People Operations Lead, Babbel
$125-155k
3+ days a week in office
Subscription-based language learning software
Be an early applicant
Subscription-based language learning software
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$125-155k
3+ days a week in office
1001+ employees
Company mission
To create mutual understanding through language.
Role
Who you are
- This is an ideal role for a hands-on builder who thrives in fast-paced environments and wants to touch all aspects of the employee lifecycle
- You are a hands-on operator and strategic partner who thrives at the intersection of people, culture, and business
- You balance empathy with operational rigor and enjoy creating structure in fast-moving environments
- 5-6+ years in People Operations, ideally in growing companies
- Prior experience as a Senior Manager or People Lead in a high-growth SaaS startup
- Proven success managing a PEO (preferably Justworks)
- Strong understanding of employment law, compliance, and people analytics
- Experience designing and implementing manager enablement programs from scratch
- Track record of partnering with leaders and managers to align people and business strategy
- Strong proficiency in Google Suite (Docs, Sheets, Slides)
- International experience a plus
- Enthusiasm for language-learning a plus
What the job involves
- Babbel is hiring a People Operations Lead to be a hands-on operator who will partner closely with the US leadership team to ensure the People strategy drives company performance
- The People Lead owns all aspects of People Operations, Employee Experience, Compliance, and Talent Development, building on the existing systems, processes, and culture that support Babbel’s US operations
- In this role, you’ll balance strategic leadership with tactical execution; from onboarding and managing benefits to coaching managers and building scalable programs
- This role reports into the US CEO
- Manage payroll, benefits, onboarding and offboarding, and compliance via Justworks
- Maintain and scale People processes, policies, documentation, and programs that reduce risk and drive clarity
- Lead employee engagement, recognition, and culture initiatives
- Serve as a trusted advisor to managers on performance, feedback, and employee relations
- Manage performance evaluation cycles; create frameworks for promotions and compensation adjustment
- Oversee full recruiting processes, including sourcing, screening, managing the candidate experience, and closing candidates
- Design and deliver learning programs and career frameworks
- Ensure clear internal communication and alignment across teams
- Create People analytics dashboards and provide insights to CEO and US leadership team
- Partner with the Berlin People team
- Supervise the office/operations manager
Our take
Babbel is one of the leading lights in the language eLearning sector. Its premium subscription-based online learning resources cover over a dozen predominantly European languages, at all proficiency levels. They include interactive lessons and podcasts - all developed and delivered by professional educators and linguists.
Learning languages online has become big business in recent years, and this has led to a surge of VC investment in the sector. This diversified the field of competition, tripling revenue for smaller rivals like Busuu and driving up engagement on online tutoring sites. It has ramped up pressure on incumbents like Babbel, and its better established (but pricier) competitor Rosetta Stone, to diversify their offerings.
To get there, Babbel has taken a smart cue from live tutoring sites like Preply, which also saw a surge in engagement over recent years. Babbel has launched its own live tuition offering, and additional B2B services, demonstrating a savvy use of its leading position and strong resources to keep a tight grip on its substantial market share.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
22% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Jul 2015
$22m
SERIES C
Mar 2013
$10m
SERIES B
Total funding: $33.3m
Company benefits
- 30 vacation days and flexible working hours
- BVG card or Swapfiets bike
- Jobbatical and Sabbatical options
- Many internal & external learning opportunities to choose from
- A yearly Learning & Development budget
- Visa and relocation assistance
- Full access to Babbel & Babbel Live classes
- Modern office in the heart of buzzing Berlin equipped with a family, music, faith and nap room
- Various internal communities to be part of including the Femgineers, DEI Ambassadors, Accessibility & Disability Group and more
Company HQ
Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
Leadership
Markus Witte
(Executive Chairman & Co-Founder)Currently a Partner at Wachstumsbegleitung, a Fellow of JoinPolitics and was Previously an Independent Board Member at Blinkist.
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