Job Description

Director People, Culinary Collective

About Culinary Collective

We are building a global collection of premium culinary brands that inspire, delight and define the future of food and beverage. Our dining experiences are brought to life by a powerhouse of Michelin-starred chefs alongside world-class mixology and sommelier talent.


This culinary collective brings together diverse concepts under one umbrella, creating a dynamic ecosystem where innovation and tradition coexist. By fostering collaboration across kitchens and cultures, we are curating experiences that resonate with both local communities and international audiences.

Role summary

As our first in-house People employee, you will build Culinary Collective's People machine from the ground up and run it day to day. Define the operating model and commercial approach, stand up the core systems, lead on L&D, hire and lead the team and establish us as a leading employer in the hospitality industry. You'll partner with company leaders and people partners across the Dreamlab group to forecast workforce needs, raise the hiring bar and create progression pathways that unlock internal mobility and retention.

What you'll achieve in 12 months:

Create the group's foundational people platform,

with a clear service catalogue, operating rhythm and commercial framework adopted across every company

Build a high-calibre founding team

and embed People Partners in priority businesses, empowering them to drive the people agenda end-to-end with GMs and site leaders

Set the hiring bar and employer brand

to attract diverse, values-aligned talent, materially reducing reliance on agencies

Create a coherent people architecture across brands

: transparent pay bands and principles, progression pathways, manager standards and a practical L&D framework

Design the end-to-end employee experience

- from acquisition and onboarding to performance, progression, recognition and benefits - so great people join, grow and stay

Lift retention and internal mobility

by building pipelines and career routes so more roles are filled from within and early attrition falls

Make people data a leadership tool

with simple, reliable scorecards that guide planning, investment and performance conversations

De-risk and scale compliance and HR operations

by owning policies, Right to Work, sponsorship and ER, and implementing the systems and processes that keep us safe while enabling speed

Key Requirements

Built and scaled a central People function

across multi-site or P&L and high-volume operations

Senior leadership track record

in hospitality, FMCG or adjacent services at 100+ headcount, ideally across multiple locations

Systems fluency:

selected and implemented HRIS and ATS, integrated with scheduling, payroll and Right to Work

Talent engine builder:

set the hiring bar, built in-house TA, created diverse pipelines and materially reduced agency reliance.

People architecture:

designed transparent pay bands and principles, progression pathways, manager standards and a practical L&D framework.

ER and compliance judgement:

strong UK employment law, Right to Work, sponsorship and TUPE experience with confident case management

Commercial and analytical:

owned budgets and SLAs, designed simple chargeback models and ran monthly P&L and dashboard-led reviews

Leadership and influence:

proven experience building high performing teams and building cross functional relationships with a range of stakeholders

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