Head of People

Head of People

Application Deadline: 26 August 2026

Department: HR

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Donmar Warehouse Office

Reporting To: Director or Finance & Operations

Compensation: £55,000 / year

Description

Purpose of Job

The Head of People is a standalone role that encompasses the full lifecycle of HR activity at the Donmar and operates across both strategic and operational HR. The role combines business partnering, organisational development, workforce planning and employee engagement with responsibility for People operations, systems, processes, policies and governance.

The Head of People will use proven skills and experience in HR generalism, recruitment and organisation design to support the overarching strategy of the Donmar while managing the full employee lifecycle and will partner with stakeholders across the organisation to support an excellent standard of colleague management, welfare and engagement.

The role will deliver on all aspects of HR operations, using a blended approach of staff welfare and culture with compliance and due diligence to keep our people and our organisation safe and thriving.

Reporting to the Director of Finance and Operations (“DFO”), you will work closely with the Head of Inclusion and Skills, to ensure our training programmes are relevant, effective and embedded and that our recruitment processes are robust and inclusive, and the Operations team to help create an exceptional colleague experience.

We believe that representation matters; diversity of identity, of perspective and of lived experience enriches our work and our lives. We recognise that the Donmar and the wider theatre industry is not representative of contemporary society in terms of workforce, artists and audience. We particularly encourage applications from those who are currently under-represented both at the Donmar and more widely in the industry, and specifically from D/deaf or disabled, or neurodivergent applicants and applicants who experience barriers and inequity due to ethnicity, gender identity and/or socio-economic background.

Key Tasks and Responsibilites

See the attached 'Job Pack' for full details of the key roles and responsibilities and a comprehensive person and skills specification.