Head of People

About Bridgement

Bridgement is a leading South African fintech breaking down the barriers for SMEs to access the funding needed to grow their businesses. Traditional loans from banks and other lenders have a slow application process, have strict criteria, require a lot of documentation, and inflexible terms. In contrast, we use cutting-edge technology and AI to offer flexible finance online, with a 2-minute application, no documentation required, and a decision in a matter of hours. Since launching in 2016, we've funded thousands of businesses and built a team of passionate, entrepreneurial people who care deeply about helping South African businesses succeed. We’re proudly backed by Opus18 (previously Capricorn Capital Partners) and the greater Yellowwoods group, best known for their investments in and ownership of Nandos, Hollard, Clientèle, Direct Axis, and Budget Group. Having won several awards recently, including Xero’s App of the Year award, we are proud to be recognised by worldwide brands as a trusted and valued business.

The Role

As Head of People, you will be responsible for building and leading the people function across Bridgement and its related businesses. You’ll partner closely with the executive and management team to attract exceptional talent, develop high-performing teams, strengthen our culture, improve employee experience, and ensure we have the systems and processes required to scale successfully.

Key Responsibilities

Talent Acquisition & Recruitment

• Own the end-to-end recruitment process
• Develop job descriptions and scorecards
• Manage candidate sourcing, screening and first round interviews
• Coordinate interviews and hiring processes
• Improve hiring quality and hiring efficiency

Onboarding & New Hire Success

• Design and continuously improve the onboarding experience
• Ensure all new hires are effectively integrated into the business and culture
• Coordinate onboarding across departments and managers
• Develop onboarding materials, playbooks and training programmes
• Ensure new hires understand our products, customers, systems and ways of working
• Track onboarding effectiveness and time-to-productivity
• Help managers build structured 30-, 60- and 90-day onboarding plans

Performance & Talent Development

• Design and manage performance management processes
• Support managers in setting goals and managing performance
• Build career development frameworks and growth pathways
• Create and coordinate learning and development initiatives
• Support leadership development across the organisation
• Identify high-potential employees and succession opportunities

Culture & Employee Experience

• Help leadership reinforce and scale company culture
• Own internal communications and engagement initiatives
• Coordinate company town halls and internal events
• Organise company retreats, conferences and team-building activities
• Manage employee recognition and celebration programmes
• Help create an exceptional employee experience from onboarding through to exit

Employee Relations & HR Operations

• Act as a trusted advisor to managers and employees
• Manage employee relations and disciplinary processes
• Ensure compliance with labour legislation and HR best practices
• Develop and maintain people policies and procedures
• Oversee employee records and HR administration
• Manage employee benefits and related programmes

Strategic People Partnership

• Serve as a trusted thought partner to ExCo
• Provide people insights and workforce planning support
• Help identify organisational risks and opportunities
• Improve management capability and leadership effectiveness
• Build scalable people systems that support growth without creating unnecessary bureaucracy

Requirements

You will need:

• 6+ years of experience in HR, People Operations, Talent, Organisational Development or related fields
• A Tertiary degree, preferably in Industrial/Organisational Psychology or similar.
• Experience building or leading a people function in a growing company
• Strong knowledge of South African labour legislation and employee relations
• Experience with recruitment and talent acquisition
• Experience implementing performance management and development processes
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Strong coaching, influencing and problem-solving ability
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with practical execution
• High levels of integrity and discretion

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 12 months, you will:

• Establish a trusted and effective people function
• Reduce recruitment burden on managers and ExCo
• Improve hiring consistency and candidate quality
• Implement meaningful performance and development processes
• Improve employee engagement and internal communication
• Strengthen management capability across the business
• Help scale our culture while preserving our entrepreneurial DNA

Why Join Bridgement?

You’ll join a diverse team of smart, passionate and humble people, who are all passionate about helping grow SMEs across South Africa. In addition to a competitive salary, you’ll also get to:

• Be a part of a leading SA fintech on an exciting growth trajectory
• Work directly with founders and senior leadership
• Build a people function from a strong foundation
• Influence culture, leadership and organisational growth
• Join a high-performance, entrepreneurial team
• Work in a lovely, modern office in Melrose Arch
• Access to employee benefits including life insurance, disability + critical illness, income protection and gap cover, as well as other benefits like psychological, physical, financial wellbeing and legal support