Head of People
Time commitment: Full-time
Location: Hybrid working in our London Bridge office. Our office days are Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with some flexibility if required.
Reporting to: Mark Jenkins, CEO
About Paloma
Our mission is to make NHS autism and ADHD assessments and care accessible within 4 weeks of a GP referral, and, in turn, help every child achieve their potential.
In 2024, our founders, Mark and Darshak, were shocked to find that children needing an NHS autism or ADHD assessment were waiting 4-10 years for these assessments. Delayed assessments can result in children being more likely to develop mental health conditions and fall behind in education. Furthermore, the much-needed pre/post-assessment support (outside of ADHD medications) is typically not funded by the NHS.
These long waits have built up due to increased recognition and understanding of neurodevelopmental conditions and a lack of investment and innovation within the NHS to meet the growing demand.
Mark and Darshak, with their 25 years of combined NHS experience, including building services that have treated over 1,000,000 patients in obesity & ophthalmology, founded Paloma to change this.
As of May 2026, we have successfully reduced waits to less than 3 months by;
- Taking a product-first approach to redesign the care pathway to give families a more consumer-like experience of care
- Our in-house product, engineering and AI team building our own autism and ADHD specific electronic health record and AI clinical support tool to free clinicians from their significant documentation burden to refocus on supporting families
- Investing in expanding the clinician workforce and upskilling them in new ways of working.
We are proud that Paloma is:
- Loved by families, with 4.9 out of 5 Trustpilot and Google ratings
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered and quality-focused
- Clinically-led, with a team of over 150 people, including over 100 clinicians supporting families through their care journey. We are hiring 100+ more roles over the next 12 months.
- A community of passionate, mission-driven and innovative team members who challenge the status quo and test and learn from new ideas and approaches.
- In control of our own destiny, as we are profitable and backed by leading healthcare investors Triple Point and Heal Capital
What's next?
- Whilst we have reduced wait times, it is estimated that up to 500,000 children are still waiting for an NHS autism or ADHD assessment. We won't rest until this comes down.
- We want to build new services to support families and children diagnosed with autism or ADHD who feel lost after their assessments when the NHS is no longer there for them.
The Opportunity
As Head of People, you will be part of our Leadership Team, lead our People function, and partner with our CEO to develop and deliver our people strategy. Importantly, you will:
- Lead people initiatives across culture, team engagement, learning & development, policies, compliance, and process excellence, ensuring Paloma Health remains a great place to work.
- Line manage our Senior People Partner, People Ops Associate, and planned People Ops Administrator
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a fast-growing organisation and have a significant impact on both our team and the children and families we serve. This role will scale with the organisation, and with consistent successful delivery of role responsibilities, you can be promoted to our People Director.
About you
You are:
- Either in a Head of People role looking for a new challenge, or a People Lead excited to step up to a Head of role.
- Excited to lead a function in a rapidly growing organisation.
- Passionate about creating a positive and inclusive workplace culture
- You enjoy working in scale-up, impact-focused environments and recognise that this requires a dual skill set: being skilled in strategy and team leadership, as well as being a hands-on operator. This includes supporting your team to optimise and deliver core people processes (writing/reviewing policies, drafting contracts, running engagement surveys) and directly leading on senior line manager development.
From a cultural perspective, you are:
- Comfortable working in a dynamic environment and embracing change
- Excited about embedding new software tools in our people processes
- Always looking for ways to improve our staff and patient experience
Responsibilities:
- Strategy
- In partnership with our CEO, develop and deliver a comprehensive People strategy aligned with our vision, mission and values.
- Partner with our leadership team to ensure excellence in organisational design and culture-building.
- Partner with our Talent and Marketing Teams to build a fantastic employer brand that attracts excellent candidates to Paloma.
- Leadership
- Join our Leadership Team, supporting strategic decision-making.
- Line-manage our People team, and create job specifications and recruit for additional roles as needed.
- Lead the management of our contracted external HR legal support.
- Culture and team engagement
- Champion Paloma Health's culture, fostering an inclusive, transparent, and community-oriented workplace.
- Design and implement initiatives to enhance employee engagement, including surveys, feedback loops, and team-building events.
- Ensure a high-quality employee experience in our London office and lead its management.
- Learning and development
- Lead and develop our systems for learning, professional development, performance management, and career progression.
- Partner with our line managers to support their development.
- Policy and compliance
- Develop, update, and communicate People policies that align with NHS healthcare standards and CQC regulatory requirements.
- Ensure compliance with employment legislation, NHS and CQC people requirements whilst maintaining an empathetic and employee-focused approach.
Qualifications and experience:
Required:
- Proven experience in a senior People or HR role in a high-performance organisation. Typically, this includes at least:
- 7 years of experience in people roles
- 2 years in a high-growth (100% year-on-year) or high-performance environment
- 2 years of line managing people team members
- Demonstrated ability to implement robust policies and processes, enhance culture, and support line manager development.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage and inspire diverse teams.
- A track record of implementing innovation in People strategies, processes, and systems.
- Deep understanding of best practices in a modern people tech stack
Desirable:
- Worked in an environment with a large workforce, as Paloma has a large and growing clinical team.
- Strong knowledge of UK employment law and regulatory compliance.
- Experience working in a CQC-registered healthcare setting, ideally in technology-enabled care.
Why join Paloma?
You will be part of a mission-driven organisation that's transforming access to autism and ADHD care in England. For all employees, we offer:
- A strong and positive culture that prioritises team building, transparency, and career development. This includes protected time and budget for team connection and learning.
- Comprehensive compensation, including:
- Salary of £90,000 per year, with some flexibility based on experience.
- Annual salary reviews, ensuring they are competitive
- 5% employer pension contribution
- Equity compensation through Share Options in Paloma Health
- Optional Private Medical Insurance and Employee Assistance Programme
- Home Office Equipment Allowance
- A unique annual leave benefits package which includes:
- 37 days of annual leave. This is 28 standard days, plus eight bank holidays, plus your birthday off.
- Option to buy an additional 5 days per year (giving a maximum of 42 days)
- Where required, 2 days per year of special leave, for events that can happen in life, whether personal or family-related
- Additional benefits include:
- A premium performance company laptop
- NHS discounts, including the Blue Light Card (as we are an NHS provider).
Equality & Diversity
Paloma Health is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and throughout the application process. We do not discriminate based on any protected characteristic.
Accommodations
We're glad to accommodate candidates who need adjustments throughout the hiring process. We encourage you to be open about the adjustments you need, so we can adapt our interview process accordingly.
Safer Recruitment & Pre-Employment Checks
Paloma Health ensures that supporting people to be safe is at the heart of our work and a key priority. As part of our pre-employment checks, you will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Depending on your role within the business, this will be at either an Enhanced, Standard, or Basic level. We are committed to safer recruitment practices and expect all applicants to share our dedication to safeguarding.
Application process
Please apply via our website. We understand that applying for a new job requires significant effort, and we appreciate the time you put into it and look forward to reviewing your application.
Join us and be part of our journey to revolutionise access to NHS autism and ADHD care!
