About James
English
Native or bilingual
Experience
- Heidrick & StrugglesGlobal Vice President Human ResourcesPRIVATE EQUITYJune 2017 - May 2026 (8 years and 11 months)London, United KingdomA global, private equity–backed professional services firm specializing in leadership advisory with annualrevenue exceeding US$1.2bn and approximately 3,000 employees worldwide. My portfolio includedrevenues of over US$400m and 600 employees working across all major service lines and all geographies• Architected global organisational design, defining and implementing new operating models,establishing Global Leadership Teams, and leading deal teams through M&A due diligence,compliance, and post-merger integration• Recruited, negotiated, and onboarded over 80 revenue-generating consultants, collectivelydelivering approximately $150m in annual revenue• Led all people-related aspects of M&A activity, including the acquisition and integration of the€100m Atreus business (Germany’s largest on-demand talent provider), alongside transactions inFinland and South Africa, divestments in Russia and Hungary, and expansion into Israel, Ukraine,and APAC• Advanced the global talent agenda by improving gender balance across revenue-generating roles,launching graduate programmes, and strengthening succession planning frameworks• Recognised as a global expert in employee relations, reducing litigation costs by £500k in 2025through proactive management and effective negotiation.• Delivered significant commercial impact by reducing external talent acquisition spend by $500kwhile achieving record hiring levels, executing a $3m global restructuring with zero litigation, andembedding culture, DEI, and wellbeing initiatives through a global Champions network and flexibleworking practices.• Transformed talent systems and lifecycle processes by implementing Workday-enabled careerframeworks, redesigning performance management around collective goals and mentoring, andoptimising a $1m learning curriculum (reduced from $3m with no loss in quality).
- Sepura PlcGroup Chief HR OfficerMay 2014 - May 2017 (3 years)Delivering advanced radio systems to public safety and critical infrastructure customers globally, with annual revenue of £140m and approximately 400 employees worldwide.• • Architected the strategic People Agenda to support the transition from a single-site organisation to a global group structure, expanding across the US and LATAM following a major acquisition in Spain• • Led RemCo transformation, redesigning long-term incentive plans and sales compensation structures, while embedding greater leadership accountability post-integration.• • Delivered operational cost efficiencies, including €500k in integration savings, and developed an offshore and low-cost geography strategy to unlock a further €1m in savings.
- THALESHR & Comms DirectorDEFENSE AND MILITARYMarch 2005 - September 2013 (8 years and 6 months)The UK subsidiary, contributing £1.4bn in annual revenue to the group’s global revenues of over€22bn. My portfolio included revenues exceeding €400m and 2,000 employees across Europe.• Led the turnaround of seven underperforming businesses, integrating them into a cohesiveorganisation and delivering a shift from loss to profitability within 12 months.• Harmonised terms and conditions for a 7,500-strong UK workforce, consolidating 22 legacycontracts while managing complex industrial and employee relations, including union negotiations,site rationalisation, downsizing, TUPE, and pensions).• Designed and implemented a strategic HR operating model, removing organisational layers,outsourcing recruitment, and establishing a shared services centre, delivering £2m in cost savings
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Education
- Felllow Chartered Institute of Personnel and DevelopmentCIPD2002
- International Coaching FederationAccredited Coach2023