People Operations Manager

ABOUT AIRWALLEX Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 675,000 businesses, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok, use us, directly or through our platform partners, to run their financial operations or build and monetize financial products of their own. We started in Melbourne in 2015 to build the infrastructure global commerce runs on. We're the regulated backbone behind global payments: not by accident, but by design. A decade plus, 85+ licenses, and a financial infrastructure spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. We're co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with more than 2,300 people across 27 offices. We hire builders with founder-level energy, people who move fast with good judgment, dig in with real curiosity, and make calls from first principles rather than waiting to be told what to do. Read our operating principles https://www.airwallex.com/en-us/operating-principles to see it in full.   ABOUT AIRWALLEX Airwallex is a global payments and financial infrastructure platform that helps businesses move money globally. Our products span payments, accounts, treasury, cards, spend management and more, giving businesses a simpler way to manage their financial operations across borders. We’re building the future of global finance, and our People & Talent team plays an important role in helping Airwallex scale responsibly. We’re looking for thoughtful, hands-on operators who care deeply about employee experience and enjoy turning complex people processes into simple, effective solutions. WHAT YOU’LL DO As Manager, People Operations, EMEA, you’ll help deliver a high-quality employee experience across a growing and diverse region. You’ll combine hands-on operational ownership with process improvement, partnering closely with People Partners, Talent Acquisition, Payroll, Total Rewards, Workplace Experience, Legal and business leaders. You’ll own core employee lifecycle processes across EMEA, support local compliance and benefits administration, maintain accurate people data, and help employees and managers navigate People-related questions. You’ll also contribute to the evolution of our regional operating model, identifying opportunities to improve, automate and scale the way we work. This is a role for someone who is comfortable operating at both the detail level and the regional level: ensuring every onboarding, payroll input and employee query is handled well while also building better systems for the future. RESPONSIBILITIES - Lead and develop the regional People Operations function; own end-to-end employee lifecycle operations (onboarding/orientation, background checks, HRIS data integrity, payroll inputs/changes, benefits and leaves, offboarding) for an EMEA footprint with ~400 employees, with a strong focus on delivery quality and compliance. - Drive operational excellence by codifying and maintaining regional SOPs, managing the P&T JIRA helpdesk queue, and setting clear workflows and standards that are consistent with global guidance. - Partner cross-functionally with Payroll, IT, and Compliance on accurate and timely transactions, audits, vendor coordination, invoicing/POs, and change control. - Run regular data audits and quality checks, identify discrepancies and improve data integrity, reporting and governance. - Support the administration and rollout of benefits across relevant EMEA markets, working with internal stakeholders and external providers. - Provide operational support for employment changes, leave, probation, right-to-work processes, visas and other country-specific employee matters. - Work closely with People Partners and Legal to ensure processes are delivered consistently and in line with relevant local requirements. - Identify inefficiencies in manual workflows and drive process improvements, automation and appropriate use of AI. - Support regional and global People projects, including implementation of new systems, policies and employee programs. - Manage, prioritise and allocate work across People Operations support resources where applicable. Lead and drive a team-based, collaborative environment. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS - 6+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations or a closely related HR generalist role, ideally in a fast-growing software, internet or fintech company. - Strong knowledge of employee lifecycle processes, including onboarding, offboarding, payroll inputs, benefits, HRIS administration and employee data management. - Experience supporting employees across multiple EMEA countries (Netherlands, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, etc.) and working with local employment requirements. - Familiarity with payroll processes, including variable compensation such as commissions, bonuses or allowances. - A hands-on, detail-oriented approach and the ability to manage high-volume operational work without losing sight of quality. - Strong organisational skills, sound judgement and the ability to prioritise competing requests in a fast-moving environment. - Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to work with employees, managers, senior stakeholders and external providers. - A track record of improving processes, documenting ways of working and reducing manual effort. Experience using AI to drive improvements is highly preferred. - High standards of confidentiality, discretion and data accuracy. - The ability to operate independently, solve problems pragmatically and make progress despite ambiguity. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - Familiarity with BambooHR, Deel, Jira, Confluence, Lattice, Slack and Google Workspace. - Experience supporting EOR populations or employees across multiple legal entities. - Experience with HR systems implementation, workflow automation, reporting or AI-enabled process improvement. - Experience partnering with Workplace Experience or supporting office-based employee programs. - Professional HR qualification or equivalent practical experience. YOU’LL THRIVE HERE IF - You enjoy working across countries, cultures and time zones and can adapt your approach to different local contexts. - You’re comfortable moving between detailed execution and broader process improvement. - You default to action, learn quickly and course-correct when priorities change. - You communicate clearly, flag issues early and take ownership through to resolution. - You care about making complex processes easier for employees and managers. - You’re low-ego, collaborative and focused on achieving the right outcome for the business and our people. APPLICANT SAFETY POLICY: FRAUD AND THIRD-PARTY RECRUITERS To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport), or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com http://airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com http://careers.airwallex.com or our official LinkedIn page. Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don’t regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.