your role. Plus 2 days a year - on us! - to further your skillset 🤓

• Private health care - Enjoy all the benefits Vitality has to offer, including reduced gym memberships and discounts on smartwatches 🏥

• Medical cash plan - To help you with the costs of dental, optical and physio (plus more!)

• Tech scheme - Get the latest tech for less 🖥

Plus all the rest; 25 days holiday (+ bank holidays), pension, cycle to work scheme, monthly team socials and company-wide socials every month!

Our Process

We break it up into a few stages:

• Initial call with Conor Harkin, Talent Acquisition Manager (30 mins)

• An experience and competency interview with Caroline Gillard, Chief People Officer, where we will explore your skills and experience, and how the align with the team and role (1 hour)

• A deep dive into some of your past projects and outcomes with Sally Rozzo, People Partner (1 hour)

• A culture interview with a senior Marshmallow team member to check that your work style fits our processes and values (1 hour)

We’ll let you know if you’re invited to an interview or not. But, as a small team with a lot of applications to consider, we can’t give personal feedback on each application.

Background checks

To meet our regulatory obligations as an FCA-authorised financial services company, we need to do some background checks on all new hires. That means carrying out a DBS check and making sure you don't have any live criminal proceedings. Feel free to ask our Talent Acquisition team if you have any questions about this!

Everyone belongs at Marshmallow

At Marshmallow, we want to hire people from all walks of life with the passion and skills needed to help us achieve our company mission. To do that, we're committed to hiring without judgement, prejudice or bias.

We encourage everyone to apply for our open roles. Gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or background does not affect how we process job applications.

We're working hard to build an inclusive culture that empowers our people to do their best work, have fun and feel that they belong.

Recruitment privacy policy

We take privacy seriously here at Marshmallow. Our Recruitment privacy notice explains how we process and handle your personal data. To find out more please view it here.