Job Description

Work from anywhere in Australia | Flexibility for the right person

Do exceptional HR work, with businesses where you can actually make a difference.

The People Plugin isn't a traditional HR consultancy.

We partner with ambitious, growing businesses to replace people problems with performance, embedding ourselves into their businesses and helping founders and leaders build genuinely high-performing teams.

Our vision is big: a world where every employee is engaged in a high-performance culture.

We're growing, and we're looking for an exceptional Senior People Partner to join us.

You'll work with some seriously interesting businesses, from brands such as Crop Shop Boutique and Move With Us, to high-growth businesses, technology companies and allied health practices across Australia.

One day you might be coaching a founder through a complex performance issue. The next, redesigning a client's performance framework, analysing engagement data, building their People roadmap or helping their leadership team navigate organisational change.

You might then switch straight into a completely different client, industry and problem an hour later. The ability to move between contexts quickly, understand what matters in each business and maintain a consistently high standard of delivery is critical to this role.

It's varied. It's fast. And you'll have the opportunity to do some of the best HR work of your career.

The role:

You'll own a portfolio of clients, becoming a genuine extension of their businesses rather than an external HR helpdesk.

You'll typically manage multiple businesses at once, each with different priorities, personalities, operating environments and levels of HR maturity. You'll need to build trust quickly with founders, executives and leaders, understand what each business actually needs, and confidently adapt your advice and communication accordingly.

You'll be responsible for both the strategic thinking and the practical execution required to turn that thinking into results.

That could include:

• Building People & Culture strategies and roadmaps;
• Coaching leaders through complex employee relations and performance matters;
• Running HR audits, engagement surveys and workforce planning;
• Designing and implementing performance, remuneration, talent and engagement frameworks;
• Navigating Awards, Fair Work and compliance;
• Leading organisational change and HR projects;
• Implementing and improving HR systems and processes;
• Managing HRIS platforms and helping clients improve the way their People systems operate;
• Using data and reporting to demonstrate the impact of the work we're doing;
• Delivering regular client reporting and clearly demonstrating progress against People roadmaps and agreed outcomes;
• Identifying opportunities where TPP can provide greater value to our clients; and
• Contributing to client renewals and identifying where additional TPP services could genuinely support the business.
• You'll also own the health of your client relationships, proactively communicating, managing expectations, seeking feedback and ensuring clients can clearly see the value TPP is adding.

Strong stakeholder management is one of the most important parts of this role. You'll need to establish credibility quickly, ask the right questions, influence decision-making and sometimes confidently challenge a client while maintaining a trusted relationship.

Who we're looking for:

First and foremost, you're an excellent HR practitioner.

You bring strong technical depth across the employee lifecycle, including employee relations, performance management, remuneration, Awards, Fair Work, compliance, organisational change and broader People programs. You're comfortable using that expertise to give clear, commercially sound advice.

You're equally comfortable talking strategy with a CEO and getting into the detail to make something happen.

You don't need to know absolutely everything, but you do need the technical judgement to identify risk, work through complex People matters and know when further investigation or specialist advice is required.

But technical HR expertise alone isn't enough for this role.

You're someone who:

• Builds trust quickly with stakeholders at every level and genuinely enjoys developing long-term client relationships;
• Can read the room and adapt your communication to different personalities;
• Is confident giving advice, while remaining curious enough to listen and challenge your own thinking;
• Can influence senior stakeholders and constructively challenge a founder or executive when the situation requires it;
• Stays calm and solutions-focused when conversations get difficult;
• Doesn't need perfect information before making progress;
• Can move quickly between different clients, industries, projects and problems without losing context or attention to detail;
• Can juggle multiple businesses, projects and priorities without dropping the ball;
• Proactively communicates rather than waiting for someone to ask;
• Takes ownership of your work, your clients and the team's success;
• Is commercially minded and understands that great HR ultimately needs to help a business perform;
• Is comfortable managing projects, timelines and deliverables rather than simply providing advice; and
• Cares deeply about the quality of what you put into the world.
• You'll ideally bring 5+ years of broad HR experience, plus at least two years operating at Senior HRBP, Senior People Partner, HR Manager level or above.

Consulting experience would be fantastic, but we're equally interested in exceptional operational HR leaders who understand what it takes to make things work inside a growing business.

You'll also need a strong working knowledge of Australian employment law, Fair Work and Modern Awards.

Operational HR experience is particularly valuable. This is a hands-on consulting role, so you'll need to be comfortable moving from advising a leadership team to actually implementing the process, framework or solution you've recommended. 

Why TPP?

Work with brilliant businesses.
You'll get exposure to multiple businesses, industries, founders and leadership teams without having to change jobs every two years to get it.

Do work that actually matters.
Our clients don't engage us to produce HR documents that sit in a folder. They engage us to make their businesses and teams perform better.

Genuine flexibility.
We're a fully remote team and this role can be based anywhere in Australia. We're open to designing the working arrangement around the right person, whether that ultimately looks like part-time or full-time.

Work alongside really good HR people.
You'll join a team of experienced People practitioners who share knowledge, challenge each other's thinking and genuinely care about doing excellent work.

Variety without the red tape.
You'll work across multiple businesses and problems, with autonomy to use your judgement and expertise rather than navigating layers of bureaucracy.

Build genuine consulting capability.
You'll develop the ability to rapidly understand different businesses, influence senior stakeholders and turn technical HR expertise into practical commercial outcomes across multiple environments.

Help shape a growing business.
TPP is still growing and evolving. You'll have the opportunity to contribute to our frameworks, products, ways of working and ultimately what The People Plugin becomes.

How we work

Our values aren't words we stuck on a wall.

Excellence in the 'What'.
We strive for excellence, get 1% better every day and choose progress over perfection.

Humble in the 'How'.
We stay curious. We listen to understand. We speak up with a purpose and a proposal. We disagree and commit.

White Glove Service, Without the Gloves.
Client satisfaction is our strategy. We value relationships over short-term revenue, add value beyond the service we've been engaged to provide, and we're always real, never ra ra.

If those sound like the standards you already hold yourself to, you'll probably fit in pretty well here.

Interested?

If you're an experienced People & Culture leader who wants the autonomy and impact of senior HR leadership, the variety of consulting and the flexibility of a genuinely remote team, we'd love to hear from you.

If you're someone who thrives on building trusted stakeholder relationships, has strong technical HR depth and genuinely enjoys switching between different businesses and challenges, this could be a great fit.

Apply now or reach out to Xanthe Madgwick at xanthe@thepeopleplugin.com for a confidential conversation.
www.thepeopleplugin.com