Founding Human Resources Manager

Maisa; Valencia; Hybrid; EUR 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Maisa is seeking its first in-house HR expert to build and enforce people policies, ensure compliant onboarding, and manage employee relations as we scale. You will collaborate with Finance, Legal, Security, and department heads to implement clear guidelines and fair processes.

You will own onboarding for Spain and international hires, manage contracts, leaves, benefits, and offboarding with precise playbooks, and drive policy execution across time zones while maintaining a strong culture.

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of Spanish labour law and HR compliance.
• Proven experience in employee relations and mediation.
• Strong negotiation and communication skills with leaders in fast-growing environments.
• Fluent in English and Spanish, with ability to operate across time zones.

Responsibilities

• Partner with leadership and VPs on people policies and exceptions.
• Own onboarding for Spain and international hires with managers for early check-ins.
• Manage leave, contracts, benefits, and offboarding with clear guides at every stage.
• Audit and update policy library; implement holiday calendars and time-off rules.
• Oversee compliance in contracts, remote vs hub agreements, and pay transparency.

Skills

Spanish labour law

Employee relations

Negotiation

Bilingual English/Spanish

Job description

About The Company

The Best of Both Worlds

At Maisa, we believe great work happens when people have the freedom to choose the setup that works best for them.

Prefer the flexibility of remote work? You’re welcome to work remotely. Most of our roles are currently focused on Spain, although depending on the position and profile, we may be open to hiring from other locations.

Looking for some social energy? Our hybrid setup gives you the option to connect and work alongside teammates at our hubs in Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid and Murcia. And as we grow, our spaces will grow with us: when we build a team of more than 10 people in a location, our ambition is to create a hub there too.

We also want the time we spend together in person to be worth it. Today, that includes weekly transportation from the city center to our Valencia headquarters and weekly team lunches in Valencia and Barcelona, with more experiences to come as our teams and hubs evolve.

The Culture is OURS to Create

We’re still shaping how we work together—and that’s part of what makes joining Maisa now specifically exciting.

Everyone who joins has the opportunity to influence how we collaborate, connect, and build our culture. Rather than inheriting a finished playbook, you’ll have a voice in creating it.

Remote when you want flexibility. Together when you want connection. And a culture you can help shape from day one.

About The Role

The role

You'll be our first in-house HR expert. Recruitment at Maisa is already strong. This role makes what happens after the offer just as strong: reliable People operations, fair employee relations and clear rules that hold as we scale.

We don't believe in big HR teams. We believe in tight, clear guidelines that let a company that works, flies and scales fast keep its bar.

Our policies exist. The gap is execution. You'll close it by partnering with our leadership team and VPs so they know which policies apply, how to use them and why they matter. You'll negotiate, hold the line and make sure the rules are followed, softly but surely.

This is a dynamic, cross-functional, hands-on role. You'll work daily with Finance, Legal, Security and every department head.

What You'll Own

Leadership partnership and employee relations

• Be the go-to partner for the leadership team and VPs on every people policy: what applies, when and how
• Turn policy into playbooks, briefings and decision guides managers actually use
• Handle exceptions through one clear process, and say no when the answer is no
• Mediate conflicts impartially, handle sensitive concerns with discretion, and resolve or escalate fairly
  
  

Employee lifecycle

• Own onboarding for Spain and international hires, from signed offer to day one, with managers running early check-ins
• Manage contract changes, leaves of absence, benefits and offboarding, with clear guidance at every stage
• Keep employee records in Revolut People accurate and confidential
• Use feedback, check-ins and exit insights to spot recurring issues and reduce avoidable turnover
  
  

Policy, time and wellbeing

• Audit the policy library in Revolut People, close the gaps, and make every policy findable and acknowledged
• Own leave rules: holiday carry-over, days off in lieu, compensatory rest and time recording
• Set up official holiday calendars per autonomous community
• Design on-call and out-of-hours policies for a team working across time zones, including compensation, rest and the right to disconnect
• Spot signs of burnout and team tension early, and bring in specialist support when needed
  
  

Contracts and compliance

• Keep employment contracts and annexes compliant, clear and fair to both Maisa and our people
• Remote vs hub: distance-work agreements for remote employees, clear rules for hub-based ones
• Make sure every offer letter goes out with its job description
• Get us ready for Spain's pay transparency rules: objective pay criteria and compliant hiring practices
• Work with our labour advisory firm on payroll inputs, registrations and Social Security
  
  

Security and audit

• Own the people controls for SOC 2 and ISO 27001: screening, confidentiality, security awareness training, disciplinary process, joiner and leaver access, and the evidence auditors ask for
  
  

Immigration and global mobility

• Run Spanish immigration end to end with external counsel: highly qualified professional permits, Startup Law routes, digital nomad visa, EU Blue Card, renewals and family reunification
• Manage right-to-work across countries and be our main contact with Deel, our EOR, for international employees
• Manage business travel and cross-border work, flagging tax and social security exposure with Finance and Legal
  
  

Vendors and making policy land

• Manage People vendors: EOR, background checks, health insurance and HRIS
• Document processes in handbooks and playbooks
• Explain the rules so everyone at Maisa understands them: All Hands sessions, FAQs and onboarding content, starting with carry-over
  
  

Who You Are

• You've been through it: you joined a startup early and stayed until it passed 500 to 1,000 employees with its culture and performance bar intact. You can tell us what broke and what you did about it.
• Deep knowledge of Spanish labour law: contracts, collective agreements, Social Security, sick leave, working time, rest periods and workplace disputes
• Proven employee relations and mediation experience through rapid growth and organisational change
• A strong negotiator and communicator. You influence senior leaders without relying on authority, challenge them constructively, and hold boundaries without damaging relationships.
• Sound judgement and empathy: you find solutions that are fair to people and practical for the business
• Hands-on visa and right-to-work experience across countries, Spain above all
• Experience working with a labour advisory firm (gestoría) on payroll and registrations
• Time in a regulated environment: fintech, banking, or a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 company
• A builder: you write the policy, configure the system and brief the leaders yourself
• Fluent in English and Spanish
  
  

Nice to have

• Hands-on experience with Deel or another EOR platform
• Multi-country hiring across the EU, UK and US
• Benefits administration, including health insurance and flexible compensation
• HR process automation
• Background checks
• Psychosocial risk management and burnout prevention
  
  

Your first six months

• Every VP knows which policies apply to their team and applies them consistently
• Policy library complete and acknowledged in Revolut People
• One onboarding process for every hire, Spain and international
• Carry-over rules explained company-wide, and community calendars live
• On-call policy live
• Every remote employee on a signed distance-work agreement
• Recurring exit reasons tracked and shared with leadership
• No people-control findings in the next audit
  
  

By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be collected, processed, and retained by the company solely for the purposes of managing and assessing my candidacy.