CHRO / Head of People & Operations

MaxIQ; Pune District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 6,000,000; Full time

Job summary

MaxIQ, Pune-based revenue intelligence platform, is hiring its first senior people leader to build HR from the ground up and own finance and compliance for the India entity. This is a hands-on role working directly with the founders and leadership.

You'll craft HR policies, oversee payroll and statutory compliance, drive recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and monthly people dashboards for leadership, while building a lean HR function as we scale.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in HR with startup or SaaS experience.
• Strong knowledge of Indian labour laws, payroll and statutory compliance.
• Hands-on exposure to GST, TDS, banking and audits.
• Experience setting up HR policies, processes and HRMS from scratch.
• Exposure to SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audits is a strong plus.
• Builder mindset and ability to own multiple areas with a lean team.

Responsibilities

• Build HR from the ground up and own finance and compliance for the India entity.
• Draft and implement HR policies, employee handbook and statutory compliance (PF, ESI, PT, gratuity, POSH).
• Recruit end-to-end, manage in-house recruiter, and handle exits and F&F settlements.
• Brand and communicate culture and hiring content in partnership with marketing.
• Oversee onboarding, engagement, events, gifting and recognition.
• Drive performance management, appraisals and career frameworks.
• Administer compensation bands, increments, bonus planning and ESOPs; monthly payroll.
• Ensure SOC 2 / ISO 27001 compliance and people-side controls.

Skills

HR leadership

Payroll knowledge

Statutory compliance

GST TDS audits

Policy development

Communication

Strategy & ownership

Job description

MaxIQ is a revenue intelligence platform that helps enterprise sales and customer success teams forecast accurately, inspect pipeline, and act on customer signals. We integrate with Salesforce, Snowflake and Gong, and our AI agents work on top of MaxIQ's Context Graph. We're a fast-growing team in Pune building for global enterprise customers.

The Role

We're hiring our first senior people leader. You'll build HR at MaxIQ from the ground up and also own finance and compliance operations for our India entity. This is a hands-on role: you'll set the strategy and do the work, partnering directly with the founders and leadership.

What You'll Own

• HR policies, employee handbook and statutory compliance (PF, ESI, PT, gratuity, POSH)
• Recruitment end to end, managing our in-house recruiter, plus exits and F&F settlements
• Employer branding content on culture, hiring and life at MaxIQ, in partnership with marketing
• Onboarding, employee engagement, team events, gifting and recognition
• Performance management, appraisals and career frameworks
• Compensation bands, increments, bonus planning, ESOP administration and monthly payroll
• Banking relationship, FIRC coordination, GST/TDS/ROC filings and statutory audit, working with our accountant and external CA
• Org structure, headcount planning and a monthly people dashboard for leadership
• SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance program management and people-side controls
• Employee wellbeing, retention, culture and L&D
• Advising founders on people and scaling decisions, and building a lean HR team as we grow

What We're Looking For

• 10+ years in HR, with at least 3-4 years leading HR in a startup or product/SaaS company
• Strong working knowledge of Indian labour laws, payroll and statutory compliance
• Hands-on exposure to finance operations such as GST, TDS, banking and audits
• Experience setting up HR policies, processes and HRMS from scratch
• Exposure to SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audits is a strong plus
• A builder's mindset: comfortable owning many areas without a large team
• Excellent communication and judgment, with the trust of both leadership and employees

Why Join

• Build the people function from day one at a high-growth AI company
• Direct partnership with founders and real ownership across HR, finance and compliance
• A sharp, collaborative team working on hard enterprise AI problems