HR Director / Head of People
The HR Director (Head of People) is responsible for hiring, development and retention, organizational structure and HR processes in a high-risk company, including licensing requirements for staff.
What a HR Director / Head of People does
The HR Director, or Head of People, leads all people operations in the company, from the hiring plan and performance system to compliance with labor law and internal policies. In high-risk verticals such as betting and dating, the role goes beyond classic HR. Licenses and regulator requirements often set rules for personnel: background checks for key roles, training on responsible gambling or user safety, and control over employee access to customer data. The HR Director ensures these requirements are met without disrupting hiring or increasing turnover.
The role is usually part of the company's leadership team. The Head of People reports to the CEO or COO and manages the HR team: HRBPs, recruiters, and specialists in C&B and L&D. They sit at the same level as the CFO, CMO and heads of product when headcount, people budgets and organizational changes are discussed. In smaller companies the HR Director combines strategy with hands-on operations, while in larger ones the role focuses solely on managing the team and direction.
Responsibilities
- Builds the HR strategy around the growth plan: role requirements, hiring timelines, people budget and payroll fund
- Manages the organizational structure: grades, competency frameworks, and aligning headcount with finance
- Oversees hiring for key roles (traffic, risk, compliance, product) and the work of the recruiting team
- Builds the system for performance evaluation, goals and feedback, including calibration across departments
- Ensures compliance with labor law and internal policies, including documentation, HR records and management of HR risks
- Organizes personnel checks where required by the license or regulator, and coordinates the process with Legal and Compliance
- Manages the retention program: analysis of attrition reasons, exit interviews, and motivation of key employees
- Develops training and onboarding: onboarding programs, mandatory compliance courses, and leadership development
- Shapes people policies for remote and international teams, including working with employees across different jurisdictions
- Prepares data and reports for leadership: turnover, time-to-hire, open positions, and people costs
Skills
- Strategic workforce planning and linking HR goals to the business plan
- Knowledge of labor law and the ability to speak the same language as lawyers
- Managing a team of HRBPs, recruiters and C&B specialists
- Designing compensation and grading systems in a market with intense competition for talent
- Data analysis: attrition analytics, hiring funnels, and cost-per-hire
- Negotiating with senior management and defending budgets and people decisions
- Understanding the specifics of high-risk verticals: regulatory requirements, fast turnover, and shortages of certain roles
- Crisis management: dismissals, conflicts, and internal investigations together with Legal
- Building corporate culture and internal communications in distributed teams
Tools
- HRIS for employee records and document management (for example, BambooHR or similar)
- ATS for recruiting (for example, Greenhouse, Lever or similar)
- Spreadsheets and BI tools for analytics (Google Sheets, Excel, Power BI, Looker)
- Goal-setting and performance management systems (OKRs and 360-degree reviews)
- Communication and engagement survey tools
- Electronic document management and e-signature for employment contracts
How performance is measured
- Attrition in key roles and overall attrition for the period
- Time-to-hire and time-to-fill for critical vacancies
- Share of positions filled on time relative to the growth plan
- Engagement survey results and eNPS
- Share of employees completing mandatory training and checks on time
- Cost-per-hire and adherence to the people budget
By vertical
Betting
In betting, the HR Director often works with regulator requirements for personnel: checks on key employees, responsible gambling training, and access controls for player data. A separate challenge is hiring and retaining traders, risk analysts and traffic specialists in a competitive market where people move quickly to rivals.
Dating
In dating, the HR Director's main workload comes from rapid growth of product and moderation teams and high turnover in support and moderation. Standards for handling user data and training employees on platform rules are important, as is hiring for remote teams across different countries.
Levels
Head of / Director
At the Head of People or Director level, the role owns the HR strategy for the entire company, sits on the executive team and reports to the CEO or board of directors. It decides how many people are needed and where to find them, agrees the people budget, and is responsible for culture, retention and compliance with personnel requirements. It leads the HR team and decides what to handle personally and what to delegate.
How to get there
Most people move into the role from within HR, through positions such as HR Business Partner, head of recruiting, or Head of C&B. Experience with fast-growing companies where HR was built from scratch is valuable, as is experience in regulated industries, fintech or online services. For high-risk verticals, it helps to understand how licenses and personnel requirements work and to explain them in business terms.
A practical path includes several steps: running your own projects (hiring a large team, launching a performance system, rebuilding grades), learning HR analytics, and learning to calculate cost-per-hire and attrition. It is useful to know labor law well enough to work effectively with lawyers and to understand basic financial planning, since people costs make up most of operating expenses.
Growth usually goes from managing the HR team to managing the whole HR function and then to a seat on the executive team. The key skill on this path is moving from solving individual problems to designing systems: how compensation works, how hiring decisions are made, and how HR connects to company strategy.
Next steps: Chief People Officer (CPO), VP People / VP HR, Head of Talent Acquisition, Head of Total Rewards, HR Business Partner Lead
FAQ
How is an HR Director different from an HR manager?
An HR manager usually handles specific processes such as hiring, onboarding and HR records. The HR Director is responsible for the entire HR function, its strategy and budget. They make decisions about team structure and agree them with company leadership.
Is experience specifically in gambling or dating required?
It is not required, but understanding the specifics of high-risk industries helps a lot. It is important to know how licenses and personnel requirements work, why certain roles are in short supply, and how quickly headcount can change. This can also be learned in adjacent regulated fields.
What determines an HR Director's income?
Income depends on company size, headcount, countries of operation, and how much of the total HR function the role covers. Experience building HR from scratch and the level of responsibility for the people budget also matter. For exact figures, it is best to check current job listings and market surveys.
How do you work with Legal and Compliance on personnel requirements?
The HR Director acts as the link: translating regulator requirements into HR processes, such as candidate checks or training. It is important to agree on timelines and documents in advance so hiring is not slowed down. Decisions on disputed situations are made jointly with Legal.
Which metrics matter most for evaluating performance?
Typically the focus is on attrition in key roles, speed of filling vacancies, engagement survey results, and timely completion of mandatory checks and training. Metrics should align with the company's business goals.
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