Head of People Operations

Head Of People Operations

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Who We Are

Creating content that resonates is great — turning that attention into growth is even better. That's what Manychat does.

Our AI-powered automations help creators and brands engage with audiences across Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and TikTok — at the right moment, with the right message, minus the manual work.

We're 400+ people across three continents behind the leading platform for conversational growth, with AI skills shaping how we build, how we work, and how we grow.

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for a Head of People Operations to build and run a distributed hub model that delivers an excellent people experience — in every location, every day.

Your job is not to design the system from scratch. It's to own the execution of it across six hubs: hold the standard, make local teams genuinely strong, and build the kind of autonomy where hub partners decide and act without waiting.

This is not a classic HR Operations leadership role. What distinguishes it:

• You lead distributed hub teams that own the full employee lifecycle on the ground — not a central function serving locations from a distance
• You build autonomy, not dependency — hub teams should know what winning looks like and act on it
• You partner directly with the individual domain leads across the function — Workplace & Experience, Payroll, Compliance, People Tech, Rewards. Not their manager, but a peer who depends on their expertise to run the hubs well
• AI is core infrastructure, not a pilot — you default to automation for everything repeatable in the function

You thrive in ambiguity, move fast, and think in systems. You have the operational depth to manage complex multi-country employment realities, and the leadership to develop hub teams that genuinely own their work.

What You'll Do

Lead The Hub Model

• Own People Operations across all hubs: Netherlands, Spain, Armenia, US (Austin, Bay Area, New York), Brazil, Remote
• Each hub team covers the full employee lifecycle in location — pre-boarding, onboarding, changes, exits — with local office and facilities support, and local events and team-building
• Set the standard for what excellent hub execution looks like, and hold it across all locations
• Run the weekly sync rhythm with each hub — align priorities, surface blockers, keep quality consistent
• Build the hub community: connect People Ops partners across locations to share practice and raise the floor

Own Outcomes, Not Process

• Hub teams should decide and act — your job is to remove blockers, not add approval layers
• Own the OKR cascade: every hub has OKRs that roll up through the function; you're accountable for making that cascade real, not formal
• Define what success looks like in each location — local service standards, local processes, local roadmap

Partner With Domain Leads

Clear interfaces are the model, not the exception:

• Workplace & Experience — deploy global programs and standards locally; coordinate on facilities, office improvements, and events beyond the local scope
• Payroll — ensure multi-country payroll accuracy and surface local issues early
• People Tech — maintain HRIS data quality and drive system adoption across hubs
• Compliance — support policy adoption, manager training, and exit case handling in every location
• Rewards — run compensation reviews and benefits implementation per country

Challenge feasibility, propose alternatives, execute agreed decisions.

Build The Team

• Manage People Operations Partners across locations: NL, ES, AM, BR, US, Remote
• You're standing up the hub model while running it — build the team while it's operating
• Drive team development: upgrade skills, address underperformance, enable people with AI tools
• Build hub teams that operate autonomously — no daily hand-holding required

Manage The Operational Realities

• Visa and relocation support coordination across locations
• Local compliance and employment framework adherence, in partnership with Compliance
• Office and facilities baseline across hub locations — in coordination with Workplace & Experience on standards

Build AI-Native Operations

• Default to automation for employee queries, document generation, onboarding workflows, and operational logistics
• Build self-service so people don't need to contact us for anything a good system can answer
• Treat AI adoption within the function as infrastructure and a performance metric

What Success Looks Like

• Hub teams operating autonomously across all locations — you're steering, not executing day-to-day
• Every hub has OKRs, knows what winning looks like, and can tell if they hit it
• Employee lifecycle is consistent and increasingly automated across all locations
• Cross-functional interfaces with Payroll, Tech, Compliance, W&E are clean and frictionless
• Knowledge base live and current in a single source of truth
• AI and automation handle the majority of repeatable operational tasks inside the function
• Every hub partner owns their roadmap — not just their to-do list

To Shine In This Role

Experience & Background

• 10+ years in People Operations, HR Operations, or Operations leadership in multinational environments
• Direct experience managing distributed teams across multiple countries and employment frameworks
• Proven record building distributed operating models — not just inheriting and running existing ones
• Experience standing up new processes and functions in fast-changing environments
• Strong change management experience — organizational transitions handled with operational rigor and human care
• Experience in fast-scaling tech environments — SaaS and start-up / scale-up required

Skills & Mindset

• Systems thinker: you see how processes connect, where the friction is, and what the fix is
• AI-native operating instinct: you treat every new process as a question of which system or agent should own it
• Comfortable with ambiguity: non-linear situations with predictable outcomes
• Stakeholder management: you go and solve, not email and wait
• Cross-cultural judgment: you understand employment realities across NL, ES, BR, AM, US — or learn fast when you don't
• Executive presence: you partner with senior leadership and personally own the hardest operational calls

What We Offer

Benefits at Manychat don't start with a spreadsheet — they start with a belief: that you should be healthy, able to care for the people you love, and set up to do your best work. Everything below follows from that:

• Hybrid onboarding to start work remotely and relocation support for you and your family
• Comprehensive health insurance for both you and your family
• Professional development budget for conference tickets, online courses, and other relevant resources to help you grow
• Flexible benefits package: instead of a fixed set of perks, you get a flexible benefits budget you can direct across the things that matter most — health, wellbeing, family, and your home office among them. Within these areas, the choice is yours.
• Hybrid work and generous, flexible time off — planned with your team, not rationed by a rigid quota
• Work from where you need to — agreed with your team, not tied to a desk. Flexibility we built in on purpose, because location shouldn't get in the way of great work.
• In-office perks, including free meals and snacks
• Company-funded sport activities, annual offsites and team-building events
• AI isn't a perk here — it's how we work