Director of Talent

Director of Talent Relay is fundamentally reshaping how goods move in an online era. Backed by Europe’s largest-ever logistics Series A ($35M), led by deep-tech investors Plural (whose portfolio spans fusion energy and space exploration), Relay is scaling faster than 99.98% of venture-backed startups. We're assembling the most talent-dense team the logistics industry has ever seen Relay’s Mission is to free commerce from friction. Today, high delivery costs act as a hidden tax on e-commerce, quietly shaping what can be sold online and limiting who can participate. We envision a world where more goods move more freely between more people, making the online shopping experience seamless and accessible to everyone. THE TEAM • ~110 people, more than half in engineering, product and data • 45+ advanced degrees across computer science, mathematics and operations research • Thousands of data points captured, calculated, analysed and predicted for every single parcel we handle • An intellectually vibrant culture of first‑principles thinking, tight feedback loops and relentless experimentation The Opportunity Relay is hiring a Director of Talent to own and evolve our talent acquisition platform—covering the data foundation, tooling and infrastructure, assessment architecture, and operating model that enable fast, high-quality hiring at scale. Reporting to Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Nikki Mazza, you’ll act as the architect of our TA system, partnering closely with the Founders, People team, and functional leaders to translate growth plans into a scalable hiring engine. As we enter our next phase of growth, you’ll put the right infrastructure in place to support it—and keep raising the bar as we scale. Who Will Thrive in this role? - You’ve led TA as a system owner: built (or owned) recruiting dashboards/analytics, operational rhythms, budget, and capacity planning—not just reporting. - You’re fluent in the TA and Talent Ops/data hybrid craft: SLAs, scorecards, funnel diagnostics, automation, and partnering with RevOps/FP&A/People Analytics to forecast and drive decisions. - You bring product thinking grounded in hands-on TA: you design candidate & hiring manager journeys, run experiments, and collaborate effectively with product/engineering on hiring systems. - You can raise the hiring bar at scale: own question banks, rubrics, scorecards; design assessment architecture; and build interviewer training/certification that reduces variance. - You’re a strong people leader who can scale the org model: coach TA Leads, decide what to productise vs centralise vs decentralise, and drive adoption through clarity and high standards. Must-Haves - Proven leadership experience owning TA programs and delivering systems implementations end-to-end. - Experience in hypergrowth startups or scale-ups. - Structured, clear communicator with strong stakeholder management skills. Compensation, Benefits & Workplace - Generous equity, richer than 99% of European startups, with annual top-ups to share Relay’s success. - Private health & dental coverage, so comprehensive you’d need to be a partner at a Magic Circle law firm to match it. - 25 days of holidays - Enhanced parental leave. - Located in Shoreditch, our office set-up enables the kind of in-person interactions that drive impact. We work 4 days on-site, with 1 day remote. - Hardware of your choice. - Extensive perks (gym subsidies, cycle-to-work, Friday office lunch, covered Uber home and dinner for late nights, and more). Fast and Focused Hiring Process 1. Talent Acquisition Interview - 45 min 2. Hiring Manager Interview - 60 min 3. Case Study - 75 min 4. Decision and offer within 48 hours; our process mirrors our pace of work. Who Thrives at Relay? - Aim with Precision: You define problems clearly and measure your impact meticulously. - Play to Win: You chase bold bets, tackle the hard stuff, and view constraints as fuel, not friction. - 1% Better Every Day: You ... (truncated, view full listing at source)