About

I've had a somewhat random path to the world of People, Talent and Ops, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

My Story

In 2006, I took a year out of my university studies to work at IBM, and while I enjoyed the experience, it helped me realise I was after something with higher upside.

Around the same time, I developed an interest in probability theory, and the practical application within markets. So on completion of my studies, rather than join a corporate graduate program like many of my peers, I spent the next two years capitalising on inefficiencies in prediction markets.

It was a successful endeavour, but I didn't see it as my long-term path. So in 2010, I began searching for a profession with early upside potential, and I came across the world of technical recruitment. I didn't know it then, but this would form the foundation of my career ahead, and for the next few years I honed my craft - initially recruiting technologists in London’s investment banking market, before moving to Sydney and specialising in data science and engineering.

After six formative years, the learning curve had flattened, and I began craving a new challenge. So one day - on somewhat of a whim - I decided to hand in my resignation and take the plunge into the unknown.

Though I didn't have an exact plan at the time, I ended up completing a writing project which trended at the top of Hacker News, before developing a coaching and advisory venture, which I trialled at a Sydney-based recruitment agency.

Then, in early 2017, I was pitched something completely unexpected - an opportunity to lead a People & Talent function for Freelancer Ltd, the global ~450-person technology business behind Freelancer.com and Escrow.com.

It was an opportunity to good to miss, so I decided to shelve the coaching venture and accept the role. I soon realised that not only did I love the wider role of People Operations/HR, but that I had a flair for it too.

At that time, I was fortunate to read Work Rules!, and it shaped how I thought about the role of PeopleOps. What I loved - which holds to this day - is how a structured yet creative approach can fundamentally enable an organisation’s success, and the experience of the people working there.

I was hooked, and after a year and a half of foundational experience, I was approached by an ex-colleague about applying what I had learnt to a greenfield setting - an ambitious start-up named Spaceship.

I jumped aboard in mid-2018 as Spaceship was completing its Series A capital raise, and I spent the next four and a half years establishing and evolving every component of the People & Talent function, and many wider operational processes too.

Freelancer was my first step into a wider People role, but Spaceship was where I developed the breadth and depth in every vertical - from hiring, to performance & reward, to people policies, to engagement, and much more.

Through I never planned my career in the way it has turned out, I’m lucky to have found a craft I genuinely love, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Key Achievements @ Spaceship

My role at Spaceship provided the opportunity to strive for meaningful team outcomes, and these are my top picks.

Building a talented and diverse team

For example, at the time of my departure, the executive leadership team was 57% female and the wider team 49% - not simple to achieve in finance and tech.

Improving manager effectiveness across the organisation

The last manager effectiveness survey of my tenure scored 93%, which was the culmination of efforts to improve leadership performance through internal development and external hiring.

Creating transparent, consistent, equitable and merit-based pay structures

Achieved through the implementation of a levelling framework and associated remuneration bands, and a performance appraisal process designed to enhance objectivity and reduce bias.

Implementing a unique and progressive approach to leave policies

My final project was delivering a renewed leave policy framework that places trust at its core, and is designed to support people through life’s ups and downs. You can read more about this here.

My Working Principles

These are the working principles I operate by, and aim to cultivate at the places I work.

Take a structured and scientific approach to everything

We’re all human and subject to biases. Great workplaces make it their duty to enhance objectivity and reduce bias in everything they do - from hiring, to performance and remuneration, and everything in-between.

Cultivate diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging

The healthiest cultures are diverse and inclusive, with equal opportunity for all. Designing objective structures and processes plays a crucial role, and the best workplaces also develop policies and ways of working that enable everyone to thrive, whatever their circumstances in life.

Foster a culture of high performance, feedback and recognition

A culture of high performance, feedback and recognition has a compounding effect, but it won’t happen without a structured approach. Continuous feedback and peer recognition programs combined with objective performance review processes are key, and for the latter, assessing how outcomes are achieved, is crucial.

Adopt high levels of trust and transparency

I love this quote from Molly Graham on pay structures: “you can't be transparent if you're not paying fair, and if you are, there's no reason to not be transparent”. To my mind, this can be applied as a wider heuristic, and illustrates how high levels of trust and transparency leads to high levels of accountability.

Back the hungry, not the proven

Organisations often over-index on external experience at the cost of enabling internal talent to flourish. Of course, recruiting externally is key to organisational success, but the best workplaces are also great at assessing and developing their own people, and knowing when to back them.

Be sustainable, at a minimum

Considering the climate and ecological crisis is only getting worse the more we burn fossil fuels, operating sustainably as an organisation is the bare minimum, in my view.

Have fun and be yourself

I am a firm believer that it is possible to do great work while fostering an environment where people can have fun and be themselves - life’s too short to approach work any other way ¯\(ツ)/¯