Key Skills

Job Description

For one of our clients, we’re looking for a VP HR who can build the people foundation of a fast-scaling company. 📍 Amsterdam, 4 days in the office ⏰ Full-time 📄 Permanent contract This is not a job for someone looking for a next role. It’s for someone looking for the thing they’ll be known for. They are building a multi-country platform at a pace that most companies never experience: new markets, new teams, every quarter. It’s demanding, complex, and at times relentless. It’s also one of the rare chances to build the human foundation of a company from the ground up, with the CEO as your direct partner. They need someone who will make this their first priority. Not one of several. The first. Someone who is in, fully, because building this is what they actually want to do with the next chapter of their life. If that sentence makes you hesitate, this isn’t the role. If it makes you lean in, keep reading. They are building a company that develops individuals and communities together: a place where people come to act, create, and grow, not to keep a seat. Ideas outrank hierarchy. Departments work as one team, not as silos. Excellence is personal, and it’s expected. And the culture is deliberately not corporate: sharp in thinking, liberal in spirit, serious about results. 💼 Your mandate You report directly to the CEO and sit with the senior leadership team as the company expands into new markets. You own the human system: how they hire, how they onboard, how they develop leaders, how they keep one culture intact across markets that are very different from each other. This is a build-from-scratch mandate. Concretely, you will: Set the HR roadmap that lets the company scale sustainably across many sites and countries Embed one culture across every location, so growth doesn’t dilute who they are Plan workforce needs around peak moments: recruitment, onboarding, and compliance readiness synced to launch dates in new markets Build one compensation and benefits architecture: competitive locally, consistent in logic across markets Develop a leadership pipeline: identify and grow manager-track talent internally, not just hire it externally Define an employee experience that keeps talent engaged in a high-turnover industry, working with local legal counsel market by market Professionalise the HR function itself: build the team and processes that keep pace with the business, with the mandate to grow the team as the company scales You start with a small HR Business Partner team supporting leadership on payroll, employee relations, and people operations. The rest is yours to build. 🧠 Who you are ✅ You’ve scaled HR inside real hypergrowth, and you have the scars and the systems to prove it ✅ You think strategically and execute pragmatically, in a reality that’s still forming around you ✅ You’ve worked hands-on across multiple European markets: real time on the ground, not remote oversight ✅ You’ve built one culture across distributed locations, and made it stick ✅ You know the EU labour landscape well enough to lead local counsel, and to challenge them ✅ You coach and partner with senior leaders as a peer, not a service function ✅ You prioritise ruthlessly when everything feels urgent, and stay calm doing it ✅ And above all: you want this. Not as a job. As the thing you build.

Core Responsibilities

Lead the HR roadmap and build the people systems, team, and processes needed to support rapid expansion across multiple countries and locations. Establish consistent culture, workforce planning, compensation and benefits, leadership development, and employee experience while partnering directly with the CEO and senior leaders.

Requirements

Requires proven experience scaling HR in a hypergrowth company and hands-on work across multiple European markets, including building a consistent culture across distributed locations. The candidate should understand the EU labor landscape, partner with senior leaders as a peer, and balance strategic thinking with pragmatic execution.