Case Study: People Director hire at Oxford Science Enterprises

Client

Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), founded in 2015, is a prestigious, independent, billion-pound investment company uniquely partnered with the University of Oxford – regarded globally as the leading research university – empowering it to transform cutting-edge academic discoveries into high-impact businesses. 

Operating across three strategically important domains – Deep Tech, Life Sciences, and Health Tech – OSE provides patient, long-term capital and hands-on operational support from the earliest pre-seed stages through to exit . 

Context

Oxford Science Enterprises recently appointed Ed Bussey as its new Chief Executive Officer, a high-profile hire underscoring the company’s ambitions. Ed is a serial entrepreneur who has launched, scaled, and successfully exited three venture-backed technology businesses, including figleaves.com, ZYB, and Quill. 

He is widely recognised as a leading figure in the UK digital sector, having been named UK Entrepreneur of the Year, Disruptor of the Year, and twice featured in the Sunday Times’ list of Britain’s 500 most influential people. 

Under his leadership, OSE is now looking to appoint a People Director to help shape the organisation’s next phase of growth. This was to be a hybrid working role from their Oxford office, which would likely necessitate tapping into the London candidate pool given the profile of People Director sought. 

Approach

Hawkwood began by meeting with OSE’s newly appointed CEO, Ed Bussey, and the organisation’s then-People Consultant, Cat Navarro, to gain a deep understanding of the role requirements and the wider vision for the People function. Once the ideal candidate profile and priority attributes were agreed, Hawkwood designed a bespoke assessment framework, tailoring its proprietary People Leadership Candidate Assessment methodology (produced in partnership with JooBee Yeow, former-Chief People Officer) specifically for this critical new hire.

Sourcing efforts were targeted across three pools: candidates already based in Oxford, London-based talent, and individuals open to relocating from further afield. Given the need for experience within VC-backed technology scale-ups, London was assumed to be the strongest market, but identifying candidates both willing and able to relocate posed an inherent challenge. Leveraging its network and targeted approach, Hawkwood was able to overcome this, successfully engaging a shortlist of high-calibre individuals.

Each candidate underwent two screening stages with Hawkwood: an initial call to explore role scope and motivation, followed by a thorough competency-based interview. A detailed candidate scorecard was produced for every interviewee, and four were shortlisted and submitted to OSE alongside comprehensive summaries and points for further discussion. Of these, OSE chose to interview three, before presenting an offer to their preferred candidate, after three interview stages.

The process concluded smoothly and efficiently, with only three interviews required to secure the right hire. The successful candidate transitioned from a London-based Climate-Tech scale-up to lead OSE’s People function – providing the organisation with an experienced, scale-up proven leader to partner with Ed Bussey in driving the company’s next phase of growth.

Client Testimonial

Working with Hawkwood Partners has been a really positive experience. As specialists in people and HR roles, their deep expertise in the field was immediately evident. They took the time to truly understand what we needed, not just in terms of the experience and skillset we were looking for, but also the kind of personality that would thrive in our company culture.

Their candidate screening was thoughtful and rigorous, and the summaries they provided were clear, insightful, and extremely helpful in making decisions efficiently. I particularly appreciated their consultative approach; they were never pushy, and they handled sensitive information with care and professionalism. 

I’d recommend Hawkwood to growing businesses looking for a trusted recruitment partner in the people and HR space. 

— Ed Bussey, CEO, Oxford Science Enterprises