People Operations Specialist

Job Description

Our client is building the future of AI for analysts and scientists, based on a fundamentally new approach to reasoning and knowledge representation. Their team of 40 exceptional researchers and engineers - distributed across 16 countries - are tackling some of the hardest problems in AI. They're in our R&D phase, founder-backed, and scaling rapidly toward commercialisation.

They are looking for a People Operations Specialist to join their Operations team. You will own the operational engine behind their team's growth and culture. This is not a traditional HR role; it is a logistics and process role. You will build and manage the infrastructure that allows our client to recruit top talent, execute complex quarterly retreats, and maintain rigorous internal documentation.

Location: Remote (working hours are 09:00-18:00 CET)

Team: People Ops (2 people total)

Requirements

What You'll Own

Recruitment Operations

• Manage the candidate pipeline to ensure a smooth flow throughout the process.
• Identify and address any irregularities or bottlenecks in the recruiting process immediately, and escalate for action.
• Manage relationships with recruitment agencies and oversee their onboarding processes and documentation.
• Keep all hiring team members updated, coordinated, and aligned on candidate status and next steps.
• Manage the configuration and maintenance of our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and other recruiting tools.
• Develop and maintain up-to-date recruiting documentation, including job ads, candidate materials, and tooling guides.

Quarterly Team Retreats

• Research, source, and vet venues for team retreats, ensuring they meet requirements.
• Monitor and coordinate all travel booking processes, including flights, ground transportation, and arrivals for team members.
• Act as the on-site coordinator during retreats to ensure smooth execution of the event.
• Plan and oversee venue logistics, including menus, room allocation, workspace configuration, and technical equipment setup.

People Processes

• Coordinate onboarding of new team members; ensuring smooth communication and set up for their start.
• Manage the tooling and documentation of team-facing people processes, ensuring they are accessible and up-to-date.
• Track and approve absence requests to ensure accurate records.
• Process reimbursement requests efficiently and accurately.

Background & Experience

Essential

• 4+ years in Operations or Project Management roles.
• Experience in a high-performance, fast-paced environment.
• Proven track record managing complex logistics (international travel, events).
• Experience documenting and building processes from scratch, not just following them.
• Ability to write clear, concise documentation that leaves no room for ambiguity.
• Degree (Masters preferred); in a subject that required structured thinking.

Highly Valued

• Experience planning and executing international events.
• Experience working in a fully remote, distributed team.

Technical Skills

Must Have

• Deep knowledge of Google Workspace toolset
• Calendar resources, groups, drive permissions, and admin console settings.
• Comfortable with spreadsheet formulas and data organisation for budgets and logistics .
• Comfortable using Google Sheets for complex travel data, budget tracking, and data organisation.

• Experience with Notion, or similar documentation/project management tools.
• Experience managing recruiting pipelines in tools like Ashby, Greenhouse, or Lever.

Nice to have

• Experience with travel booking tools, such as Perk.
• Experience with Deel or similar HRIS platforms.

Operating Style

You thrive when:

✅ The bar for quality is extremely high.

✅ There is no room for logistical errors (travel, visas, bookings) .

✅ Processes need to be built from scratch.

✅ You are solving complex, tangible problems

✅ You are working with smart, demanding people who expect speed and accuracy.

You struggle when:

❌ "Good enough" is acceptable.

❌ Tasks are ambiguous and you prefer to wait for instructions rather than creating a plan.

❌ Documentation is missing or sloppy.

Operating Environment

Stakeholders

• People Ops Manager - Your partner in running a well oiled people operations machine.
• Founders (Co-CEOs) - Direct access for critical decisions.
• Finance team: A team of 3 collaborating on finance, legal, and admin topics.
• External providers: Recruitment agencies, Deel (HRIS) support team, travel agents, venue hosts.

Collaboration & Tooling

• Ashby (ATS) - Recruitment pipeline.
• Google Sheets - Complex logistics and budgeting.
• Quire/Google Docs/Sheets - Task management, knowledge base and process documentation.
• Perk - Flight and accommodation booking tools.
• Deel (HRIS) - Absence policies and tracking

Benefits

Why Our client?

Highlights

The Mission: They're not building another SaaS tool or ad-tech platform. They're working on fundamental problems in AI that could reshape how machines learn and reason. If that excites you, you'll fit right in.

The Team: Work with researchers and engineers who are highly passionate about their work and the problems we are solving. Our intellectual bar is exceptionally high - and that extends to finance operations too.

The Stage: Pre-revenue R&D means you're building financial operations from scratch. No legacy mess to clean up. You'll establish the foundation that scales to Series A, Series B, and beyond.

Unique organisation: startup spirit with solid foundations

Startup spirit

• Collaborate with the best: Join a hand-picked team of intellectually curious people who are deeply passionate about their work.
• Make a real difference: Here, you aren't just a cog in a big machine; at eye-level with everyone else, your contributions directly impact the product and the team.
• Engineered for Exponential Scale: Our client is a deep-tech venture with a significant technological moat, aimed at solving fundamental, large-scale problems.
• Space to grow: As our client is starting to scale, there is plenty of opportunity to demonstrate leadership and take responsibility, developing organically into senior roles.

Solid foundations

• Securely funded: Fully funded by the founders, meaning our client operates without run-rate anxiety. Their ability to set our strategy is not driven by VC demands, but purely by the team’s understanding of what moves them fastest closer to our goal.
• Focus on Product, not fundraising: Financial stability allows our client to focus on long-term product potential, sustainable execution, and the strength of our team.
• Quality over chaos: Startups are often scrappy, but we have the stability to do things properly; our client has a high level of rigour and take the time to build things in a solid and reliable way from the start.

Team Retreats

• Our client is globally distributed but closely connected. Every three months, they bring the whole team together in nice locations across Europe.
• They spend one week together: planning, solving problems at the white board, having fun and bonding.