As Senior People & Culture Advisor, you sit at the intersection of recruitment, people operations, and culture for a client group of approx 50 people across Sydney and Melbourne. The role will be based in Sydney with travel every 3-4 months to the Melbourne office. We’re looking for a partner who uses their expertise to make a creative business run better - someone with a natural ability to connect with people, building trust where people come to you and the self-motivation to make a real difference.
At Imagination, people are our greatest accelerator of creativity, and you are the person who ensures we find, hire, and look after the unique individuals who embody our core beliefs.
Yes, there are contracts, compliance checks, and systems to manage. But the person who thrives in this role is someone who actively gets involved in the agency both locally & globally, having the key conversations that help us build and maintain a world-class team.
You are the "people conscience" of the business, balancing the rigor of Fair Work compliance with the bravery to experiment with how we find and grow talent.
Recruitment & Talent Acquisition
- Partner with leadership to identify hiring needs across full-time and freelance requirements.
- Own the end-to-end recruitment lifecycle using our ATS, PinPoint, from posting ads to managing candidate pipelines.
- Screen candidates and coordinate interview panels, ensuring an exceptional candidate experience and strong employer branding.
- Manage external recruiters (ensuring competitive pricing) and lead offers, contracts, and negotiations.
- Actively build and maintain talent pools and freelancer networks to support our core offers in Consulting, Destinations, Content, and Live.
People Operations & Administration
- Maintain accurate employee records in HiBob and create & manage all documentation related to role changes.
- Support payroll coordination and adjustment communications alongside the Finance Lead and MD.
- Support the Finance Lead with any Family Leave, ensuring HiBob is correct and employees are supported throughout
- Manage visas, contractor agreements, and ensure all policies align with Australian employment legislation and our Global team standards.
Compliance & Risk Management
- Act as the internal lead on Fair Work compliance, liaising with external legal counsel to keep the Managing Director and Senior Leadership Team informed of changes.
- Maintain workplace policies and handle workplace investigations with the highest ethical standards and confidentiality.
- Collaborate with Global P&C across group policies to ensure compliance & consideration of local policies and laws.
Onboarding & Employee Experience
- Own the onboarding program, from preparing contracts, reference & background checks, Right To Work checks, to supporting management with coordinating first-week schedules and culture introductions.
- Gather onboarding feedback to improve processes and support managers through the initial probation reviews.
Leadership, Performance & Development
- Support and guide managers on performance and organisational planning.
- With the support of the Operations Lead, drive our employee-led performance review programme, GrowForward.
- Support managers with goal-setting, feedback practices and how to hold an effective one-on-one.
- Support managers to identify L&D needs and organize workshops, coaching, or training to support career progression.
Culture, Engagement & Wellbeing
- Create and implement a local action plan with the MD following our global engagement survey. Work in collaboration with Global P&C to strengthen our inclusive culture.
- Act as a confidential first point of contact for employee concerns and help resolve workplace conflicts with respect and rigour.
- Responsibility for benefits administration
Offboarding
- Own the end-to-end offboarding process, ensuring a consistent and respectful experience for departing employees.
- Working with the Operations Lead to coordinate exit interviews and capture insights that help us retain and develop our people.
- Support management to ensure effective handovers are provided with an appropriate level of knowledge transferred and work with IT to ensure system access removal, and the return of company property.
- Work with Finance to ensure final pay, leave entitlements, and separation documentation are processed accurately and in line with Fair Work requirements.
Employee Relations
- Support and guide managers through formal performance improvement plans (PIPs), ensuring processes are fair, documented, and legally sound.
- P&C lead for disciplinary processes and terminations, including redundancies, in close collaboration with the Managing Director and external legal counsel.
- Maintain clear, accurate records of all performance and conduct matters, ensuring confidentiality at every stage.
Remuneration & Benchmarking
- Conduct annual market benchmarking to ensure our remuneration remains competitive and supports our ability to attract and retain the right people.
- Own the gender pay gap reporting process, managing data collection, analysis, and internal communications.
Contractor & Freelancer Compliance
- Manage contractor classification with care, ensuring the business is protected against employee vs contractor misclassification risk under Australian employment law.
