Sense of Self

People Strategy  and Business Performance

• Own and evolve the SOS People & Culture strategy, taking forward the foundations established with our external HR partner and bringing this body of work in-house.
• Translate company strategy into a clear P&C roadmap that supports site growth, headcount uplift and operational readiness for Sydney and future sites.
• Partner with the Director and leadership team on workforce planning, structure design, and remuneration strategy as the company scales.
• Use people data — engagement, retention, performance, recruitment funnel — to surface insights and inform leadership decision-making.
• Manage the P&C budget and external partner relationships (HR consultants, migration lawyers, LMS providers, recruiters).

Brand Experience and Venue Integration

• Embed the SOS brand into every stage of the employee lifecycle, from job ad to exit interview, so our people experience matches the high bar of our guest experience.
• Partner with Marketing to ensure recruitment advertising, employer brand content and internal comms are on-tone, on-brand and reflective of our values.
• Own our LMS Marketing platform and lead onboarding design and delivery so every new starter is fully immersed in the SOS brand, service culture and values from day one.
• Champion company standards and behavioural expectations through the way we hire, train, recognise and develop.

Talent Acquisition and Onboarding

• Oversees the end-to-end recruitment for HQ and Management roles (Director’s report-line and below), including briefing, sourcing, screening, interview design, reference checks and offer.
• Support Venue Managers with venue recruitment by providing tools, templates, training and intervention where needed. Scale up this support for new venue openings.
• Define and document the SOS recruitment process, candidate experience standards, and ‘who we hire’ criteria — including screening mechanisms for values fit, behavioural competencies and technical capability.
• Lead and maintain onboarding design across all role types, ensuring new starters are set up for success, immersed in our brand from day one, and tracking against a clear 30/60/90 day plan.

Learning, Development and Engagement

• Lead the rollout, content build and ongoing operation of our LMS, in partnership with the Operations Manager and Venue Managers.
• Evolve our learning and engagement model from ad-hoc to continuous, with clear pathways for technical, behavioural and leadership development tailored by role type.
• Design and maintain the SOS performance review cadence, including 1:1 frameworks, check-in rhythms and end-of-cycle reviews, starting with leadership and cascading where appropriate.
• Develop and maintain the career path matrix and behavioural competency framework, giving every team member a clear view of how to grow at SOS.
• Implement and own an engagement methodology (survey, action planning, follow-through) that drives measurable cultural outcomes.

Employee Relations, Governance and Compliance

• Act as the trusted first point of contact for employee relations matters across the company, providing fair, timely and values-aligned support to managers and team members.
• Own contracts, variations, role changes and offboarding processes, ensuring documentation is accurate and compliant.
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of the modern awards relevant to SOS (GRIA, HBIA, HPSSA) and ensure people decisions are compliant.
• Lead all visa and sponsorship matters, including managing the relationship with our migration lawyers and shepherding active applications (e.g. Subclass 186 nominations) end-to-end.
• Partner with the Finance Operations Manager on payroll, ensuring leave, contracts, classifications and policy changes flow through accurately.
• Create, maintain and roll out company policies.
• Ensure compliance with employment law, WHS people-related obligations, and record-keeping standards across all sites.

Leadership, Capability and Culture

• Coach managers across HQ and Venue on people leadership, performance management and conversations, and team rituals, building leadership capability across the company, not just within HQ.
• Work with managers to embed SOS values and team commitments into day-to-day operations through 1:1s, team meetings, recognition rituals and onboarding.
• Design company-wide moments that strengthen culture: offsites, all-team gatherings, recognition programs, and
  onboarding rituals.
• Act as a cultural barometer for the leadership team, surfacing what’s working, what’s not, and where investment is needed.
• Actively contribute to team culture through engagement, feedback and involvement in team-wide initiatives.

Skills, Experience and Qualifications

Essential

• 5+ years’ experience in a generalist People & Culture / HR role, ideally in hospitality, wellness, retail or another high-touch service environment and with a large casual workforce.
• Demonstrated experience building or significantly evolving a P&C function – comfortable being the sole P&C person, working with a founding team, and operating across both strategy and execution.
• Working knowledge of Australian employment law, modern awards (retail, hair & beauty, health professionals highly regarded), and visa/sponsorship processes.
• Experience designing and rolling out learning frameworks, performance review cycles and engagement programs.
• Strong recruitment experience across a variety of roles and employment types, with a track record of designing values-aligned hiring processes.

Desirable

• Demonstrated proficiency in HRIS platforms, LMS tools, and modern productivity tools (Notion, Slack, G-Suite).
• Tertiary qualification in HR, Business, Psychology or similar (or equivalent experience).

Behavioural competencies

• Service focus
• Communication
• Influences outcomes
• Team player
• Develops others
• Drives for results
• Leads change
• Prioritising
• Strategic thinking
• Identifies Talent

This role may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time that are reasonable and consistent with the purpose and level of the position.

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