Head of People - Engine

Starling Bank has seen exceptional growth and success, and a large part of that is down to the fact that we have built our own modern technology from the ground up. This SaaS technology platform is now available to banks and financial institutions all around the world, enabling them to benefit from the innovative digital features, and efficient back-office processes that has helped achieve Starling's success.

We draw upon our experience as knowledgeable bankers, and best in class technologists to become the chosen option for these banks, and preferred partners for leading consultancies.

As a company, everyone is expected to roll up their sleeves to help deliver great outcomes for our clients. We are an engineering led company and we’re looking for someone who will be excited by the potential for Engine’s technology to transform banking in different markets around the world.

We are looking for an experienced and commercially minded Head of People to support Engine, Starling Group’s fast-growing, international software-as-a-service business.

Partnering closely with Engine’s CEO and Senior Leadership Team, you will play a key role in shaping the People's agenda for a business of approximately 450 colleagues, supporting its continued growth, organisational effectiveness and international expansion.

You will be a trusted advisor and constructive challenger to senior leaders, helping them make better decisions about their people, organisational structures, leadership capability and talent. You will translate business priorities into practical, forward-looking people plans that strengthen performance, build organisational capability and support sustainable growth.

As part of the wider Starling People Partnering function, you will work closely with our specialist People teams to deliver integrated solutions, balancing Engine’s distinct commercial and cultural needs with the wider Group’s strategy, frameworks and values.

This is a highly visible individual contributor role requiring strong judgement, independence and the ability to operate confidently with senior stakeholders.

What you'll get to do

• Strategic business partnering: Act as a trusted partner to Engine’s CEO and leadership team, understanding the commercial strategy and translating business priorities into a clear, actionable people agenda. Provide constructive challenge and influence key decisions.
• Performance and accountability: Coach and challenge senior leaders on their leadership impact, decision-making and team effectiveness, helping them build a high-performance culture.
• Talent and succession: Identify critical capabilities, talent and succession risks, working with leaders and specialist teams to strengthen leadership pipelines, internal mobility and long-term organisational capability.
• Culture and engagement: Help shape and embed Engine’s distinctive culture and employee value proposition within Starling Group, using engagement insights and employee feedback to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Enable Global Growth: Support rapid international mobilisation by developing and implementing People policies and practices that meet regulatory and legislative obligations globally.
• Risk and employee matters: Provide sound judgement on sensitive and complex people matters, working with People Advisory, Employee Relations and other specialist teams to ensure fair, consistent and commercially appropriate outcomes.
• Group collaboration: Work collaboratively across the People function, contributing Engine’s perspective to Group-wide people priorities and ensuring that Group frameworks are applied effectively and pragmatically within the business.

Requirements

Experience and expertise

• Strategic People Partnering: Significant experience in a senior People Partnering role, with a proven ability to translate business strategy into people priorities and deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of business drivers, commercial priorities and organisational challenges, with the ability to connect people decisions to business performance, growth and operational effectiveness.
• International Growth and Expansion: Demonstrable experience supporting international expansion and scaling businesses across multiple markets, including building organisational capability, navigating different employment and regulatory environments, and adapting people practices to enable sustainable growth.
• Senior Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to build trusted relationships with senior executives, influence strategic decisions, provide constructive challenge and act as a credible advisor on complex people and organisational matters.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Ability to interpret workforce data, people metrics and external market insights to identify emerging risks, challenge assumptions and develop evidence-based recommendations.
• People Risk and Governance: Sound understanding of employment practices, employee relations and people-related risk, with the judgement to balance commercial objectives, regulatory obligations and fair employee outcomes.

Skills and behaviours

• Commercially astute: Understands the business model, its priorities and challenges, and brings a pragmatic, outcome-focused perspective to people decisions.
• Strategic and pragmatic: Connects the bigger picture with practical execution, focusing on the actions that will make the greatest difference.
• Self-starter and accountable: Takes initiative and full ownership of delivering outcomes, with a hands-on, sleeves-rolled-up approach.
• Curious and forward-looking: Brings external perspectives, challenges established thinking and anticipates emerging organisational and talent needs.
• Collaborative: Works effectively across business and functional boundaries, drawing on specialist expertise and contributing to the success of the wider People team.
• Values-led: Demonstrates integrity, fairness and sound judgement, role-modelling Starling’s values and supporting a culture of trust, inclusion and accountability.

Benefits

• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you)
• An extra day's holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

About Us

You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can't accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren't sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway. We're on a mission to radically reshape banking - and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we're proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

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