---
title: 'People Operations Specialist – UK & US 9 month FTC at OakNorth'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-specialist-uk-us-9-month-ftc-oaknorth-london-c3gc3c1fpj5n'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-12'
---

# People Operations Specialist – UK & US 9 month FTC at OakNorth

- **Company:** OakNorth
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** contract
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-11-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-12
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/oaknorth/74e27a27-7d6c-4c65-b229-975ec26478aa

## Job description

## How You'll Work

This is a hands-on role for someone who takes ownership and keeps things moving. You'll manage your own priorities, follow through on tasks and spot what needs attention — without needing to be told what to do at every step. You'll be comfortable working at pace, using available information and resources to solve problems, and reaching out with a clear question or recommendation when you need support. You'll take pride in getting the details right, checking your own work and flagging risks early. You'll have context, direction and support from your manager and team, alongside the trust to take ownership of your work. We welcome ideas and encourage you to speak up when you see a better way of doing things. As a fast-moving, growing business, there may be times when some flexibility or extended working hours are needed, including to provide cover for our US team. We also recognise the importance of flexibility for our people when they need it.

## Key Responsibilities

Employee Lifecycle Management

- Coordinate end-to-end onboarding for new joiners across the UK & US teams, ensuring a seamless employee experience from offer acceptance through to day one and beyond.
- Manage employee lifecycle processes including promotions, transfers, salary changes, probation confirmations, and offboarding activities.
- Manage and track probation review processes, ensuring reviews are completed on time, outcomes are accurately recorded, and all required documentation is maintained.
- Manage UK & US background screening processes through Zinc, ensuring all checks are completed and appropriately documented.
- Partner with IT, leaders, people partners and other stakeholders to ensure all employee changes are coordinated effectively.
- Manage and prioritise a varied workload, track outstanding actions and follow through with stakeholders to keep processes moving.
- Recognise and escalate unfamiliar, sensitive or higher-risk issues to the appropriate person.

People Operations & Systems

- Own the day-to-day administration of employee life cycle activities on our HR systems, ensuring employee information is accurate, complete, and up to date.
- Monitor and manage key people processes and workflows through our People systems.

Employee Support

- Serve as the first point of contact for employee queries across People Operations for our UK & US team.
- Respond to day-to-day People administration requests in a timely and professional manner.
- Assist employees with benefits enrolment and benefits-related queries.

Process Improvement

- Continuously look for ways to improve operational efficiency, employee experience, and data accuracy.
- Leverage AI and automation opportunities to streamline administrative processes and improve service delivery.

## About You

- 1- 2 years of relevant experience in UK or US HR Operations, with strong knowledge of contracts, onboarding, offboarding, BGV processes and employee lifecycle activities
- Experience across both geographies is a plus; candidates with solid exposure to one and the ability to learn the other are encouraged to apply.
- Exceptional attention to detail and a strong focus on accuracy.
- Experience managing employee lifecycle administration from onboarding through to offboarding.
- Experience working with modern HR systems.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent communication skills and a customer-focused approach to employee support.
- Comfortable handling confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
- Evidence of working independently: organising your workload, following through without reminders, checking your own work and knowing when to ask for guidance.
- Interest in leveraging AI and technology to drive operational excellence.
- A collaborative team player who enjoys building strong relationships across the business.

## Benefits and Perks

- 25 days holiday
- Personalised benefits — opt-in to what matters to you
- Subsidised Private Medical Insurance with Bupa
- Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
- Wellbeing and social events
- In-house Barista Bar — London office
- Volunteering time off — support causes that matter to you
- Salary sacrifice schemes — cycle to work, nursery, gym, electric car scheme

## About OakNorth

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: OakNorth is a UK-based digital bank founded by entrepreneurs, providing fast, flexible business loans and competitive savings accounts to support ambitious businesses and savers.
- **Entity Type**: Private (fully-licensed digital bank, profitable; not publicly listed)
- **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Digital banking, commercial lending, retail savings
- **Target customers**: Lower mid-market businesses (entrepreneur-led, scaling fast) seeking debt financing from £1m to tens of millions; retail savers in the UK.
- **Mission**: “Banking should be barrier-free” – inspired by the founders’ own frustrations with traditional lending, OakNorth aims to back proven businesses with fast, data-driven credit decisions.

