People&CultureDirector

## Description ABOUT APPLY   APPLY is the Agentic Customer Experience (ACx) partner for the world's most ambitious consumer and entertainment brands. We bring together deep domain expertise across Retail, CPG, Sports, and Media with AI-native delivery capability, designing and delivering agentic solutions that turn CX vision into commercial reality. We are the partner of choice for brands like Arc'teryx, NFL, Lululemon, and Kraft Heinz. For more information, visit applydigital.com.   LOCATION: APPLY is hybrid/remote friendly. The preferred candidate should be based in the Greater Toronto Area of Canada, working in hours that align to ET.   THE ROLE:   You'll lead a globally distributed team of HRBPs and People Operations specialists, ensuring that every employee has an exceptional experience — from the moment they join to the moments that matter most in their careers. Working closely with the Chief People Officer, you will translate People strategy into consistent, high-quality execution: embedding AI-powered tools and workflows across the function, championing our culture, and ensuring our HR operations run with precision and compliance across multiple jurisdictions. This is a hands-on leadership role for a builder who is equally comfortable coaching an HRBP through a complex employee relations case and redesigning a clunky workflow. You bring strong EQ, a bias for automation, and a genuine belief that a lean, AI-augmented team can outperform a large transactional one. ## RESPONSIBILITIES People Team Leadership Lead, coach, and develop a team of HR professionals. Create clarity of ownership across the team, ensuring each person operates at their highest leverage — with AI handling the repeatable, humans owning the judgment-intensive. Partner closely with the CPO to translate quarterly People OKRs into team-level execution plans. HR Business Partnering Provide direct BP coverage for select executive and senior leaders and act as the escalation point for both HRBPs o