Head of People & Culture

As Head of People & Culture, you are responsible for building the organisation, leadership and people practices needed to support our next stage of growth.

This is not a role for someone who wants to operate primarily at policy or conceptual level. We are looking for a strong HR Business Partner who can move easily between strategic thinking and pragmatic execution. You will be a sparring partner to the CEO, leadership team and managers on organisational design, leadership, performance, talent and culture. At the same time, you are comfortable getting close to the business, solving real people issues and making sure decisions actually translate into action. You will lead our People function, currently consisting of an HR/People Administration role and an in-house Recruiter.

What you will be responsible for

Business partnering & leadership

• Act as a trusted and challenging partner to the CEO and leadership team on people and organisational topics.

• Understand the business, its strategy and its challenges, and translate these into concrete people priorities.

• Support and challenge managers in becoming stronger people leaders. You don't take over their responsibility for people management, but help them make better decisions and deal effectively with difficult situations.

• Bring a strong people perspective into business decisions without becoming "HR for HR's sake".

Organisation & talent

• Help shape an organisation that can scale with the business.

• Work with leadership on organisational design, roles, responsibilities, capabilities and succession.

• Identify where we need to strengthen leadership or talent and turn this into concrete actions.

• Build a pragmatic approach to talent management and succession planning, focused particularly on critical roles and high-impact people.

Performance & development

• Own and continuously improve our performance management approach.

• Create clarity around expectations, accountability, feedback and development.

• Help managers address both high performance and underperformance effectively.

• Ensure that development initiatives are connected to actual business and organisational needs rather than becoming standalone HR programmes.

Culture & engagement

• Protect and further develop the culture as the company grows and becomes more international.

• Turn our values and desired culture into observable behaviour, leadership expectations and everyday ways of working.

• Use employee feedback and engagement data to identify what genuinely needs attention and convert insights into practical actions.

People operations

• Ensure that the operational HR foundation is professional, reliable and scalable.

• Oversee employment processes, contracts, policies, compensation processes, HR administration and relevant employment-law topics, supported by the People Administration role.

• Keep processes as simple as possible. Introduce structure where it adds value, not bureaucracy for its own sake.

Talent acquisition

• Work closely with our in-house Recruiter and leadership team to ensure we attract the people and capabilities the business needs.

• Challenge hiring needs and profiles where appropriate rather than simply processing vacancies.

• Continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of our recruitment and selection process.

How we see the role

We are looking for someone who can operate comfortably at different altitudes. One moment you may be discussing organisational design, leadership capabilities or succession with the CEO. The next, you may be helping a manager deal with an underperforming employee, improving a recruitment process or making a practical decision about an HR policy. You know when something requires strategic thinking and when it simply needs to be solved. You bring structure without creating bureaucracy. You use frameworks when they help, but don't hide behind them. You are comfortable making decisions with imperfect information and turning ideas into execution.

Most importantly, you understand that a strong People function should make managers and the organisation more effective rather than making them dependent on HR.

What success looks like

Success is not measured by the number of HR programmes, policies or initiatives introduced. Success means:

• Managers become stronger and more accountable people leaders.

• We have the right people in the right roles and address gaps earlier.

• Performance expectations become clearer and underperformance is dealt with effectively.

• Leadership and talent decisions become more deliberate.

• Our culture remains strong while the organisation grows and evolves.

• People processes are professional and scalable without becoming bureaucratic.

• And the People function is seen by leadership and employees as pragmatic, credible and genuinely useful to the business.

You are an experienced HR Business Partner or People leader who has operated close to senior management in a growing and changing organisation.

You combine:

• Strong business acumen and the ability to understand strategy and organisational implications.

• Strategic thinking with a strong bias towards execution.

• The confidence to challenge senior leaders constructively.

• Strong judgement in complex people situations.

• Experience with organisational development, performance management, talent and leadership development.

• A pragmatic understanding of HR operations and employment practices.

• The ability to simplify rather than over-engineer.

• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

• The ability to switch naturally between boardroom-level discussions and hands-on operational situations.

• A low-ego, high-ownership mentality.

• Experience in a growing international SaaS or technology company is valuable, but the ability to understand the business and operate effectively in a scaling organisation matters more than having worked in a specific industry.

What We Offer You

• A starting salary between €5,200 and €6,400 gross per month (based on experience level).

• A 'Lease a Bike' scheme with a €10 monthly employer contribution.

• A home office allowance for the days you work from home.

• Free lunch at our office in Nijverdal.

• 30 vacation days per year

• An exciting role within a growing, international SaaS scale-up.

• Flexible work options (hybrid setup: both from home (max. 2 days) and the office).

• Regular team events and ample opportunities for personal and professional development.

• Choose your own hardware: Windows, Mac, or Linux—everything is possible.

• Working in an organisation where culture really is number one. Read here how we do that.

• No towering hierarchical layers. Just a flat organisation with short lines of communication, which makes things easy.

You've taken the time to read this text all the way through. That says it all, right? So feel free to apply!

Do you have any questions or are you still a little unsure? No problem! Feel free to send an email to Niels (Recruiter, n.jordens@12build.com).