Head of People 2026, the market feels different right now for this role.
The change over the last five years has been astonishing.
From ‘Blitzscaling’ to ‘cost-saving’ mode
Not long ago, the industry was in full ‘Blitzscaling’ mode. Hiring in tech exploded, the Head of People role was critical to that expansion, and People teams grew large, sometimes huge armies of HR and People, sitting at the top table with the C Suite.
Then the pendulum swung hard. Organisations shifted into ‘cost-saving’ mode. The People function went from a whole team to a single Head of People, working in isolation.
In many cases, that one person has absorbed the responsibilities of the Talent Lead, People Ops and Chief of Staff too.
Permanent hire or interim function?
Is it now a Permanent hire or maybe it’s more of a 12 month interim function, that changes depending on the growth stage or downsizing.
Salaries have dropped that’s for sure, It also seems to have moved from fully remote to more office based, which is a shift that eliminates a huge pool of experienced candidates.
The common line is AI will ‘solve’ HR, People and Talent problems… I’m not convinced.
What are you seeing?
So I’m curious, if you’re in this space, what are you seeing? Is this a moment of reset for the People function, or will it disappear or be absorbed into Operations?
Or the new norm is plug in HR expertise on a project basis?
Drop your thoughts in the comments..
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