People Operations Manager

Location: Hybrid, London twice per week
Salary: We're open to seeing candidates across Manager & Senior Manager level. Manager - from £43,000 + 10% discretionary bonus, Senior Manager - from £53,000+ 10% discretionary bonus.
Level: Manager or Senior Manager level, with scope across the People Operations practice area and direct line management of 2 reports.

About the Role

We are looking for a People Operations Manager to join our People team at SMG. In this role, you will be instrumental in building and scaling our People infrastructure, enhancing the employee experience, and ensuring the smooth and efficient operation of all people-related processes. You will lead and develop our People Operations Coordinators and play a critical role in optimising the employee lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding, ensuring we continue to deliver high-quality support and service to our teams.

If you love variety, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and embrace change with energy, this could be your right role.

Why SMG?

At SMG, we hire for the future, which is fast-moving and changing shape . Do you have the potential to help shape our business? We’re looking for brilliant, diverse talent who want to grow with us—people who are curious, ambitious, and eager to learn, whether as specialists or across teams.

Our culture is everything. If you’re someone who stays honest, stays hungry, stays foolish, and has fun, you’ll feel right at home here.

We value those who take ownership of their growth and bring fresh perspectives. That’s why we’re committed to equity, inclusion, and building a place where everyone feels empowered to grow . At SMG, it’s not just about filling a role but building the future together.

We’re proud to be ranked the #1 Best Marketing and Media Agency and to have received World-Class accreditation from Best Companies.

• 10% discretionary bonus
• £1,800 yearly wellbeing fund (on top of your salary!)
• Free Headspace subscription
• £500 yearly “Learning Fund” for learning
• 4 extra Wellbeing Days off per year
• Summer & Winter conferences + year-round celebrations
• 4pm finishes every Friday
• Flexible and hybrid working

Are We What You’re Looking For?

We move fast, adapt quickly, and like to challenge each other. We're looking for people who enjoy the buzz of change, the satisfaction of building something better, and the joy of working with a close-knit, values-driven team .

This isn’t for everyone, but if you thrive in this environment, we’d love to meet you!

A Little Bit About You

You’ll bring:

• Proven experience in People Operations within high-growth, fast-paced environments.
• Strong command of HR systems (experience with Humaans is a plus).
• A process-optimisation mindset, with a track record of (re)engineering people workflows.
• A strategic grasp of compliance, benefits, and data integrity—particularly in the UK and US.
• Confidence leading a team, developing junior talent, and role-modelling operational excellence.
• Comfort with tech, data, and the application of automation or AI to scale People impact.
• Discretion, empathy, and strong communication skills.

Don’t meet every single requirement? We still want to hear from you. If you believe you’d thrive in this role, your unique perspective might be just what we’re looking for.

What You’ll Be Doing

Your days will be dynamic. You might find yourself:

• Overseeing and further optimising onboarding, offboarding, performance management and more.
• Take ownership of the full payroll process, acting as final sign off for payroll data and working closely with our external provider.
• Leading and mentoring People Ops Coordinators.
• Owning and improving our use of the Humaans HRIS.
• Enhancing employee self-service through HR tech tools.
• Advising on policy and process with a global lens (UK, US and beyond).
• Monitoring People data and reporting on trends to inform decisions.
• Managing compliance for GDPR, DSAR, right to work and gender pay.
• Reviewing benefits for ROI and engagement impact.
• Supporting a fair and inclusive culture across SMG.

Our Values:

Stay honest. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Have fun.

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