Director of Human Resources Americas

We are looking for a commercially minded, ambitious, and pragmatic Director of Human Resources, Americas to lead and transform the Americas HR function in a global, fast-paced, PE-backed business. This is a pivotal role for someone who brings both strategic clarity and operational agility: a builder who can deliver tangible impact at pace, cut through complexity, and drive enhanced performance across the organisation.

The ideal candidate will bring energy and edge to a creative and collaborative culture. Reporting into the Global Head of HR you will be directly accountable for shaping and delivering a lean, high-impact People function that supports growth, drives commercial outcomes, and enables the business to scale effectively in the region.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and execute a people strategy that aligns with business needs and performance outcomes - hiring, onboarding, offboarding, and capability building across the Americas.
• Overall responsibility of c. 120 people across 20 US states and a further c. 100 people in LATAM with line management responsibility of 2 LATAM based HR business partners.
• Protect and evolve the business's creative, high-integrity culture while raising the bar and embedding a culture of accountability and ambition.
• Introduce high-impact people development initiatives (as needed).
• Work closely with business leaders to drive transformation, innovation, and results; this may involve future integration work as a result of M&A.
• Foster employee engagement and proactively address employee relations matters to maintain a positive, high-performing workplace.
• Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion across the business and embed inclusive practices in hiring, development, and leadership.
• Use HR data and people analytics to inform decision-making, monitor trends, and evaluate the impact of initiatives.
• Ensure legal and regulatory compliance across the American jurisdictions, including employment law and HR policies.
• Lead performance management processes that drive accountability, development, and outcomes.
• Partner with leaders on workforce planning and organisational design to support current and future business needs.
• Identify and develop internal talent pipelines through effective talent management and succession planning.

Key Requirements:

• Strong working knowledge of US employment law across multiple states, ideally 20 states with experience supporting California and New York based employees a strong preference.
• Experience operating in environments with limited process maturity and building structure from the ground up.
• Background in fast-growing, mid-sized, or agile organisations; experience in larger organisations beneficial for bringing best practice.
• Exposure to M&A, post-merger integration, or significant organisational change strongly preferred.
• Private equity experience advantageous but not essential.
• Ability to operate autonomously as the senior HR owner for North America and LATAM.
• Comfortable working at Director and business partner level with senior stakeholders.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to align HR priorities to business needs.
• Proven capability to strengthen the connection between HR and the business.
• Confidence and gravitas to take ownership where regional functional leadership has not yet been fully developed.

Management and Capability Development

• Experience supporting less mature functional business managers.
• Ability to design and deliver management capability and people leadership training.
• Track record of coaching sales-led or creative leaders who have transitioned into management roles.
• Pragmatic approach to improving performance, accountability, and leadership standards.

HR Operations and Delivery

• Hands-on, delivery-focused approach; comfortable being hands on as well as a strategic partner.
• Strong regional policy oversight and ability to apply policy consistently and practically.
• Comfortable working with centrally run payroll and benefits models.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with international HR business leadership teams.

Stakeholder and Global Collaboration

• Confident partnering regionally while aligning with global HR strategy.
• Experience working with international stakeholders across different time zones to lead and develop regional HR capability in partnership with established teams outside the US.

Location and Working Pattern

• Based in or able to regularly access the New York City office.
• Willing to be visible and present in the business with a minimum of three days per week in-office.

Travel

• Ability to travel domestically within the US on an occasional basis.
• Limited international travel, typically one to two trips per year.

Personal Attributes

• Gravitas and credibility with senior leaders.
• Takes clear ownership and accountability for outcomes.
• Confident communicator, comfortable with direct conversations and stakeholder engagement.
• Agile, energetic, and suited to a creative, inclusive, non-corporate environment.
• Thrives in fast-paced settings with ambiguity and change.