Senior People Partner

Synthesia is the world’s leading AI video platform for business, used by over 90% of the Fortune 100. Founded in 2017, the company is headquartered in London, with offices and teams across Europe and the US.

As AI continues to shape the way we live and work, Synthesia develops products to enhance visual communication and enterprise skill development, helping people work better and stay at the center of successful organizations.

Following our recent Series E funding round, where we raised $200 million, our valuation stands at $4 billion. Our total funding exceeds $530 million from premier investors including Accel, NVentures (Nvidia's VC arm), Kleiner Perkins, GV, and Evantic Capital, alongside the founders and operators of Stripe, Datadog, Miro, and Webflow.

Senior People Partner

About the role

We're looking for an experienced Senior People Partner to help shape our People strategy and execution. You'll report to the HR Director and work closely with senior leaders across our customer organisation as a strategic advisor and hands-on executor, helping build high-performing teams and a scaling organisation..

This is a role for someone who knows what great looks like, has experience building People practices that work at scale, and can move fluidly between strategic advising and hands-on execution. You'll combine commercial acumen with strong people instincts, challenge thinking while maintaining trust, and turn insights into meaningful action.

You'll develop a deep understanding of the business, identify emerging risks and opportunities, advise on organisational and talent decisions, and own the execution of key people initiatives. You'll be known for bringing both perspective and pragmatism, someone who sees around corners but isn't afraid to roll up your sleeves.

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Building credibility and driving impact

- Establish yourself as a trusted advisor to leaders, bringing sound judgment and valuable insight on people and organisational decisions.
- Translate people challenges into business language, connecting your recommendations to performance, growth and business outcomes.
- Proactively identify opportunities to improve effectiveness rather than waiting for leaders to escalate issues.
- Bring constructive challenge and independent thinking, helping leaders make better decisions in complex situations.
- Take ownership of moving priorities forward, influencing across teams and driving execution without relying on formal authority.

What you'll do

Advise on strategy and organisational decisions

- Partner with leaders on organisational design, role clarity and how to structure for growth and impact.
- Use data and insights (attrition, engagement, performance, talent distribution) to build a clear picture of organisational health and identify priorities.
- Anticipate how business strategy, growth and capability changes will affect talent needs and organisational capability.
- Bring experience and perspective from your background, helping leaders anticipate challenges rather than simply react to them.

Build leadership capability and accountability

- Act as a trusted advisor and coach to managers and leaders, helping them navigate complex people challenges.
- Raise the bar on management effectiveness around performance, feedback, accountability and talent development.
- Challenge leaders constructively when decisions or behaviours are getting in the way of team performance.
- Support talent management practices including succession planning, performance calibration and development of critical talent.

Execute on key initiatives

- Own the execution of key people initiatives, strategy, design and delivery ensuring they drive meaningful outcomes.
- Take a hands-on approach to complex performance, employee relations and organisational issues, bringing sound judgment and pragmatism.
- Partner with specialist teams (Talent, People Ops, Total Rewards) to deliver joined-up solutions.
- Identify opportunities to improve and simplify people practices, including leveraging AI and automation to enhance decision-making.

Bring commercial perspective

- Develop strong understanding of the business priorities, operating model and how organisational decisions influence performance.
- Balance longer-term organisational priorities with the needs of a fast-moving business, knowing when to go deep and when to move quickly.
- Bring solutions, not just observations, propose practical approaches and own their delivery.

What we're looking for

- Significant experience as a People Partner, HR Business Partner or similar strategic HR role, ideally in high-growth technology, SaaS or AI businesses.
- First-hand experience of organisations scaling, with understanding of what needs to evolve at different growth stages.
- Track record of advising senior leaders on organisational design, talent, performance and leadership decisions.
- Strong organisational diagnostic skills, ability to connect people data, business performance and leadership behaviour to identify root causes.
- Commercial acumen and the ability to understand how organisational decisions influence productivity and business outcomes.
- Experience handling complex performance and employee relations matters, with judgment to balance business needs, employee experience and risk.
- Practical, solutions-oriented approach, comfortable building plans and executing them as well as advising on strategy.
- Excellent relationship-building and influencing skills, with confidence to challenge senior stakeholders while maintaining trust.
- Curiosity about how AI and technology can improve the way People teams and businesses operate.

What success looks like

Success in this role is measured by the impact you have on the organisation and your leaders' effectiveness.

You'll be successful when:

- Leaders have a clear, data-informed view of their organisational health and are taking action on priorities that matter.
- Managers are more capable and confident in their role, with clear accountability and focus on team performance.
- Organisational decisions on structure, talent and capability are timely and grounded in a high bar.
- Emerging people and organisational risks are identified early and addressed effectively.
- You're seen as a credible, commercially minded partner who brings perspective, gets things done, and is trusted by senior leaders.