People & Talent Partner

Location:

Chicago

Job Type:

Full-time, hybrid working

Salary:

$55,000 – 65,000 + share options

About the role
We are seeking a dynamic and commercially minded People & Talent Partner to join our growing People team. This is a high-impact, broad scope role with a strong focus on people partnering, culture building, and employee experience, alongside some talent acquisition responsibilities.

You will act as a trusted advisor to leaders and teams, helping shape how we support, develop, and engage our people as we scale. This role offers significant scope to grow into broader international HR expertise across the US, Canada, and South Africa as we expand.

Who you’ll be working with
You’ll report directly to Sandy Vo (that’s me!) People Lead at Zen. My background is in agency recruitment across all types of hiring: volume, permanent, contractors, as well as strategic exec level hiring. I now manage the Talent function at Zen as well as all of our HR and People Operations and I can’t wait to coach you in everything I know. We’re a small, collaborative People team, UK & Canada based but globally minded and we’re ready to support you as you grow and own your work.

People Partnering & Employee Experience

Act as a trusted partner to managers and teams across the business on all people-related matters.

Support and guide managers through performance management cycles, including goal setting, reviews, and performance improvement processes.

Provide coaching and advice on team effectiveness, leadership capability, and employee development.

Manage and evolve the company’s

people drumbeat

(e.g. performance review cycles, check ins, calibration processes).

Lead on employee relations matters, ensuring fair, consistent, and legally compliant outcomes.

Culture, Engagement & Internal Communication

Own and drive our

employee engagement surveys , including design, delivery, analysis, and action planning.

Report engagement findings to leadership and ensure meaningful follow-through on actions.

Lead initiatives to strengthen company culture, belonging, and connection across teams.

Own and deliver internal social, cultural, and team engagement initiatives (e.g. events, rituals, recognition programmes).

Continuously improve the overall employee experience across the lifecycle.

Learning & Development

Build and evolve our

Learning & Development offering .

Identify capability gaps and design learning interventions aligned to business needs.

Source, design, or facilitate training programmes for managers and employees.

Support leadership development and ongoing skills growth across Zen.

Talent Acquisition

Support hiring for key or strategic roles as needed.

Partner with leaders to ensure strong hiring decisions and alignment on talent needs.

Contribute to improving hiring quality, onboarding experience, and early employee success.

HR Operations & Broader People Work

Handle day-to-day People queries and employee relations cases with professionalism and care.

Ensure HR policies and processes are applied consistently and fairly.

Contribute to improving HR systems, processes, and documentation.

Why you’ll love this role
You will step into a broad, high-ownership role with real influence on culture and people strategy, where you’ll help shape the employee experience in a rapidly scaling organisation. You’ll be able to gain exposure to international HR practices and markets, while also having significant scope for career growth into senior People leadership roles.

What We’re Looking For

Experience in a People Partner, HR Business Partner, or hybrid HR/Talent role where you’ve been responsible for a wide range of HR-related tasks including onboardings, exit interviews, benefits, employee complaints, flexible working requests etc.

You have experience coordinating and running performance review cycles end-to-end, and are now looking to take a more influential role in how managers interpret, calibrate, and act on performance outcomes.

You’re motivated by improving consistency in how performance is managed across teams, and by helping managers build confidence in giving feedback, driving development conversations, and improving overall employee engagement and growth.

You’ve been involved in launching and running employee engagement surveys, and are now looking to go beyond delivery into real impact, turning feedback into meaningful change. You care about what the data is saying, and more importantly, how it translates into action that improves the employee experience.

You’re excited by growth environments, comfortable being a key go-to person for managers and employees, and energised by helping build and shape people processes rather than just running them.

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