The Head of People Partnering makes sure Phocas has the leaders, teams, and organization it needs to deliver on its goals. It leads our global Business Partnering and Talent team to partner with the business, building leadership capability in every function, scaling the people experience through leaders, and owning the full employee lifecycle.

This is an ideal opportunity for a senior P&C; leader who has moved beyond transactional HR and operates as a genuine business partner — someone who builds high-performing teams, coaches functional leaders to raise the bar, and brings commercial and diagnostic rigor to every people decision.

Phocas is scaling fast across multiple regions, and the People Partnering function is the engine that ensures we have the right leaders and organizational capability to keep up. With a reimagined GTM structure, current roles being created, and a growing global team, the demand for strategic partnering — and the consequences of getting it wrong — has never been higher.

This role leads the team that sits closest to the business: hiring the right people, developing the leaders who run our functions, and managing the people risks that could slow us down. It reports to the CPSO and partners directly with the most senior leaders across the business to make sure our people systems are working for growth, not against it.

Why This Role Matters

- Leadership Capability: Drives measurable uplift in manager effectiveness across the business — with regular assessment, regrettable turnover under 3%, and succession plans in place for every critical role.
- Hiring That Delivers: Ensures Phocas gets the people it needs, when it needs them — time to fill at 45 days or less, hiring on plan,



and 95% of hires retained and rated well at 6 months.
- Strategic Partnering: Shifts the function's operating model so that 75% of partnering work is strategic and proactive — focused on hiring, performance, and culture — with low-value work stopped and global programs delivered on time and on budget.
- People Risk & Safety: Ensures WHS and employee relations matters are managed in a way that treats people as humans, meets legal requirements, and avoids unnecessary friction for the business.
- Org Design & Workforce Planning: Partners with the CPSO on org design and workforce planning reviews, ensuring the structure of the business matches the demands of where we are going — not where we have been.

Team Structure

Reporting to the CPSO, this role leads the P&C; Director, P&C; Leads, and Global Talent Lead, and partners directly with AU and Finance leaders. It works closely with functional leaders across the business on hiring, performance, culture, reward, and people risk.

What You Will Be Responsible For

- Lead and coach the P&C; Director, P&C; Leads, and Global Talent Lead, and partner directly with AU and Finance functional leaders.
- Lead the team to deliver global people programs on time and on budget, building with internal customers rather than for them.
- Run workforce planning reviews and lead org design in partnership with the CPSO.




- Set hiring priorities with the Global Talent Lead and hold the function accountable to time-to-fill, quality of hire, and hiring manager satisfaction.
- Coach functional leaders, review manager effectiveness and turnover each quarter, and lead talent reviews and succession planning across the business.
- Partner on reward and recognition strategy and lead the annual remuneration review.
- Resolve escalated employee relations cases with legal counsel, and direct WHS, engagement, and people programs through P&C; Leads and Workplace roles.
- Manage the Partnering budget and prepare Executive P&C; updates with the CPSO.

Who We Are Looking For

- Has led a team of business partners in a senior leadership role, with experience across multiple regions in a scaling tech or services company. PE-backed experience is a bonus.
- Leadership track record: has built and developed a remote team, coached functional leaders to raise the bar, and created accountability structures that drive a high-performance culture.
- Change and org design: has led significant organizational change that moved the business forward — not just managed it through.
- Program delivery: has led a team to deliver user-focused global programs that measurably improved outcomes for the business.
- Financial and commercial acumen: has used financial, people, and business data to make sound people decisions that help the business move faster and achieve its goals.
- Diagnostic and risk judgment: finds the root cause of people issues and makes clear, pragmatic calls — weighing risk so the business can keep moving.
- AI fluency: has used AI with teams to solve problems, move faster, and lift productivity.

📌 Head of People Partnering (Sydney)
🏢 Phocas Software
📍 Sydney