People & Culture Specialist | Poppy & Peonies

As the People & Culture Specialist, you'll lead the day-to-day people function at Poppy & Peonies while helping build the programs, practices, and infrastructure required for the next stage of growth. This is a broad, hands-on HR and Generalist role covering the core employee lifecycle, culture and employee experience, and scaling people programs for a remote-first team.

Responsibilities

Partner with the founder and leadership team to translate business priorities into practical people plans; Develop short- and longer-term workforce plans; Provide leaders with HR guidance; Lead and improve the performance management approach; Coach managers through performance concerns and difficult conversations; Serve as a trusted point of contact for employees and managers; Manage employee relations matters, leaves, accommodations, and investigations; Maintain employee records and develop workplace policies; Support compensation administration; Manage employee benefits administration; Lead offboarding processes; Own and evaluate the employee experience across the employee lifecycle; Oversee onboarding; Develop culture-building programs and learning and development programming; Lead employee listening initiatives; Oversee the work of the Culture Specialist; Partner with leaders on hiring priorities and manage external recruitment partners; Review and improve hiring processes; Assess and scale HR programs, systems, and processes; Maintain an organized annual people calendar

Requirements

Approximately 5–7 years of progressive HR experience, including meaningful generalist responsibility; Experience operating at an HR Manager, Senior HR Generalist, People Operations Manager, or comparable intermediate level; Experience supporting a small but scaling company where priorities, roles, and processes continue to evolve; Experience working directly with a founder and senior leaders in a founder-led business; Strong generalist knowledge across performance management, employee relations, benefits, policies, onboarding, employee experience, learning and development, and offboarding; Experience coaching managers through performance concerns, feedback conversations, team challenges, and employee development; Experience developing, improving, and scaling people programs, processes, and systems; The ability to move between strategic planning and detailed execution without losing momentum on either; Strong judgment and the ability to distinguish between issues you can manage independently and those requiring legal or specialized guidance; Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to make complex or sensitive information clear; Strong relationship-building skills and the confidence to provide candid, respectful guidance to founders and leaders; Excellent organization, project management, and follow-through; Comfort handling confidential and sensitive employee information; Working knowledge of applicable Canadian employment standards and HR practices

Nice to have

Post-secondary qualification or HR designation; Experience supporting remote-first or distributed teams; Experience supporting employees across multiple provinces or jurisdictions; Experience within e-commerce, retail, consumer goods, fashion, or another fast-moving customer-focused environment

Benefits

15 days of paid vacation; Health benefits coverage; $250 annual period and menstrual budget; $1,000 annual allowance toward Poppy & Peonies products; $400 home office setup allowance