Senior Portfolio Talent Lead (B2B) - Octopus Ventures

About Octopus Ventures 

At Octopus Ventures, we back the people, ideas, and businesses that will change the world. Within our B2B Fund, we invest in early-stage technology companies shaping the future of work, AI, data infrastructure, and software. Our mission is not just to fund founders—it’s to help them build companies that scale faster and more sustainably through exceptional leadership and people strategy. The B2B Portfolio Talent Lead plays a critical role in making that happen. 

What's in it for you?

You'll lead our Talent Platform for the B2B fund—advising founders, investors, and boards on how to build high-performing leadership teams, scalable organisations, and enduring cultures. 

You’ll work at the intersection of investment, talent, and strategy, helping our portfolio companies unlock growth through talent, while shaping a market-leading founder proposition that enhances Octopus’s reputation as a true value-add investor. 

What you'll be doing

Build High-Performing Leadership Teams 

• Partner with portfolio founders and CEOs to assess, design, and build world-class executive and leadership teams. 
• Support critical C-level, VP & Senior Leadership (CRO, CTO, CPO, CFO, VP Sales, etc.) and key senior IC hiring by defining role scope, benchmarking compensation, scoping process, and facilitating introductions. 

Define and Deliver Talent Strategy 

• Design tailored Talent & People strategies for growth-stage portfolio companies, aligning structure, capability, and culture with scale objectives. 
• Deliver succession planning and leadership assessment frameworks to ensure team readiness for Series B and beyond
• Advise founders on organisational change, leadership development, and people infrastructure (e.g., compensation, OKRs, equity). 

Advisory and Impact 

• Act as a trusted advisor to founders, CEOs, and boards on people and culture — from founder transitions to exec team dynamics. 
• Partner with investment teams to integrate talent insight into investment decisions and post-investment plans. 

Build and Leverage a Strong Network 

• Develop and maintain a high-quality network of growth-stage operator talent across Europe — especially in AI, SaaS, and data infrastructure, factoring in all key impact areas (GTM, finance, product, technology etc). Curate community events (e.g., B2B Leaders Exchange, Founder Forums) connecting founders with operator talent. 
• Maintain a structured talent database and intelligence system for candidate tracking and market insights. 
• Share regular market data on compensation, equity trends, and candidate expectations to guide portfolio hiring strategy. 

Measure and Communicate Value 

• Track and report the measurable impact of talent interventions — from reduced time-to-hire to leadership team retention. 
• Produce quarterly Talent Value Reports for internal and external stakeholders, highlighting outcomes and success stories. 
• Collaborate with investment partners to include Talent value-add metrics in fundraising narratives. 

✅ Deep experience in executive talent, organisational design, or leadership advisory —ideally within venture capital, growth-stage tech, or executive search. 

✅ Proven ability to partner with/problem solve with founders, CEOs, and boards with credibility and empathy. 

✅ Strong understanding of B2B SaaS and AI leadership archetypes, compensation structures, and European talent market dynamics. 

✅ Exceptional relationship-builder, connector, and communicator. 

✅ Comfortable balancing strategic advisory with hands-on delivery. 

✅ Passionate about helping founders scale through people, not just capital. 

We encourage you to apply even if you don’t tick every box. What’s the worst that can happen?

This role will evolve as we grow and develop. So, if you are looking for a challenge in a fast paced and dynamic business, we can deliver on that. 

💰 A competitive salary, bonus, pension and share incentive plan 
✈️ Untracked holiday 
🏡 Hybrid working – our people spend 3 days a week in the office 
⚓ Anchor (our wellness hub) which includes Headspace, one to one coaching through Wellness Cloud, Digital GP, Shout & more 
👪 Up to 6 months paid parental leave regardless of gender 
❤️ Life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection 
🏥 Private medical insurance for you and your family 
🚗 Electric vehicle leasing 

Our Values 
At our core, we believe that how a company behaves is just as important as what it does. That’s why we chose to become an accredited B Corp (the equivalent of a Fairtrade coffee stamp but for companies) and to change our Articles of Association so that the interests all our stakeholders – employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders – are considered in every decision we make.   

We are committed to building a workplace where diversity is valued, and inclusion is a priority. By providing equal opportunities for growth and development, we embrace and celebrate all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ages, disabilities, and socio-economic backgrounds. We believe teams achieve their best when every member feels safe, respected and empowered to be their authentic selves.

We're proud to be disability confident and are committed to supporting candidates with a disability, including neurodiversity and mental health conditions, throughout the recruitment process. Applicants are welcome to opt-in to the disability confident scheme as part of our application process. If you require any adjustments to the interview process, we’ll be happy to accommodate where possible.