Lead People Partner

About Sano

Mission; what we do

• accelerating the world's transition to personalised medicine
  

Purpose; why we do it

• to speed up development of life-saving treatments for those with limited options
  

Vision; where we're going

• become the world's best source of patient-in-the-loop genomic and health data for precision medicine development

People Experience at Sano:

The People Experience team are on a mission to make Sano the place where people do the best work of their lives. We have strong foundations in place that we're taking to the next level as we target Series B and transition from Start to Build .

This role is a 12 month contract while our VP People, Lauren Gomes is away and will report to Mina Frost , General Counsel. This role has potential to go perm in 2026 / post Series B funding.

This role will strengthen People Partnering at Sano (working with the incredible Liv Bennett ) and is critical to us developing a high performance culture effectively. Previous experience of enabling people leaders through this phase of org evolution will be key to success in this role.

There's no one size fits all for a role in our team, but a willingness to unlearn traditional HR is a must!

Headlines:

• Role - Lead People Partner 12 month FTC, full time
• Salary - £80,000 - 90,000 pa
• Start Date - No later than 1 June 2025, or available for a 2 week handover if during a longer notice period
• Location - UK only, fully remote (ideally within a day's commute to London)

What you'll be doing:

• Steering Sano toward and through Series B, translating company strategy into a pragmatic people plan.
• Being the trusted partner to your people leaders. Pushing boundaries in their thinking, and advising on the best People strategies to drive performance in their teams.
• Leading workforce planning, so we have the right people, in the right place, at the right time in our org - including restructuring where needed.
• Galvanising our manager and leader population, coaching them to enable performance and collaboration in their teams.
• Designing, delivering and embedding change initiatives across the whole employee lifecycle.
• Using commercial + people data insights (engagement, performance) to identify problems before they emerge. Then, implementing people solutions and measuring their impact.
• Driving critical lifecycle moments with People Ops so review cycles, comp reviews, etc. are delivered seamlessly.
• Caring passionately, and advocating for diversity, equity, inclusion + belonging, intentionally building this into the people lifecycle.
• Enabling cross-functional communication + collaboration across Sano to unlock improved ways of working remotely.

This job is for you if you have:

• You have significant experience as a Senior People Partner, directly supporting senior leaders through a scale up transition GTM teams +/ Engineering.
• You have proven experience designing and embedding company wide People initiatives that transform an org think Performance Enablement .
• You're bold, clear and unafraid to speak truth to power - you challenge with empathy, hold the line when it counts, and back yourself to have the tough conversations that drive progress.
• You're an excellent communicator and natural influencer - you instil trust with everyone you interact with. You can take people through journeys of change with relative ease.
• You can confidently prioritise, manage expectations, and protect boundaries.
• You pride yourself on your ability to build strong relationships - quickly.
• You thrive in the grey, you're known for asking the tough questions and asking 'why'. Your negotiating skills have yet to find their limit.
• Data is your default to equip leaders with the insights they need to make commercial decisions and plans that have impact.
• You have a sound working knowledge of UK employment law, and can adapt to pick up new countries too (USA).

Even better if you have:

• You're sensei level in most of our tech stack e.g. HiBob, TeamTailor, Notion.
• Have leveraged Agile practices in the People space.

This role is unlikely to be a great match if:

• Boundaries and prioritisation are the first thing to drop when things get busy.
• This is your first time in a scaling start up or transitioning through Start Build .
• This would be a transition role or first time as a People Partner.
• You struggle to communicate confidently.

Research shows that some people are less likely to apply for a role unless they are 100% qualified. Your experience, skills and passion will set you apart so tell us about your achievements, irrespective of whether they are personal or work-related, tell us about your journey, and about what you learnt.

So, if this role excites you, don't let our role description hold you back, get applying!

Hiring Process

1. Initial screening with Becca (30 mins)
2. 1st Interview with Lauren and Liv (1 hour)
3. 2nd Interview with key stakeholders (1 hour)
4. ️ Founder Interview (30 mins)

Support - If you have a medical condition or an individual need for an adjustment to our process, and you believe this may affect your ability to be at your best - please let us know so we can talk about how we can best support you and make any adjustments that may be needed. All interviews at Sano take place virtually.

Please note:

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK or in the USA (for specific roles). We are unable to sponsor visas for this position.

Sano Genetics welcomes applications from all candidates irrespective of age, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief, or marital or civil partnership status.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

At Sano, we're committed to creating an environment that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We are a global community and we believe our unique qualities should be celebrated as they are critical to our innovation. It's essential to us that you bring your authentic self to work every single day.