David Barker

Chief People Officer | People strategy for growth, transformation & value creation | Business Partner & Leader | Talent, Leadership, Organisation Design | Seed Investor

United Kingdom

About

I help ambitious organisations scale, transform and perform by aligning people strategy, leadership capability, talent, structure and culture to commercial outcomes. My career spans venture-backed technology, SaaS, gaming, AI/Web3, consulting, consumer brands and high-performance environments, including Improbable, Paddle, Riot Games, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, McLaren Racing, Saatchi & Saatchi and Line International.

Experience

  • Improbable (Full-time · 4 yrs 7 mos)
    • SVP People & Talent
      Feb 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 6 mos

      Executive People leader partnering with the CEO, COO, founders, and venture leadership teams during a significant transformation period as Improbable evolved toward a venture-focused operating model centred around AI, Web3, and emerging technology investments.

    • VP People
      Oct 2022 - Feb 2024 · 1 yr 5 mos

      Looking after everything related to People & Talent for our Improbable teams

    • Director - People Partners & Organisation Design
      Jan 2022 - Oct 2022 · 10 mos

      Supporting to deliver a people strategy to the Improbable business and bring leadership and expertise on transformational organisational design moving into the Metaverse, Blockchain and Web3. Leading a People Partner, Rewards and Performance team.

  • Chief People Officer at Paddle
    Apr 2020 - Dec 2021 · 1 yr 9 mos

    My role incorporated full, end-end people and talent strategy. I rebuilt the People and Talent team and delivered several key initiatives including redesigning the company values and behaviours, job levelling in readiness for compensation and career frameworks, delivering on our hiring growth goals, launched a management development program, compensation framework, amongst many other projects.

  • Riot Games (4 yrs 4 mos)
    • Director of People
      Jan 2018 - Apr 2020 · 2 yrs 4 mos

      My role incorporated creating, setting and delivering full-cycle People strategies aligned with our business goals across 23 markets. I was responsible for creating, supporting, coaching and advising on all people and talent-related plans to our International operations globally. I partnered with the President to design initiatives across all countries that positively impacted our people around the world. I built and scaled business operations to achieve projected people goals for our organization.

    • Talent Director
      2016 - 2020 · 4 yrs

      Senior People and Talent leader supporting global organisational growth, leadership capability, and operational scaling across one of the world’s leading gaming and entertainment businesses.

    • Director of Talent
      Jan 2016 - Dec 2017 · 2 yrs

      My role incorporated creating, setting and delivering full-cycle talent strategies aligned with our business goals across EU and RU. I was responsible for supporting, coaching and advising on all talent-related plans to our International offices across EMEA. I worked very closely with our central teams in Los Angeles, US

  • Saatchi & Saatchi (1 yr 3 mos)
    • Chief HR & Talent Officer
      Nov 2014 - Jan 2016 · 1 yr 3 mos

      Reporting to the COO and CEO I was responsible for the creation and delivery of pan-regional and global talent strategies, communications and business support. Coached senior executives across the organisation to support and develop leadership skills. Led multi-geography restructure change programs which were delivered with swiftness and minimal noise across the business. Created and delivered culture change workshops.

    • Chief HR/Talent Officer
      Nov 2014 - Jan 2016 · 1 yr 3 mos

      • Key Achievements: o Implemented a culture change program across offices in the USA, China, and the UK. o Developed a global talent framework for leadership identification and development. o Presented a comprehensive talent agenda to the Global Leadership Team. • Responsibilities: o Oversaw HR strategy execution across EMEA and globally for P&G accounts.

    • Chief Human Resources Officer
      2015 - 2016 · 1 yr

      Partnered with global leadership teams to align organisational capability, talent, and workforce planning with commercial priorities across an international creative business.

  • Microsoft (2 yrs 1 mo)
    • Human Resources Director
      2013 - 2015 · 2 yrs

      Partnered with Xbox and Studios leadership teams across Europe during a period of growth and digital transformation.

    • HR Lead - Xbox & Microsoft Studios
      Dec 2013 - Nov 2014 · 1 yr

      Led a team of HR professionals supporting Microsoft Studios/Xbox across EMEA. My role was to support the Corporate Vice President and the Leadership Team to deliver the people agenda across six studios.