# Director, People & HR

> Onodrim Industries · London, United Kingdom (Hybrid) · Full-time · Posted 2026-11-05

**Workplace:** hybrid

## Description

**About the role**

Onodrim is building Europe's largest defence and industrial platform. We acquire specialist manufacturers in critical defence and dual-use supply chains, then invest behind their growth with capital, technology and operating know-how.

Onodrim is growing through acquisition, and every deal we do is ultimately a people decision. As People Director, you'll make sure we understand the people, leadership and culture of a business before we buy it – and that its team is set up to thrive once we integrate.

About 70% of your time goes on our deal pipeline: people due diligence on targets, integration planning, and leading the people workstream through close and the first 100 days. The other 30% is spent building Onodrim's own people function – the policies, processes and culture that every acquired team will join.

The two halves feed each other. What you build internally is the landing zone foreach acquisition; what you learn in each deal shapes how Onodrim's people model needs to grow.

**What you'll do: platform (70%)**

-   **Lead people due diligence.** Assess each target's leadership, organisation design, key-person dependencies, culture, compensation and benefits, contracts, pensions, employee relations and HR compliance across jurisdictions. 
-   **Spot the deal risks.** Flag people-related liabilities and value risks early –retention exposure, misclassified contractors, unfunded obligations, works council or union requirements – and quantify them for the deal team.
-   **Shape the deal.** Work with Corporate Development, finance and legal on deal structure, retention and incentive packages for founders and key staff, and the people terms of the SPA.
-   **Plan the integration.** Build the people integration plan before close: org design, leadership appointments, harmonisation of terms, systems and payroll migration, and the Day 1 and first-100-days plan.
-   **Run the people workstream post-close.** Lead integration on the ground –communications, consultation processes, onboarding into Onodrim, and any restructuring – handled fairly and lawfully.
-   **Retain the talent we bought.** Identify the people who carry the value of each business and keep them engaged, informed and committed through the transition.
-   **Integrate cultures, not just contracts.** Assess cultural fit during diligence and lead the work of bringing each team into how Onodrim operates, while keeping what made them good.
-   **Build a repeatable playbook.** Turn each deal into a better template – diligence checklists, integration plans, communication templates – so we get faster and better with every acquisition.

**What you'll do: Onodrim (30%)**

-   **Build the people function.** Set up the foundations a growing, multi-countrybusiness needs: HR policies, employment contracts, handbooks andcompliance across the UK, Switzerland and the EU.
-   **Design the operating model.** Shape org structure, job levels, compensation and benefits frameworks that work for Onodrim today and can absorb acquired teams tomorrow.
-   **Own the people stack.** Choose and run HRIS, payroll and benefits providers that scale across countries and acquisitions. 
-   **Support hiring.** Partner with leaders on workforce planning and recruitment, including roles like our Forward Deployed Operators.
-   **Develop leaders.** Put in place performance management, feedback and development practices that suit a hands-on, results-driven team.
-   **Look after culture.** Advise the leadership team on engagement, employee relations and culture, and act as a trusted adviser on sensitive people matters.

## Requirements

**What you'll bring**

-   At least 10 years' HR experience, including senior people leadership roles.
-   Hands-on M&A experience: you've led people due diligence and integration on multiple acquisitions, ideally in a buy-and-build, private equity-backed or serial-acquirer setting.
-   Strong working knowledge of employment law and practice across the UK and continental Europe, including TUPE, information and consultation, and works councils.
-   Commercial and financial fluency: you can model the cost of harmonisingterms, size a retention pool and explain people risk in deal-value terms.
-   Experience building or scaling a people function in a growing business, not just running an established one.
-   Credibility with founders, CEOs and deal teams, and the empathy to support employees through uncertain change.
-   Clear, direct communication in English, written and spoken.
-   Willingness to travel regularly to target and acquired companies acrossEurope.
-   Right to work in the UK, Switzerland or the EU.

**Nice to have**

-   We operate our business in English but fluency in one or more additional European languages – German, Dutch or French especially – helps when working with local teams and works councils. 
-   Experience integrating acquisitions in manufacturing, industrial or operations-heavy businesses, with frontline and unionised workforces.
-   Background in M&A advisory, a Big Four people-transactions team, or a private equity portfolio operations role.

## Apply

[Apply at Onodrim Industries](https://apply.workable.com/onodrim-industries/j/B8EA720342/apply)

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