People and Culture (HR) Coordinator

Location: London, United Kingdom 

Contract type: Permanent 

Reports to: People and Culture Business Partner  

We're excited to be recruiting a dynamic People & Culture Coordinator to join our team. If you're a proactive, self-motivated individual passionate about HR and ready to grow in a fast-paced environment, this could be the perfect role for you! 

In this role, you’ll play a critical part in supporting the People & Culture team with the day-to-day smooth operations of the function. We are looking for someone who enjoys developing strong relationships, can act as the team's first point of contact, and is friendly, enthusiastic and approachable, efficient, and organised with a keen eye for detail. 

We’ve got big plans for the future, so this is a truly fantastic opportunity for someone to join us at an exciting time in our growth and evolution as an agency! 

You will be responsible for: 

New Joiners/Leavers 

• Collaborate with the IPG DXTRA Shared Services HR team to draft offer letters, contracts, and new hire documentation
• Complete reference checks for new starters  
• Work with line managers to onboard new hires
• Coordinate People and Culture inductions with new hires
• Lead and continually update the induction process, giving thought to where improvements can be made  
• Managing probation periods and leaver processes, including scheduling exit interviews  

Administration Support  

• Ensure employee files are maintained and updated in compliance with GDPR (e.g., hires, leavers, absences, probations, visas)
• Manage the freelancer process using Worksome, creating contracts and liaising with managers for onboarding
• Support with scheduling interviews for recruitment and any related ad-hoc tasks
• Collaborating with Finance on invoice or purchase order-related queries
• Wider People and Culture team support 

 Systems  

• Management and updating of the holiday tracking system
• Human resource information system (HRIS) management and reporting
• Applicant tracking system (ATS), management for contract generation
• Freelancer set up system (Worksome) 

 Payroll and Benefits Support 

• Support the payroll process by ensuring the team has all the necessary data
• Act as the first point of contact for all employee payroll and benefit queries 

Essentials

• Previous experience working in a similar role or relevant qualifications
• Strong Microsoft Office (especially PowerPoint and Excel) skills
• High attention to detail and strong organisational skills
• Ability to prioritize tasks and work independently 

Desirables  

• You have a passion for Sports and Entertainment
• Interest or background in sports, entertainment, or agency life
• Experience with human resources information systems like Workday and/or HRLinks
• Experience with applicant tracking systems like Greenhouse

This could be your next move if:  

• You have experience working in a fast-paced environment, ideally global/matrixed organisations 
• You have experience as an HR Admin and are now looking to refine your organisational and communication skills in a smaller team across all areas of HR
• You have experience in reporting/analytics and are confident in the use of Excel  
• You enjoy working as part of a team but also work autonomously  
• You like learning new things and can quickly adapt when things change  
• You communicate clearly; you can write well, you speak engagingly, and you can explain your thoughts and ideas succinctly  
• You enjoy working across multiple projects at once  
• You have a can-do approach and enjoy solving problems and finding creative solutions to difficult challenges.  
• You have a sense of humour
• You’re not afraid to give things a go and learn from your mistakes 
• You’re happy to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in!  

Benefits

We’re pleased to offer a wide range of benefits, including but not limited to the following:

• Core benefits (available from start date) – flexible holiday allowance, AXA private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, pension scheme with 4.5% employer contribution, Employee Assistance Programme
• Flexible benefits (available after probation) – Gymflex, dental insurance, travel insurance, health cash plan, Cycleshceme, interest-free season ticket loans
• A Flexible Workplace – we have a number of initiatives in place to ensure that our team have the flexibility to balance work with their lives, this includes flexible holidays and flexible working options.
• We also run a number of internal programmes to support physical and mental well-being, alongside learning and development opportunities to support career development and progression. 

Who You’ll Be Joining
Recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in Sports”, Octagon is the global sports, entertainment, and experiential marketing arm of the Interpublic Group.
We take pride in being Playmakers – finding insightful, bold ways to create play in our work, our lives, and in the world. We believe in the power of play to create big ideas and unlock potential for our clients and talent.
We can put ourselves in the shoes of fans because we ARE fans – of sports, entertainment, and culture at large. This expertise allows us to continually evolve the fan experience across sports and entertainment alongside some of the biggest brands and talent in the world.
The world needs play more than ever. Are you a Playmaker?

About Us: 

Octagon is a global creative agency in sports, entertainment, and culture.  

We’re part of a wider family of agencies – the Octagon Sports & Entertainment Network (OSEN) – a group of specialist agencies working with brands, athletes, and celebrities. These sister agencies include R&CPMK, Futures Sport & Entertainment, FRUKT and No2ndPlace. We’re all part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG), one of the world’s most respected advertising networks. 

Founded in 1982 with over 800 employees around the globe. Our Headquarters is in Stamford, Connecticut with further offices around the world including New York, LA, Miami, McLean, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, Sydney, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, London and Manchester. 

We believe that great brands own an idea in the minds of their audience. For Apple, it’s creativity. For Nike, it’s performance. For BMW it’s Joy. For Coca-Cola, it’s happiness. For Mastercard, it’s priceless experiences. 

At Octagon, it’s all in Play.  

We inspire brands and people to play.  

http://www.octagon.com/