Head of People - 10 month FTC
Propeller
People & HR
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Posted on May 21, 2025
Propeller is on a mission to take the guesswork out of moving dirt - reducing wasted fuel, time, and money. We do this through the power of maps.
Our customers use Propeller’s integrated hardware and software products to capture accurate 3D versions of their worksites. With over 50,000 worksites worldwide using Propeller’s smart survey technology, we empower project teams to map, measure, and manage site activity.
Propeller empowers everyone to approach, own, and solve problems creatively. We’re data nerds who care about impact, honesty, and each other. We take pride in being a great place to work. We are proud to be recipients of BI Group's Excellence in Customer Experience award and Inspiring Workplaces of Australasia, being recognized as a Fast Company and BuiltIn Best Place to Work. You can learn more about us on Glassdoor.
- Department
- People & Operations
- Employment Type
- Fixed Term Contract
- Location
- Sydney
- Workplace type
- Hybrid
- Reporting To
- Rory San Miguel
Your Mission
Lead Propeller’s People function during a critical period—ensuring continuity of strategy, strong team leadership, and progress on key initiatives across culture, leadership, performance, and engagement. Partner closely with the CEO and leaders to align People priorities with business needs and support our global team to do their best work.
This role is both strategic and hands-on: you’ll spot opportunities for improvement, guide complex change, and help keep Propeller moving quickly in the right direction.
Key responsibilities:
- Lead the people team: Support and guide a high-performing, global team of 13+ across People Partnering, Talent Acquisition, and Employee Experience. Keep the team engaged, empowered and aligned during the CPO’s leave.
- Drive key initiatives: Maintain momentum on high-impact projects (e.g. leadership development, performance, engagement, operational maturity)—Prioritise based on business needs and capacity.
- Coach leaders: Act as a trusted advisor to executives and senior managers on org design, team performance, and leadership challenges.
- Oversee performance & compensation: Ensure outcomes are fair, well-communicated, and aligned with our values and business goals.
- Support high-quality hiring: Partner with Talent to maintain high hiring standards. Approve all new hire compensation decisions and own the creation and refinement of the hiring roadmap.
- Communicate with impact: Represent the People function clearly and credibly across all levels—from 1:1s to all-hands to board updates.
- Guide org design & change: Shape team structures to meet evolving needs. Support leaders through transitions with clear, timely communication.
- Build Future-Ready People Ops: Identify and implement effective technology, tools, and processes that enable a scalable, high-performing People team. Proactively remove blockers and continuously improve systems to support growth.
- Make values-led decisions: Use data, values, and business context to guide sound, people-first decisions.
This is a 10 month fixed term contract, parental leave cover. We're targeting an early September 2025 start date to ensure a crossover with our CPO.
Your Skills
Must-Have experience
- Held a leadership role in a company of 300+ people
- Worked in an HR leadership position in a rapidly scaling tech company
- Managed and led a People team of 13 or more
Core skills
- Stakeholder management: A trusted partner to execs and ICs alike—confident navigating and aligning diverse perspectives.
- Emotional intelligence: Empathetic and perceptive; handles sensitive situations with care and clarity.
- Commercial mindset: Understands business drivers and uses performance and engagement data to shape decisions and direction.
- Pragmatism & clarity: Cuts through complexity to focus on what matters. Brings structure without overengineering.
- Trusted executor: Leads through ambiguity, drives progress quickly, and keeps teams aligned and accountable.
Benefits
- Professional development budget and leave
- The opportunity to take part in our mentorship program
- Mental health resources
- Monthly telephone and/or internet allowance
- Hybrid work arrangements and WFH equipment provided
About Propeller
Propeller is for everyone, so come as you are. We value all types of experience, skill, and ability. If you don’t think you meet all the requirements, but still think this role would be a good fit, we’d love to hear from you.
Diversity makes our team more creative, fun, and effective, so bring your whole self to the application process, and we will too!
If you’re interested in what life at Propeller is like, check out our employee-owned Medium blog page!
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