--- title: 'People Partner - US at OakNorth' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/people-partner-us-oaknorth-new-york-t61ewpde4kdh' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-15' --- # People Partner - US at OakNorth - **Company:** OakNorth - **Location:** New York, NY - **Compensation:** $120k–$190k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-09-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/oaknorth/0d7ff5d1-aea1-4696-bdc6-6493c5d517f9 ## Job description OakNorth is a leading commercial digital bank, built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Founded in 2015, we support lower mid-market businesses — those with revenues between $1m and $100m — by providing fast, flexible debt finance and personalised banking services. To date, we have lent over $16bn to businesses globally, directly contributing to the creation of 56,000 jobs and 34,000 new homes. We began operating in the US in mid-2023 and have since lent over $700m to US businesses. In March 2025, we announced an exciting milestone: the acquisition of Community Unity Bank (CUB), an FDIC-insured community bank based in Birmingham, Michigan, which marks a significant step in our US expansion. This is a rare opportunity to join early and have real ownership over how we build People in the US. As we establish our American operation across New York and Michigan, this is the first dedicated People hire on the ground — you won't be inheriting a playbook, you'll be writing it. ## The Role We are looking for a commercially minded, hands-on People Partner to support our US business. Reporting into the Senior Director, People Partnering, based in the UK, you will be the primary HR contact for our US employee population across New York and Michigan, partnering closely with senior leaders to deliver an exceptional employee experience and drive business performance. This is a generalist role - you will need to be comfortable operating at both a strategic and operational level. ## Key Responsibilities Business Partnering - Be a genuine commercial partner to US leaders — understanding the growth agenda, embedding yourself in the business, and shaping people strategies that directly support OakNorth's US expansion. - Build trusted relationships quickly across New York and Michigan, becoming the go-to for leaders navigating anything from org design to team performance. - Use data and insight to get ahead of risks and opportunities, bringing proactive insight led recommendations. Employee Relations & Compliance - Manage employee relations matters end-to-end, including performance management, investigations, and separations, in line with US employment law. - Maintain up-to-date knowledge of federal and state employment legislation across New York and Michigan, and ensure policies and practices are compliant. - Partner with legal counsel as required on complex or sensitive ER matters. - Maintain accurate HR records and ensure compliance with at-will employment frameworks and applicable state-specific requirements. Performance & Talent - Support the delivery of OakNorth's performance cycle, including calibration and year-end processes, ensuring consistency across the US population. - Partner with managers to build capability, provide coaching on feedback and development conversations, and embed a high-performance culture. - Identify high-potential talent and support succession planning in partnership with the global People team. Learning, Development & Culture - Partner with the L&D team to embed OakNorth's learning strategy on the ground in the US — spanning Manager Capability, Performance & Growth, Employee Lifecycle, and AI & Future Capability. - Act as a culture carrier for OakNorth's values and ways of working as we establish our US presence, ensuring the experience in New York and Michigan feels authentically OakNorth. - Drive employee engagement across the US population — running listening mechanisms, interpreting data, and working with leaders to take meaningful action. - Champion belonging and inclusion within the US team, connecting local initiatives to the global People agenda. Onboarding & Offboarding - Help support with the onboarding experience for US hires, ensuring a smooth and engaging start. - Manage offboarding processes, including exit interviews, and feed insights back to the People Partners. Global Collaboration - Work closely with People Partners in the UK and India to deliver consistent, globally aligned people practices. - Contribute to global People projects and initiatives, including L&D, culture, and engagement programmes. - Act as the US voice in global People discussions, bringing market-specific context and insight. ## What We're Looking For Essential - 5+ years of HR generalist or business partnering experience, ideally within a fast-paced financial services, fintech, or technology environment. - Strong knowledge of US employment law; experience navigating multi-state complexity across New York and Michigan. - Track record of building credible relationships with senior stakeholders and influencing without authority. - Experience managing complex employee relations matters independently. - Proactive, resourceful, and solutions-focused, with a bias for action and the confidence to build where a playbook doesn't yet exist. - Strong communication skills; able to flex between tactical delivery and strategic conversation. - Collaborative working style with the ability to operate effectively across time zones within a global team. - Willingness to travel between New York and Michigan as required to support both locations. - Comfortable using AI tools to work smarter — drafting, analysing data, spotting patterns — and acts as an advocate for AI adoption within the people function. - Approaches work with an AI-native mindset; not just open to new tools but actively seeks ways to leverage them to improve the employee experience and HR delivery. Desirable - Experience in a scale-up, growth-stage, or post-acquisition integration environment. - Exposure to performance management system implementation or optimisation. - Experience working with an international People team across multiple geographies. Location & Ways of Working New York (5 days in office). We are a high-energy, relationship-driven business and believe strongly in the value of being present. As our first People partner hire on the ground in the US, you're building relationships and culture from the ground up, and that happens in person. You'll also travel to Michigan regularly to stay close to the CUB team. ## Benefits and Perks - 401k plan with Principal (ON match up to 4%) - Medical Care (managed through Insperity) - employees can add their family to their plan if needed - Dental & Vision bundle - Insperity Health Savings Account Program - this is a tax-advantaged employee benefit which can help manage health care costs by allowing employees to set aside some of their current earnings on a pretax basis for reimbursement of qualified health care expenses during the plan year - EAP - 20 days Holiday ## 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/) ## Other roles at OakNorth - [Director, Credit Risk – Cash Flow Lending](https://feeny.ai/job/director-credit-risk-cash-flow-lending-oaknorth-london-2r3r0rzm5qgq) — London, United Kingdom - [AVP - Credit Analytics](https://feeny.ai/job/avp-credit-analytics-oaknorth-gurugram-ydsf4yhk1gn1) — Gurugram, India - [Analyst, Deposit Operations - Entry Level](https://feeny.ai/job/analyst-deposit-operations-entry-level-oaknorth-manchester-77eg4984fdks) — Manchester, United Kingdom - [Co-Head of Credit Risk – Real Estate](https://feeny.ai/job/co-head-of-credit-risk-real-estate-oaknorth-london-xv6660ezn6ya) — London, United Kingdom - [SVP - Technology Assurance](https://feeny.ai/job/svp-technology-assurance-oaknorth-gurugram-wcns0ae2gyfw) — Gurugram, India - [SVP - Business Assurance](https://feeny.ai/job/svp-business-assurance-oaknorth-gurugram-8dfz8rfzcbjy) — Gurugram, India - [Director, Debt Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/director-debt-finance-oaknorth-new-york-78vw5hmt7e0a) — New York, NY - [Principal, Talent Intelligence – US Lending](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-talent-intelligence-us-lending-oaknorth-new-york-vet1tphz4g3n) — New York, NY - [Executive Operations & Property Associate (PA role)](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-operations-property-associate-pa-role-oaknorth-london-37fzry41wpwd) — London, United Kingdom - [Manager - Treasury, Capital Markets / Front Office](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-treasury-capital-markets-front-office-oaknorth-london-g6mwhrhbz5x5) — London, United Kingdom