HR
Building the People Infrastructure at Phoenix Digital Health
An exercise in scaling right, post-Series A
Introduction
Phoenix is a digital healthcare platform focused on reshaping men’s health in Canada. From diagnosis to delivery, Phoenix is committed to creating a more accessible, patient-centric healthcare experience. Backed by leading investors like Y Combinator, Phoenix has quickly emerged as a market leader in digital health.
The Challenge
Following a $50M Series A raise, Phoenix entered a rapid growth phase and needed to quickly scale its internal operations. With a lean team and ambitious goals, the company needed structure, systems, and people-focused processes to keep pace with expansion while maintaining a great employee experience.
How BrightIron Helped
BrightIron partnered with Phoenix to build the foundations of a scalable and compliant people function. We began by developing and implementing a company-wide onboarding program that leveraged Phoenix’s existing HRIS, ensuring new hires experienced a smooth and consistent entry into the organization. To further support the employee lifecycle, we created onboarding and offboarding surveys, giving Phoenix a feedback loop to continuously improve these critical processes.
We also designed and documented a comprehensive offboarding process that supported seamless employee transitions while preserving institutional knowledge. To help align culture and compliance, we authored the Phoenix Employee Handbook, incorporating all relevant and legally required company policies tailored to their unique environment.
Recognizing the need for structured growth and performance development, we built a Performance Management Cycle, complete with templates for both employee and manager reviews. This system helped foster a feedback culture and support employee development at scale. Finally, we created a Recruitment Playbook that included best practices for structured interviewing, an optimized workflow within the Applicant Tracking System, and interview scorecards to support consistent, fair, and effective hiring decisions.
With BrightIron’s support, Phoenix was able to quickly scale its HR function to match the pace of its business, laying the groundwork for long-term team success.
“BrightIron has been able to step in where it made sense and take on the pieces that would’ve pulled us away from focusing on growth. Their team’s been a solid extension of ours and a big part of helping us get to where we are today.”
Joshua Starr
VP & General Manager, Phoenix Digital Health
