People Operations Lead

Taptap Send; Dubai; On-site; AED 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Taptap Send is seeking a systems-minded leader to drive our People Operations function. This senior role requires an operator mindset to design scalable, automated systems for a fast-growing global team and to develop a high-performing People Operations function.

You will set strategic direction, own payroll, compensation, reporting, and operational workflows, and lead a team through an AI-enabled transformation to achieve substantial automation.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in a high-performing, analytical environment (consulting, operations, finance, or fast-growing startup).
• Strategic and transformative mindset enabling organisational change.
• Strong track record building systems from scratch and scaling them.
• Highly analytical with dashboards, data and metrics to drive decisions.
• AI-native approach; actively using AI to automate and improve workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop the People Operations team as the function scales.
• Own People Operations strategy and AI-enabled transformation; design scalable payroll, compensation, reporting systems for 80–90% automation.
• Build the people data infrastructure and self-serve dashboards across headcount, attrition, hiring pipeline, and compensation.
• Own compensation and role governance including salary banding, benchmarking and leveling frameworks.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across Finance, Legal, and the wider business; connect people data with business planning.
• Institutionalise goal-setting and management operations across the organisation.
• Own the knowledge function; keep the knowledge centre and internal Q&A current and self-serve.
• Define excellence for People Operations and shape the future operating model for new markets.

Skills

People Operations

Leadership

Data dashboards

AI tools

Stakeholder management

Job description

Job Description:

About Us

We’re building the world’s leading cross-border fintech for emerging markets - empowering families, fuelling local economies, and changing how millions access financial services.

Since our launch in 2019, we have transformed how money moves across borders with our operations spanning 6 out of 7 continents and covering both the busiest and most underserved (remittance) corridors. We tapped into a massive shift - from banks to phones - bringing digital finance to places where traditional systems never reached. The next stage of growth will fuel a network of services and products especially designed to make money more accessible to diaspora communities including local cards, and additional savings and payments features.

We’re growing fast, backed by world-class investors, and scaling a product that blends real world impact with cutting edge fintech innovation.

Here’s a Little More

• Founded by Harvard grads and 3-time founders who previously built Segovia (acquired) and GiveDirectly (>$300M revenue, fastest-growing NGO in the world)
• Backed by top investors including Spark Capital, Canaan, Reid Hoffman, Breyer Capital, Unbound, Wamda, and more
• Built by global top performers from Bain, Google, McKinsey, Uber, Checkout, Bolt, and beyond - we move fast, stay humble, and care deeply about our mission
• Truly global team - 250+ people, 50+ nationalities, 50+ languages
• Guided by our values - ownership, impact, humility, and heart - in deed, not just word

About The Role

Taptap Send is seeking a systems-minded leader to drive our People Operations function. This senior, high-ownership role goes beyond traditional HR, requiring an operator who views People Operations as a scalable, automated system that supports our fast-growing global team. As the leader of this function, you will set the strategic direction and design the infrastructure that enables us to scale efficiently. We are looking for someone energised by transforming manual workflows into elegant, automated solutions and who is passionate about developing a team that directly improves the employee experience across our global markets.

What You'll Do

• Lead, mentor, and develop the People Operations team; setting direction, raising the bar on execution, and building the function’s capability as TTS scales
• Own the People Operations strategy and AI-enabled transformation agenda, designing scalable systems and automation across payroll, compensation, reporting, and operational workflows to achieve 80–90% automation of day-to-day processes
• Build the people data infrastructure and self-serve dashboards across headcount, attrition, hiring pipeline, and compensation, enabling leadership to make workforce decisions with confidence
• Own compensation and role governance, including salary banding, benchmarking, and levelling frameworks, keeping TTS competitive and consistent as we scale
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders across Finance, Legal, and the wider business, serving as the connective tissue between people data and business planning.
• Institutionalise goal-setting and management operations across the organisation
• Own the knowledge function; keeping the knowledge centre and internal Q&A current, accessible, and self-serve
• Define what “great” looks like for People Operations at a high-growth fintech, and shape the future operating model as we expand into new markets over the next 12–24 months

What You'll Need

• 8+ years in a high-performing, analytical environment; consulting, business operations, finance, or a fast-growing startup, including experience leading a function or team
• Strategic and transformative mindset; you are capable of rethinking traditional processes to drive organisational change and deliver long-term business impact
• Strong track record of building systems and processes from scratch and owning them at scale
• Highly analytical; comfortable building dashboards, working with data, and using metrics to drive decisions
• AI-native in your approach; you actively use AI tools to work faster, build smarter, and automate what doesn’t need to be manual
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; able to work across functions and influence others
• Proven people leadership; you’ve built, managed, and developed high-performing teams, and can set direction, coach, and hold a high bar
• This is a fully office-based role, requiring attendance in the office five days per week. Candidates should be comfortable working on‑site full‑time and value the collaboration and pace of an in‑person environment.

Also You Are

• Outgoing - you love speaking to people and enjoy building meaningful relationships
• Execution Oriented - we have an ‘impact first’ philosophy and a lot to get done. You should be able to take an idea to implementation
• Mission Oriented - you are passionate about working for a net positive organisation / tech for good
• Organised - you have a system for how you approach your work that can keep you on track in a scrappy startup environment
• Driven - you thrive in a fast-paced, target oriented company

Taptap Values

• Impact first
• Team next
• Accept reality
• Propose solutions
• Win with grit
• Be proactively candid, with yourself and others
• Love the particular
• Own it
• Create positive energy
• Maybe, even have fun

Equal Opportunity

Taptap Send is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All employment decisions are decided on the basis of qualifications, experience and business need. We strongly encourage applications who are members of underrepresented communities to apply.

If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to let us know. Any information you provide us in this respect will only be used to accommodate your requirements.

Note: we recognize imposter syndrome is real - any candidate that does not perfectly fit every characteristic of this role is still strongly encouraged to apply.