- Maintain up-to-date contractor agreements and ensure all engagements are properly documented and reviewed, in liaison with Imagination’s appointed employment lawyers.
Workforce Planning
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Partner with the Managing Director, Operations and Commercial Leads on headcount planning, ensuring our talent strategy is aligned to the commercial plan and project pipeline.
People Metrics & Reporting
- Provide the local & global leadership team with regular people data covering headcount, turnover, time-to-hire, and leave liabilities.
- Use data to identify patterns, surface risks early, and support evidence-based decision making across the business.
- Participate in regular Global P&C collaboration sessions and support with Global P&C initiatives.
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Direct and Indirect recruitment experience, ideally freelance and permanent
- Generalist HR experience, ideally within a small organisation or sole HR position
- In depth knowledge of Australian employment law, including the Fair Work Act 2009
- Demonstrable experience of resolving sensitive employee relations issues (performance, conduct, capability and redundancy)
- Experience with multiple HRIS and ATS, ideally HiBob and PinPoint.
- Flexible and used to managing multiple deadlines/changing priorities
- Understanding of how talent and utilization drive agency success and comfortable pushing back on a hiring request if it doesn’t stack up against the workforce plan.
- Experience within a creative agency, production company, or similar project-based business would be a plus.
What really matters to us
- You build relationships across all departments so you can identify problems before they hit the business.
- You have the ability to understand and balance our creative culture through the people we hire and manage.
- You're a genuine team player who supports the agency. You want to be part of something.
- You want to understand the business, care about the work, and feel like you're making a genuine contribution to its success.
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Hybrid work model, where our team comes into the office a minimum of 3 days per week
- Birthday leave day
- Parental leave
- Team Socials
- Paid Volunteer Company Event
- Professional Development Opportunities (run internally)
Imagination:
Imagination is The Original Experience Design Agency. Founded over 50 years ago, we apply the power of our collective imagination to creative, commercial, and cultural challenges, creating experiences that move people. We specialise in Consulting, Destinations, Content and Live Events.
We have 13 global studios worldwide, united by a deep understanding of what moves people on a human level, and a determinedly independent spirit. Imagination was officially certified as a Newsweek Most Loved Workplace® 2023.
Our clients include Major League Baseball, Visa, Amazon, Ford, LVMH, Harley-Davidson, and Google.
For more information, please visit imagination.com or follow @imaginationglbl on social.
Our Beliefs and Behaviours:
We have identified four foundational beliefs that underpin Imagination. More powerful than generic corporate values, they motivate us to act, to foster the behaviours that lead to success:
We believe curiosity is the root of original insights and ideas... so we look at the world with fresh eyes, we experiment, invent and up-end conventions.
We believe rigour results in better choices... so we ask precise, provocative questions.
We believe bravery tames the unknown... so we demand ambition, confident that together we can meet ‘never been done before challenges’.
We believe respect builds stronger teams and continued success... so we recognise the uniqueness and unique potential in each individual, we are accountable to each other, we play as a team.
Global Inclusivity Statement:
At Imagination we value diversity, equity and inclusion as principles that make us stronger, more innovative and more creative as an organisation.
As a team and a business we know that creativity thrives in teams and organisations that comprise diverse groups of people, embracing diverse perspectives, where people feel able to share their whole selves.
That’s why we are committed to fostering an environment where every individual, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, neurodiversity, socio-economic background, or indigenous identity, feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed.
Our Beliefs and Behaviours
By living our core behaviours, being curious, rigorous, brave and respectful, we remain dedicated to building a workplace and a world where everyone is seen, heard, and has the opportunity to thrive.
Curiosity sparks innovation - We seek out diverse perspectives, challenge assumptions, and embrace new ways of thinking.
Rigour ensures impact - We approach our work with discipline and dedication, ensuring that these beliefs are not just words, but lived experiences.
Bravery stands up for what’s right - We confront biases and advocate for progress.
Respect is fundamental - We foster and encourage open dialogue and challenge ideas constructively.
Our Commitment
We expect our team to actively foster a safe, empowering, and inclusive culture. Our commitment extends beyond our workforce to our partners and suppliers, who we hold to the same standards of inclusivity and non-discrimination.
