People & Culture Manager

Job description

People & Culture Manager – 12-Month Maternity Cover Location: Remote (UK-based) Reporting to: Chief Operations Officer Contract: 12-month fixed-term contract (maternity cover) Start date: Approx. November 2026 About Aveni Aveni is redefining how financial institutions use AI. We build real, production-ready agentic systems that reshape how banks, advisers and financial services firms operate, replacing fragmented processes with intelligent, end-to-end workflows. We’ve been recognised as Fintech of the Year for two consecutive years and awarded Best Specialist Technology Service at the Professional Adviser Awards 2025. Backed by leading investors including Puma Private Equity, and commercially supported by Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide Building Society, we previously completed one of Scotland’s largest Series A rounds. Since then, we’ve continued to grow rapidly as adoption of AI in financial services accelerates, and we’re scaling our team to meet that demand. The Role We’re looking for an experienced People & Culture Manager to join Aveni on a 12-month fixed-term contract, covering maternity leave. This is a broad, hands-on role with ownership across the full employee lifecycle. You’ll keep our day-to-day People function running smoothly, support employees and managers, oversee our core HR processes and systems, manage our small recruitment team, and continue the delivery of our existing People roadmap. Aveni is a fast-moving, remote-first AI business where priorities can change quickly. You’ll therefore need to be proactive, pragmatic and comfortable taking ownership, balancing BAU HR with projects and adapting your approach as the business evolves. An investment round is likely during this period, so experience supporting a business through investment, due diligence and associated People requirements would be particularly valuable. There is also potential for the contract to be extended beyond the initial 12 months, subject to business requirements. What You’ll Be Doing Own day-to-day HR: Manage the full employee lifecycle, from onboarding through to offboarding, alongside employee relations, absence and other day-to-day People matters. Manage performance and probation: Keep probation and performance management processes running effectively, supporting managers with feedback, performance conversations, development and appropriate next steps. Suppor…