Director of People

Ukio; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private health insurance

Flexible remuneration

Office events

Transportation card

Free refreshments

International team

Job summary

Ukio, based in Barcelona, seeks a Director of People to lead and scale the People function across Talent Acquisition, Office Management & Employee Experience, and People Operations. This role reports to the Executive Team and advises business leaders.

You will craft a forward‑looking People strategy aligned with business goals, develop a high‑performing team, and drive engagement, retention, and organizational design in a fast‑paced environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years as Head/Director of People with direct reports.
• Experience in startups or scale-ups (Series B–C preferred).
• Proven ability to build and execute People strategies.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and stakeholder management skills.
• Solid knowledge of Spanish labour law; fluent in Spanish and English.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute a scalable People strategy aligned with business goals.
• Partner with leadership on organizational design, talent planning, and culture.
• Lead and develop managers across TA, OMEV, and POps, ensuring alignment and impact.
• Oversee hiring strategy, workforce planning, and employer branding.
• Drive performance, engagement, and retention frameworks.
• Ensure efficient, compliant, and scalable People Operations.
• Monitor People metrics to enable data-driven decision‑making.

Skills

Leadership

People strategy

Stakeholder management

Talent Acquisition

Employee Experience

People Operations

Strategic thinking

Data-driven

Job description

We are one of the most promising startups of 2026 with headquarters in Spain. We were founded in Barcelona, and since then, we've expanded to include offices in Madrid, Lisbon, and Paris. This is only the beginning as we've got our sights set on spreading to the rest of Europe and later to include other continents as well .

Ukio's mission is to empower individuals to live where they want, when they want . We do this by disrupting the traditional residential real estate market, providing fully furnished and artfully designed apartments for stays starting at one month. We remove all the hassle around finding a rental with no long‑term contracts, security deposits, broker fees, moving/buying furniture, etc., giving choice and flexibility to allow people to plant their roots anywhere .

Backed by Europe's best Venture Capital firms, this year will be vital in our growth as we look to further build out our team, further establish ourselves in our current markets, and expand our reach into multiple new markets . We are currently ranked in the top 10 startups in Spain by Linkedin, and we have successfully raised a Series A investment round of €27 million that will help propel our growth throughout Western Europe and bring us closer to reaching our goals .

Our culture |

We honor diversity, compassion, and honesty above all else in our team. We’ve already got a great mix of dedicated, collaborative, and results‑driven people and are looking for more like minded folks to join our team. In true startup fashion, we always embrace the unknown and grant full autonomy to our team members to act as the owners of their projects and tasks. We are creators who embrace dynamic environments and take on and build up projects from scratch.

Our team is composed of everyone from foodies to athletes, adventure seekers to art buffs. We know fun, and we always have a team event on our calendars, so are you ready to join us?

Role |

This role is based in Barcelona. We're open to candidates relocating from elsewhere in Spain or from within Europe.

We are looking for a strategic, hands‑on and inspirational Director of People to lead and scale our People function.

This role will define and execute a forward‑thinking People strategy aligned with business objectives, while leading and developing a team across three verticals:

• Talent Acquisition
• Office Management & Employee Experience
• People Operations

As a key member of the leadership ecosystem, the Director of People will shape company culture, strengthen leadership capability, and drive high levels of engagement and performance across the organization.

This position reports directly to the Executive Team and acts as a trusted advisor to business leaders.

Responsibilities |

• Define and execute a scalable People strategy aligned with business goals.
• Partner with leadership on organizational design, talent planning, and culture.
• Lead and develop managers across TA, OMEV, and POps, ensuring alignment and impact.
• Oversee hiring strategy, workforce planning, and employer branding.
• Drive performance, engagement, and retention frameworks.
• Ensure efficient, compliant, and scalable People Operations.
• Monitor People metrics to enable data-driven decision‑making.

Requirements |

• 6+ years as a Head/Director of People managing direct reports.
• Experience in startups or scale‑ups (Series B–C preferred).
• Proven ability to build and execute People strategies.
• Strong leadership, coaching, and stakeholder management skills.
• Solid knowledge across TA, Employee Experience, and People Operations.
• Solid knowledge of Spanish labour law (mandatory).
• Good command of Spanish and fluency in English.
• Strategic, data-driven, and comfortable in fast‑paced environments.

Ukio's life benefits |

• Private Health Insurance with ALAN
• Flexible retribution with Payflow
• UKIO Anniversary gift
• Team buildings and office events
• Transportation card (transportation coverage for role that have traveling needed for their work tasks according to the internal policy)
• Breakfast at the office, fruits, nutrition bars, free coffee/tea and popcorn!
• An amazing internal culture and no dress code!
• International working environment with many different nationalities!

Ukio's culture promotes and values each individual's contribution. Diversity and inclusion, it’s a big topic for us, as such we encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.

Sky's the limit for us. We're here to revolutionize your life. Be part of this revolution