Job Description

VP of People

Application Deadline: 1 August 2026

Department: People & Talent

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Zinc - London

Reporting To: Sam Norman

Compensation: £95,000 - £100,000 / year

We've grown from 45 to 170+ people in two years, and we are now ready to build our People function to scale us further, that starts with a People Leader.

We're hiring our first VP of People, a genuine leadership role that sits in the companies leadership team from day one and owns the strategy that takes Zinc from 150 to 200+ without losing what makes this place work. You'll partner directly with our COO and the wider leadership team on org design, culture, and manager capability, and build the infrastructure that lets every person at Zinc do their best work.

This isn't a support function role or a glorified HRBP. It's a seat at the table, a voice in the room, and real ownership of one of the most critical levers in a scaling business. If that sounds like the role you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you. 🎉

What You Will Focus on First 🏆

People strategy: define the 2-year plan for how we attract, develop and retain the talent we need to hit our growth targets. Translate business strategy into people priorities and present it to leadership quarterly.
Culture and EVP: take ownership of what makes Zinc a great place to work and make it defensible as we grow.

Key Responsibilities

What You'll Own 📋

People strategy: the 2-year plan, owned by you, shaped with the business
Org design: advising the leadership team on structural decisions as we scale: layers, reporting lines, team evolution
Culture and EVP: defining what makes Zinc a great place to work and driving the initiatives that keep it real as we grow
Learning and development: building a framework that works at 200+ people
Performance and progression: owning the philosophy and cadence that sits above our existing frameworks
Leadership partnership: sitting in leadership team as a peer, not a support function

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

What We're Looking For 🔍

You've operated at VP or Director of People level in a SaaS or tech business, ideally at the 200–500 people stage
You've worked on real org design decisions, not just advised from the outside
You understand startup culture as a competitive asset, not a thing to be managed away
You're comfortable in a room of opinionated, high-performing leaders and you push back when it matters
You're data-informed, not data-dependent you know when to trust your read on a room

Benefits

Zinc offers a chance to work on a product that brings a fresh perspective on data ownership in hiring

24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off 🎉
£1200 annual benefits allowance ( ThanksBen, from month 2)
Early finish Fridays (16:00)
Yearly company retreat abroad ✈️ (This year Italy)
30 days to Work from anywhere 🌍
Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave
Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
Unlimited access to MoreHappi coaching
Company socials, quarterly team socials Free Monday lunches
Nursery workplace benefit scheme (Yellownest)
Option to lease an electric car through Electric Car Scheme
Celebrated Zinc anniversaries 🥳

About Zinc

At Zinc, we believe that background checks should be instant, easy, and delightful. Yes, you read that right.

Traditional background checking providers are slow, manual, and error-prone — Zinc’s here to change that.

Here’s how it works:

Step one: Select your checks

With Zinc you get exactly the checks you want, and no extras you don’t. Make your own templates and re-use them, or use our pre-built packages to align with any regulatory check requirements.

Zinc offers global checks in over 190 countries, including:

Credit checks

Address verification

Reference checks

Qualification checks

For a full list, visit https://zincwork.com/checks.

Step two: Tell Zinc who you’re checking

Enter your candidate or employee’s name and email address, then click “Request checks.”

The rest is easy: Candidates use our mobile-friendly platform to submit any required information, referee names, and additional documents. We’ll even chase references for you.

Here’s what Becca Covill, HR Operations Specialist at Jensten, said about Zinc references:

“When we’ve used different providers, there was a lot of manual intervention required. But with Zinc, we’ve been able to put them in, click a button, and it just runs.”

To stay in the loop, just visit your Zinc dashboard and get at-a-glance updates.

Learn more about Zinc’s commitment to candidate experience here: https://zincwork.com/candidates

Step three: Get results, fast

With direct HMRC integrations and automated workflows, Zinc delivers results fast. Like, really fast.

“Obviously I recommend Zinc, but an IDSP will change your life overnight. It had instant results.” — Zander Loftus, Recruitment Manager, Hexagon Care

View results directly in the Zinc platform, or get them delivered to your ATS or HRIS. Zinc integrates with platforms like Workday, Pinpoint, Greenhouse, and more. For a full list of our available integrations, visit https://zincwork.com/integrations.

Industry

IT & Software

Company Size

51-200 employees

Headquarters

London, GB

Year Founded

2017

Website

zincwork.com

Social Media