Natasha Giles

The Gap

Most scale-ups don't lack HR.

They lack a Senior Leader to own the People agenda before the gap turns into risk.

Without senior People leadership

✗No Senior Leader owns the People agenda

✗HR sits with someone without the seniority to carry it

✗Reactive firefighting instead of strategic planning

✗Risk builds quietly, in ER, structure, and culture

Hiring a full-time senior leader

✗Costly salary and package, before you know it's the right fit

✗Risk of hiring the wrong skillset or seniority for an SMB stage

✗One person's experience, not the breadth of a fractional leader

✗Often a runner, built to execute in an existing system, not to build one

With a fractional People leader

✓Senior Leader thinking, embedded in your leadership team

✓Hands-on delivery, not just advice from the sidelines

✓A fraction of the cost, time, and risk of a full hire

✓Scales up or down as the business needs it to

Problems We Solve

Where scaling businesses actually get stuck

Not admin support. The People problems that carry real business risk if no one senior owns them.

HR that hasn't caught up with your growth

Policies, handbooks, and the foundational infrastructure most scale-ups postpone until it's overdue. Built properly the first time, so it doesn't need redoing at 100 people.

An organisation that isn't ready for AI

Org design and competency reviews that show where roles and skills need to shift before AI tools go in, not after.

Culture that cracks under growth

Founder-led culture doesn't survive headcount growth on its own. New hires don't know how decisions get made, retention dips right when it matters, and no one owns fixing it.

An exit process that isn't smooth

The exit process gets rocky when investors and buyers find gaps you didn't know existed: thin contracts, no succession plan, undocumented processes. Better to find them first, so it goes smoothly instead.

Cross-border risk hiding in plain sight

A termination that's routine in one country is a legal exposure in another. Hiring across the UK, US, EU, or Australia without senior oversight is a compliance risk waiting to surface.

Read the article →

No real people strategy to fall back on

Ad hoc hiring and a handbook aren't a people function. Scaling businesses need the strategic infrastructure: roadmaps, frameworks, leadership alignment, not just policies.

Senior strategy moving too slowly to matter

Growing businesses can't wait months for senior People thinking. AI-augmented delivery puts custom tools and agents into the day-to-day, so strategy moves at the pace the business actually needs.

No plan for when a key leader leaves

A CEO transition or unexpected departure without a plan creates a leadership vacuum at the worst possible moment. Succession planning done in advance means change doesn't stall the business.

AI in HR

A practical, hands-on approach to AI in the People function

AI is changing how HR teams get through their day-to-day work, and Natasha takes a genuinely hands-on interest in putting it to good use, not just advising on it from a distance. In practice, that looks like building reusable templates for the everyday paperwork: policies, performance reviews, job descriptions, so routine work moves faster without losing consistency; and using tools like Claude Cowork to take repetitive admin and drafting off a team's plate, freeing up time for the work that actually needs a person. As businesses roll out AI more broadly, that same hands-on approach extends to reviewing the organisation itself: assessing where roles, skills, and structure need to change so the rollout actually lands, rather than sitting on top of a team that isn't ready for it.

About

15+ years partnering CEOs, boards, and PE investors

Across the UK, Europe, and Africa, most recently as a Senior Leader inside PE-backed businesses.

Most recently Global People Director (Global Leadership Team) at a PE-backed enterprise SaaS company, and Chief People Officer at a PE-backed digital consultancy. Natasha Giles operates at CPO/CHRO/VP People level.

Delivered a significant revenue uplift by designing a performance-enablement framework embedding commercial accountability at every grade
Built a People Strategy & Scorecard from the ground up, giving a Global Leadership Team a single, measurable view of workforce priorities
Led a global HRIS/payroll/EOR rollout across seven countries, and rolled out a Global Employee Handbook spanning every jurisdiction
Managed two CEO transitions end-to-end, and led the strategic wind-down of an international entity with zero governance breaches
Increased senior female representation by 20% and BIPOC promotions by 10% through targeted talent and progression frameworks

"A strategic thinker who develops and implements effective strategies aligned to business objectives while keeping employees engaged."

Capability & Learning Director, Les Mills International

"Strategic, highly organised, commercial and efficient, with exceptional project management skills. A trustworthy HR leader able to influence at every level."

Senior HR Leader, Bravura Solutions

Services

Five ways to work together

From a fully embedded executive partner to a single fixed-fee project or sprint. Take one of the diagnostics below, or book a call, for pricing tailored to your business.

PREMIUM

Fractional CHRO

Full executive ownership of the People agenda. 1–2 days/week.

Fractional People Director

Senior direction for an existing HR team.

HR Advisory Retainer

A trusted senior sounding board, on call.

People Projects

A specific, fixed-fee, time-bound piece of work.

Sprints

A fixed 3-week engagement solving one specific problem, from £4,800.

See sprint options →

People AuditFrom £2,400

HR Transformation RoadmapFrom £4,800

Performance FrameworkFrom £3,200

Reward ReviewFrom £3,200

HR Tech Selection / ImplementationFrom £5,600

Indicative pricing based on £800/day. Final scope and cost confirmed on a call.

Free Diagnostics

Not sure where to start?

Two free, 5-minute tools: each ends with a tailored view of where to focus first, and what it would cost to fix.

People & Culture

People & Culture Diagnostic

A health check across performance, engagement, structure, and development, for any growing business.

Take the Diagnostic →

PE & Scale-Up

Exit & Scale Readiness Diagnostic

Is your People function ready for due diligence, an exit, or scaling to 2–3x headcount?