EMEA People Operations Lead: Scale & Automate HR

Airwallex; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking a Manager of People Operations, EMEA to deliver a high‑quality employee experience across a growing region. You will own core lifecycle processes, partner with Payroll, IT, Compliance, and Legal, and help scale our regional operating model with hands‑on delivery and process improvements.

You’ll balance detail work with strategic system improvements, ensuring data integrity and compliance across multiple countries.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in People Operations or HR Operations in fast‑growing software/fintech.
• Experience with end‑to‑end employee lifecycle processes (onboarding, offboarding, payroll inputs, benefits).
• Experience supporting multiple EMEA countries and local employment requirements.
• Familiarity with payroll processes including variable compensation.
• Hands‑on, detail oriented, able to manage high‑volume ops while maintaining quality.
• Strong written and verbal communication with stakeholders and providers.
• Track record of process improvement; experience using AI for improvements is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop regional People Operations; own end‑to‑end lifecycle for an EMEA footprint (~400 employees).
• Codify SOPs, manage P&T JIRA queue, define workflows aligned with global guidance.
• Collaborate with Payroll, IT, Compliance on accurate transactions and audits.
• Run data audits, improve data integrity, reporting and governance.
• Support benefits rollout across EMEA markets with internal and external partners.
• Handle employment changes, leaves, visas, right‑to‑work processes.
• Ensure regional processes align with local requirements and global policies.
• Identify inefficiencies and drive automation and AI‑driven improvements.
• Support global People projects and system implementations.
• Manage and allocate work across People Operations teams.

Skills

People Operations

HR Operations

EMEA experience

Onboarding

Payroll

HRIS administration

Data governance

AI-enabled process improvement

Tools

BambooHR

Deel

Jira

Confluence

Lattice

Slack

Google Workspace

Job description

Airwallex is seeking a Manager of People Operations, EMEA to deliver a high‑quality employee experience across a growing region. You will own core lifecycle processes, partner with Payroll, IT, Compliance, and Legal, and help scale our regional operating model with hands‑on delivery and process improvements.

You’ll balance detail work with strategic system improvements, ensuring data integrity and compliance across multiple countries.