HR Manager - R&D

About the role 

We're looking for an HR Manager to be a local culture and talent partner to our EMEA R&D organization. This is a hands-on, locally-embedded role where you’ll build trust with leaders and engineers face-to-face, own the full hire-to-retain lifecycle for the region, provide backup support for ongoing operations in region, and bring a local lens to programs designed centrally. This role will have direct influence on shaping the employee experience and culture in our R&D organization.

As an HR Manager, EMEA R&D at Starburst you will drive:

Culture & Team Health

• Maintain an active, visible presence in the Warsaw office (minimum 3 days/week) and attend key meetings in person, not remotely.
• Run regular 1:1s with first-line managers to stay close to team health and emerging feedback themes.
• Conduct exit interviews for EMEA & APJ Engineering, analyzing turnover trends to partner with leaders on action plans.
• Turn Feedback Survey results and other cultural indicators into specific, tracked action items for EMEA Engineering.
• Surface emerging issues to key leadership and maintain a consistent pulse on employee sentiment.

Talent & Hiring

• Design and run a local hiring and onboarding program tailored to the region, complementary to our global onboarding practices.
• Own sourcing and screening for regional engineering roles, building and maintaining a local candidate pipeline.
• Design the interview loop in partnership with the Hiring Manager and set clear expectations for interviewer goals and responsibilities.
• Manage new hire logistics from start to finish: offers, day 1 readiness, and compliance.
• Build local market presence and influence to strengthen our employer brand in the region.
• Champion internal mobility opportunities for engineers across the region, while ensuring we maintain fairness and equity across the process.

Additional Scope

While we build out longer-term operational coverage, this role will also provide secondary support across the following areas to ensure continuity and no gaps in coverage:

Office Management  

• Serve as a secondary point of contact for day-to-day Warsaw office operations, providing coverage during absences, peak periods, or as workload requires. 
• Partner closely with the current Office Management & People Operations Specialist to stay looped in on ongoing priorities and vendor/facilities matters. Ensure feedback is mapped into local cultural connection points to keep teammates engaged. 

EMEA Operations Support

• Provide backup support for EMEA People Ops activities including employee lifecycle transactions, stepping in during PTO, surge periods, or as capacity needs dictate. 
• Work alongside the current Office Management & People Operations Specialist to maintain consistent employee experience.

Some of the things we look for:

• 3-5 years of HR experience; prior experience partnering with an Engineering or technical organization is a plus but not required
• Fluency in English and Polish
• Strong stakeholder management skills; comfortable building trust and driving alignment with cross-functional partners
• A track record of turning employee feedback and insight into action items that visibly move the needle on team culture
• Ability to Travel: This role will require 25% in-person travel for purposes including but not limited to new hire onboarding, team and department offsites, customer engagements, and other company events. Actual travel expectations may vary by role and business needs.

Where could this role be based?

• This role is based in our Warsaw office and follows a hybrid model, with an expectation of being onsite 2-3 days per week.