## Products & Services
- **Business Loans**: Flexible, structured debt financing from £1m to tens of millions for growth capital, acquisitions, management buyouts, and property development/investment.
- **Business Banking**: Digital account with dedicated support, seamless payments and cash management for scaling businesses.
- **Personal Savings**: FSCS-protected savings accounts (up to £120,000) with competitive interest rates, offered via a digital platform.
- **OakNorth Credit Intelligence (OCI)**: Data-driven technology platform that gives lenders a forward-looking view for agile credit decisions (used internally and sold to other institutions).

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Cumulative lending of over £15.1bn since inception (2025). Annual profit of £165.2m in 2025. Total capital ratio of 18.4%.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Founded and led by Rishi Khosla & Joel Perlman; backed by a range of institutional investors (details not fully public). Over 400,000 retail savers provide deposit funding. Partnered with LSE Generate for mentorship.
- **Growth Signals**: Named **Best Bank in the UK** at The Banker’s Bank of the Year Awards 2025. Recognised by CNBC/Statista as one of the UK’s Top 250 Fintechs. Expanded lending into the US in 2023. Built a diversified business including Business Banking capability. 61,000+ jobs and 36,000+ new homes created through lending. Offices in London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle, Birmingham, New York (OCI), and India (Gurugram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad).

## Competitive Advantages
- **Data-driven credit underwriting**: Uses proprietary analytics (OCI) to assess future potential, not just past financials, enabling faster, more accurate lending decisions.
- **Founder-led, flat organisational structure**: Decision-making is fast, with less bureaucracy than traditional banks.
- **Disciplined profitability**: One of the few digital banks globally to be consistently profitable, with extremely low credit losses (4.5 basis points of cumulative facilities).
- **Customer obsession**: High NPS and a culture of “customer delight” rather than mere satisfaction.

## Strategic Focus
- **US expansion**: Scaling lending in the US lower mid-market where a similar structural gap exists.
- **Business Banking rollout**: Building a full business banking capability beyond loans to deepen customer relationships.
- **Technology and data**: Continuing to invest in the OakNorth Credit Intelligence platform and automation.
- **ESG and community**: Net zero target by 2045; 1+1% initiative (1% of profits and 1% of employee time to charity).
- **Talent and culture**: Expanding teams across UK, US, and India while maintaining a founder-led, high-autonomy culture.

## Why Work Here
- **Equity**: Employees receive equity in the business, sharing in growth.
- **Flat structure**: Opportunity to interact with senior leaders and have real impact regardless of tenure.
- **Autonomy**: Personal goal-setting with manager support; freedom to take on projects of interest.
- **Mission-driven**: Directly contribute to creating jobs, homes, and supporting ambitious entrepreneurs.
- **Culture**: Values include “Say it how it is” (honest communication), “10x” (set ambitious goals), “One team”, and “Momentum”.
- **Hybrid/Office**: Multiple office locations across UK (London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle, Birmingham) plus New York and India. Specific remote policies not detailed but likely hybrid for most roles.
- **Recognition**: Work for a bank that has won “Best Bank in the UK” and is seen as a top fintech employer.

## Sources
1. [OakNorth.co.uk – Home](https://oaknorth.co.uk/)
2. [OakNorth.co.uk – About/Our Story](https://oaknorth.co.uk/about/)
3. [OakNorth.co.uk – Careers](https://oaknorth.co.uk/about/careers/)
4. [OakNorth.co.uk – Annual Report 2025 (PDF)](https://oaknorth.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Annual_Report_2025.pdf)
5. [OakNorth.co.uk – Jobs](https://oaknorth.co.uk/jobs/)

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- [Intern - Ventures](https://feeny.ai/job/intern-ventures-oaknorth-london-1y9t6y5rrfdt) — London, United Kingdom
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