Regional People Lead, EMEA
Leads People strategy, employee relations, compliance, and operational execution across Duolingo’s multi-country EMEA organization. The role requires regional HR experience, PEO/EOR management, European employment-law knowledge, and the ability to advise leaders while scaling hands-on People operations.
About the job
Responsibilities
Strategic Partnership
- Serve as the senior People Partner to EMEA leaders, advising on organizational design, performance, team health, and growth.
- Lead engagement, inclusion, and talent-planning initiatives across the region.
- Guide leaders and teams through organizational change, translating global programs into regionally appropriate plans.
- Own complex employee-relations and higher-risk people matters, including investigations, grievances, performance and disciplinary processes, and settlement agreements.
- Use people data and engagement insights to identify organizational-health trends and recommend action.
Regional Operations & Compliance
- Own regional People operations across direct entities and PEO-supported markets.
- Lead and develop a People Operations Manager responsible for day-to-day execution.
- Manage the regional PEO/EOR relationship, including payroll submissions, employment changes, terminations, new-country implementation, and vendor management.
- Serve as the regional authority on employment compliance, including UK Right to Work, UK and German employment requirements, and country-specific PEO frameworks.
- Validate HRIS data against source documents and ensure global processes operate correctly in local practice.
- Liaise with Finance on budgets, vendor contracts, expense management, reporting, and internal controls.
- Improve repetitive regional processes through workflow and automation while maintaining compliance.
Recruiting & Workplace Experience
- Partner with Talent Acquisition on regional hiring strategy, offer decisions, and locally relevant onboarding.
- Partner with London workplace operations on facilities, safety, and vendor management.
- Lead regional events and programming.
- Support a consistent employee experience across hybrid and remote environments throughout the employee lifecycle.
Global Representation
- Represent EMEA in global People forums and planning cycles.
- Ensure regional perspectives shape global policies and processes.
Requirements
- Experience in HR, People Business Partnering, or regional People operations supporting multi-country EMEA teams.
- Hands-on experience managing employees through a PEO or EOR provider across multiple EMEA markets.
- Strong knowledge of European employment practices, labor law, and compliance across multiple jurisdictions, including the UK and Germany.
- Ability to balance strategic advising with hands-on operational execution.
- Experience scaling People operations and processes in a fast-growing, distributed environment.
- Sound judgment handling complex employee-relations and higher-risk people matters, grounded in employment law.
- Experience partnering with Finance on budgets, vendor management, and reporting.
- Strong cross-cultural communication and judgment about when to escalate, decide, or involve the global team.
- Fluency with core People and HRIS systems, with strong data-accuracy and documentation practices.
Compensation & Benefits
- Base salary range: £124,395–£186,592 GBP.
- Base salary is supplemented by equity compensation.
- Benefits support employees’ holistic well-being.
Skills
People Operations, Hr Business Partnering, Employment Law, Employee Relations, Peo Management, Eor Management, Payroll, Workday, HRIS, People Analytics, Talent Planning, Vendor Management, Uk Right To Work, Organizational Design, Workflow Automation
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