Acting Head of People - 6 month contract

The Role

FrankieOne is in a defining stretch - scaling a 100-person, global, regulated business while embedding AI across how we build, sell and operate. Our permanent Head of People is stepping out for a defined period, and we need a steady, senior hand to hold the function together and keep our people strategy moving.

This will be a 6 month acting role. You will own the People & Culture function end-to-end for the duration of the engagement - but the brief is deliberately focused. We are not asking you to re-architect the function. We are asking you to maintain operational excellence, deliver the agreed people plan, support our leaders through a period of growth and change, and leave the function in a stronger position than you found it.

You'll report directly to the VP of Operations, and lead a small, capable P&C team. The team is in flight on a number of programs - performance cycles, engagement, hiring against an aggressive roadmap, and embedding our values (The FrankieOne Way) more deeply into how we work.

If you're someone who can walk into a fast-moving, ambiguous environment, quickly read the room, partner credibly with senior leaders, and execute without needing the runway to make sweeping changes - this is for you.

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Hold the function. Take ownership of the existing P&C operating rhythm, OKRs and FY plan. Identify what's working, keep it working, and prioritise ruthlessly within the defined engagement window.

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Steady the team. Lead, coach and support the existing P&C team. Ensure they're set up for success during the transition in and the eventual transition out.

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Be the trusted partner. Partner with the CEO and Leadership Team on the people implications of business decisions — hiring trade-offs, organisation design, performance, and retention of critical talent.

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Drive the hiring plan. Work alongside the Talent Acquisition Manager to deliver the FY headcount plan, including senior leadership hires. You'll be hands-on in executive-level interview panels.

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Run the people cycles. Deliver performance, compensation review and engagement cycles on time and with integrity. No dropped balls.

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Operationalise the values. Embed The FrankieOne Way into hiring, performance and recognition practices — without introducing unnecessary frameworks or process.

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Document and hand over. Ensure playbooks, processes, vendor relationships and key decisions are captured so the permanent successor can hit the ground running. Plan and execute a structured transition at the end of the engagement.

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Be an advocate. For FrankieOne, our product, our people and our values.

In a previous life, you have

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10+ years' experience across People & Culture, Human Resources or People Operations, including leadership responsibility.

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Experience within a high-growth technology business, ideally a startup or scale-up environment (FinTech experience highly regarded).

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Proven experience partnering with founders, CEOs and executive leadership teams on organisational, talent and workforce decisions.

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Led workforce planning initiatives aligned to business growth objectives and changing organisational needs.

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Experience supporting organisational design, restructures, change management and business transformation programs.

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Built and scaled people practices across the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, performance, learning and development, engagement and retention.

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Strong experience supporting recruitment across technical, product, commercial and leadership functions.

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Demonstrated ability to maintain culture, engagement and performance through periods of rapid growth, change or uncertainty.

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Working knowledge of employment legislation, employee relations, workplace investigations and HR compliance across multiple jurisdictions.

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Experience operating within globally distributed teams, including Employers of Record (EORs), contractors and outsourced delivery models.

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Strong commercial acumen with the ability to balance people outcomes against business priorities and constraints.

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Experience leveraging HR technology platforms and people analytics to drive decision-making (Rippling and Culture Amp experience highly regarded).

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Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with a track record of building trust and influence at all levels of an organisation.

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Experience designing and facilitating leadership, learning or capability-building programs.

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Relevant tertiary qualifications in Human Resources, Business, Psychology or a related discipline a plus

Highly desirable

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Previous experience as Head of People and Culture / VP People and Culture.

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Track record of stepping into ambiguous or transitional environments and delivering outcomes quickly

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Experience building career frameworks, succession planning approaches and leadership capability programs.

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Comfortable working within a defined engagement period and measuring success by outcomes delivered rather than initiatives proposed.

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Existing unrestricted Australian work rights (we cannot sponsor for this position).