People & Culture Lead at Sleeping Duck

 People & Culture Lead Parental Leave Cover 

About Sleeping Duck 

Sleeping Duck was founded in 2014 by engineers Winston Wijeyeratne and Selvam Sinnappan and is now one of Australia’s fastest growing startups - and that’s particularly unique because we design our own concept products entirely in house.

Ground-breaking, engineer led, in-house product design. Real sleep science. Transparency. Honesty. Value. And a commitment to passionate, exemplary customer connection, service and support. We are a multi award winning product company that is reinventing the way Australian’s improve their sleep quality through better and more accessible high quality bedroom products.

Our team is exceptionally driven. We are led closely by our experienced founders and foster a strong inclusive culture. We are unified in our vision for reinventing the sleep product space to make better sleep accessible for everyone, no matter who you are. It is an exciting place to work because everyone at Sleeping Duck wants to do exceptional things.

We do almost everything in house which gives us a rare sense of unity of purpose in our vision to make better products and experiences for our customers. Our 60+ person team is very passionate, and includes Product Development, Story and Marketing, Supply Chain, Customer Experience and Technology.

P&C @ Sleeping Duck 

We're a small but dedicated People & Culture team, working closely together to support the needs of the business as they come up. Our focus is on recruiting, supporting, and retaining great people, while keeping the day-to-day running smoothly.

We're approachable, down-to-earth, and aim to keep things clear and simple when working with employees, leaders, or candidates. We want people to feel comfortable sharing feedback, asking questions, and getting involved when they can.

We stay flexible and responsive to what the business and our people need, and we work to create a positive employee experience through recruitment, onboarding, development, and engagement. 

What’s the role all about?

The People & Culture Lead is responsible for managing the P&C team and delivering end-to-end operational support across all aspects of the employee experience.

This includes leading initiatives in recruitment, onboarding, compliance, internal communications, and learning & development.

This position is a parental leave cover and can be flexible between 18-20 months. 

Your main focus areas will be: 

• Oversee the full employee lifecycle from recruitment through to offboarding.
• Lead the end-to-end onboarding experience, ensuring new starters are supported, informed and welcomed.
• Prepare employment contracts and payroll documentation for new and existing employees.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee records within the HRIS and payroll systems.
• Lead the planning and coordination of internal events that build team connection and celebrate culture.
• Oversee the physical office space to ensure it is safe, welcoming, and conducive to productivity and collaboration.
• Manage internal communications of important people experience information
• Provide timely and practical advice to people leaders and employees on P&C matters, policies, awards and legislation.
• Implement innovative and progressive learning programs utilising a broad range of formats 

People who we’d love to work with

• You have experience in People & Culture and a good understanding of HR compliance, employment legislation, and best practice.
• Formal leadership experience is a bonus - but what matters most is your ability to give and receive feedback and support others.
• You're a strong communicator, confident in your ability to influence, advocate, and build trust across all levels of the business.
• You genuinely care about people and are passionate about creating meaningful employee experiences.
• You like wearing many hats and enjoy working across a variety of tasks and projects.
• You’re a quick learner who’s curious about people, how they grow, and what makes a great workplace.
• You have a sharp eye for detail and always follow through — if you say you’ll do it, it gets done.

Our hiring process

1. Send in your application to this role. We appreciate it when you take the time to write personal cover letters and answer our questionnaire. Please avoid using AI to generate your words. We really just want to hear from you, personally in this instance.
2. Brittany, our P&C Lead will give you a phone call to discuss your application
3. We will meet for an interview to discuss your application in more detail. 
4. You’ll come into the office, see what it’s like to work here, and meet the team
5. An offer will be made.

Life @ Sleeping Duck

• An opportunity to be part of our evolving story and join an innovative and fast growing Melbourne born startup
• The team is really passionate about what they do, they have an open-minded, forward-thinking and inclusive culture
• Amazing employee benefits, wellness days, events, learning and development budget and generous leave entitlements
• To really live the SD life we will gift you a mattress to take home after your successful 6 months probation with generous discounts for family and friends

If you are interested, please submit your resume