People & HR Director || Technology Start-Ups & Scale-Ups

I specialise in helping private equity–backed and investor-led businesses realise value through people, leadership and operating execution, particularly across FinTech and Financial Services environments undergoing growth, acquisition and transformation.

My work often starts at the point where transactions become reality. I support Boards, investors and executive teams to translate deal intent into scalable operating models, leadership capability and organisational structures that protect value, accelerate performance and enable sustainable growth beyond Day One.

Over the past decade, I have led complex integrations, carve-outs and restructurings across international markets, including the acquisition and integration of global businesses within regulated financial services and high-growth technology sectors. This has included scaling organisations across multiple geographies, building enterprise-grade people and governance frameworks, and supporting successful exits for institutional investors.

I am particularly effective in entering businesses to assess, stabilise and strengthen leadership, reduce people-related execution risk, and align workforce strategy to commercial ambition. While not a career “BAU HR leader”, I step into operational leadership roles where required, with a mandate to professionalise, simplify and leave behind stronger capability.

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WHAT OTHERS SAY

"Dylan guided the Board with regards to leadership transition at the Company, and executed with integrity and action throughout the restructuring and acquisition programme."
- Farooq Jaffrey, Fintech Venture Capital Investments

"As COO, Dylan worked closely with the CEO to implement a turnaround strategy and successfully positioned the company for its successful acquisition by Trading Technologies."
- Mark Rodrigues, Venture Partner, Illuminate Financial

"In an extremely fast moving and challenging environment, Dylan joined the Integration Team leading the People, Culture and Comms workstream of 200 people from Reg-Room and Thompson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence into CUBE. He hit the ground running, prioritising and delivering urgent and strategic requirements from his first morning."
- Andrew Scola, M&A Director, ex Deloitte, PwC

"What Dylan doesn't know about M&A you could write on your toenail!  He is super knowledgeable, knows his way around M&A like the back of his hand and is SUPER patient. He is objective, thoughtful and puts the employees first - always."
- Elinor Brett, FCIPD, CPO

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Dylan Roberts

🎙️ Really happy to have been asked to share my thoughts on how independent HR consultants hold trust over time, how experience shapes our judgement, and how decisions are made when there’s pressure to move quickly.

In the latest HR Independents HR Voices conversation, join me, Mary Asante, and Kate Marston as we reflect on that reality. 

#HR #HRVoices #HRIndies #HumanResources

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HR Independents

Executive Coach & Leadership Strategist | Keynote Speaker | Champion for Autism | HR Thought Leader | Cybersecurity Specialist | Host of HR Voices Podcast

Investigations, People, Ethics HRi Inspirational Indie Award Winner (Peer Nominated)

M&A People Integration | Interim People Leader | HR Change & Transformation | Executing the People Agenda for PE-Backed Firms

I spent a brilliant afternoon yesterday at Parliament for the Modernising Employment All Party Parliamentary Group session: "Talent Matters: Solving the Skills Gap for Tomorrow".

There was an exceptional panel of speakers, Lord Knight, Lella Violet Halloum, Peter Elias CBE, Keith Rosser, and Irena Grugulis, who shared practical, actionable insights on what employers can do right now to tackle the UK's growing skills challenge.

But this was just the beginning. I'm looking forward to continuing to collaborate with these and others to develop best practice guidance for employers, due to be released later this year.

If the UK wants growth, we have to get serious about how we build, deploy and value talent. A fairer, more skilled, future-ready labour market won’t happen by accident.

Let’s build it.

#HR #BetterHiring #FutureOfWork #ModernisingEmployment

Global Student Strategy Lead @ IBM | Award-Winning Digital Changemaker | Tech Speaker | FRSA | MBCS

Professor at University of Warwick

Making hiring faster, fairer, and safer // Tackling Hiring Fraud // Transforming the labour market

Professor of Work and Skills, Leeds University

Most PE firms will have a 100-day plan for any acquisition or divestment, but not as many have a Day One plan to ensure those 100 days will be a success.

The 48 hours after a deal closes can be the most dangerous in a transaction. Not because the deal falls apart - it's already done - but because the people who will make the deal work start making decisions about whether they're staying, or not. 

They're watching, and they're talking, and in the absence of clear signals from the new owners, they will generally fill the gap with assumption, and assumption, in my experience, is almost always worse than the truth.

I've been involved in integrations where Day One was treated as an admin exercise. Investors and owners get on with signing the paperwork, leaders send a welcome email, and they may hold a town hall. 

I've also led integrations where Day One was treated as the most important communication event of the entire deal. The difference in retention, pace, and cultural coherence six months later was significant, and cannot be ignored.

Here is what actually needs to happen before the ink dries:
👉 Identify and celebrate the leaders who are staying. People need visibility of an established structure that they can be a part of into the future.
👉 Brief line managers before the all-hands. This should be obvious, because people will raise concerns to those who are closest to them, not some random mailbox for a CEO to respond to in 2 weeks time.
👉 Decide what is not changing and let people know at the outset. People can absorb change but they won't accept a lack of transparency. 
👉 Be ready for resignations - these are normal and are to be expected but in and of themselves do not mean the deal will fail. But you need to be ready to respond in the right way so things don't snowball.

Don't get me wrong, a 100-day plan matters, of course it does. But it only works if you haven't lost your best people by Day 3....

🚨 HINT: save this post and share it with your deal team before your next close.

#mergersandacquisitions #peopleintegration #hr #leadership #privateequity

Important UK update on Unfair Dismissal changes linked to the Employment Rights Act 2025.

Last week the UK Government published a factsheet on upcoming changes to the rules around Unfair Dismissal (see attached PDF)

 So, a quick summary on these changes, which will come into effect from 1 January 2027:
⚠️ The statutory cap on unfair dismissal compensation will be removed completely, with no further consultation.
⚠️ The six-month qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal protection will apply from the same date, with immediate protection for those who already have six months’ service.

Day-one protections remain unchanged. However, these changes may affect how some employers think about probation periods, dismissal risk and longer-term people decisions.

#employmentlaw #ukemployment #hr

UK Government Factsheet: Unfair Dismissal

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Winner – D2C Growth Leader of the Year, Adgully MAA Awards 2025
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