People AI and Operations Specialist

xFarm Technologies; Lombardia; Hybrid; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

International team

Permanent hire potential

Maternity cover contract

Milan headquarters

Job summary

xFarm Technologies in Milan is seeking a People AI & Operations Specialist to join the People & Organization team on a maternity leave cover with potential for permanent hire.

You will lead payroll and HR administration across Italy, optimize the HRIS, and own end-to-end employee lifecycle processes across EMEA. You will also test and implement AI-powered improvements to automate repetitive HR tasks, partnering with IT and Talent Acquisition.

Qualifications

• 2–5+ years in People Operations or HR roles with an operational focus.
• Strong payroll experience and Italian HR administration knowledge.
• Hands-on with HRIS platforms (Factorial, Personio, BambooHR, HiBob).
• Interest in AI and process automation to improve HR workflows.

Responsibilities

• Oversee payroll and HR administration across Italy and support cross-country teams.
• Own end-to-end employee lifecycle processes across EMEA and LATAM.
• Maintain and improve HRIS data quality, accuracy, and compliance.
• Draft, update, and communicate People policies for different countries.
• Deliver people data reporting and KPIs to leadership.
• Drive AI adoption and automation to streamline HR workflows.

Skills

HR Operations

Payroll

HRIS administration

AI tools interest

Italian language

English language

Low-code automation

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR / business

Tools

Factorial

Personio

BambooHR

HiBob

Job description

Where HR meets the future of work — and you help build it. xFarm Technologies is an independent tech company, created by farmers for farmers. Our mission is to digitalize the agri-food sector through a comprehensive platform accessible from computers, tablets, and smartphones. The xFarm platform is built around five pillars: Farm Management, Agronomy, Precision Farming, Connectivity, and Sustainability. Today, we support the work of 600,000+ farms across 24 million hectares in more than 100 countries. We are looking for a People AI & Operations Specialist to join our People & Organization team in Milan. This role covers two of the most exciting and high-impact domains of our Full-stack People model: People Operations and AI & People Innovation. You will operate at an international level, supporting our EMEA and LATAM geographies, and work in close collaboration with a small, highly skilled, and genuinely international team. This is a temporary contract to cover a maternity leave, with a possibility of a full-time permanent hiring.

What you will do

People Operations

• Manage payroll and HR administration, in collaboration with payroll and labour consultants across different European countries (main focus — Italy)
• Manage and continuously improve the HRIS (HR Information System), ensuring data quality, accuracy, and compliance across all geographies
• Own employee lifecycle processes end-to-end: onboarding, contract management, changes, and offboarding workflows across EMEA and LATAM
• Draft, update, and communicate People policies adapted to different countries and legal frameworks
• Manage employee requests related to contracts, payroll, and HR administration, ensuring a timely and high-quality response
• Maintain and improve the People policies handbook, keeping it current and accessible for all employees and managers
• Ensure process compliance across all countries in scope, partnering with legal and finance where needed
• Deliver people data reporting and operational KPIs to the leadership team

AI & People Innovation

• Evaluate, test, and drive the adoption of AI tools within the People function — from AI-assisted workflows to automation of repetitive tasks
• Identify friction points in existing People processes and redesign them before applying automation — understanding the work before changing it
• Build and maintain automations that reduce manual effort and improve the employee experience (e.g., onboarding communications, contract generation, HR reminders)
• Own and evolve the People tech stack roadmap in collaboration with IT and the People team
• Partner with the Talent Acquisition team to design, evaluate, select, and implement tools and platforms for recruitment and hiring — from ATS configuration to AI-powered sourcing and screening solutions
• Monitor the market for emerging People technology solutions and bring informed recommendations to the team
• Support the broader organization's AI transformation agenda from the People function perspective, acting as an internal champion for innovation
• Contribute to the future of work agenda, helping xFarm stay ahead of the curve on how AI is reshaping HR roles and practices

Who you are

You have solid experience in HR Operations — and you are genuinely excited about the intersection of people processes and technology. You do not just manage workflows: you ask why they exist, how they could be simpler, and what a better version would look like.

What really matters to us:

• 2–5+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Systems, or a combined HR generalist/specialist role with a strong operational component
• Solid experience and knowledge of payroll and HR administration in Italy
• Hands‑on experience with HRIS platforms (e.g., Factorial, Personio, BambooHR, HiBob, or similar) — you are comfortable being the internal expert and administrator
• A genuine passion for AI tools and process automation — you experiment, you learn fast, and you are not afraid to build something new
• Ability to manage multiple processes and priorities in parallel, with precision and attention to detail
• Strong communication skills — you can explain a complex compliance topic to a manager in plain language and a process change to an entire team without friction
• Fluency in Italian — required for managing local operations and employee relations in Italy
• Fluency in English — our working language is English, and you will operate daily in an international context

It would be a bonus if you:

• Have experience supporting multi-country or international HR operations (EMEA scope particularly valued)
• Have experience with low-code/no-code automation tools (e.g., Make.com, Zappier, Notion AI, or similar)
• Have worked in a tech company, scale-up, or fast‑growth international environment
• Have familiarity with people analytics tools or data dashboards
• What we offer
• A role at the intersection of People Operations and AI — one of the most strategically relevant spaces in modern HR
• A temporary contract (maternity leave cover) with a genuine possibility of permanent hire
• Over the medium to long term, the opportunity to expand into other HR domains — including Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, or an HRBP role
• Integration into a small, international, and high‑calibre People team — you will have real ownership of your domains from day one
• Headquarters in Milan, with an international scope covering EMEA and LATAM
• Hybrid working: 2 remote days per week after a successful onboarding phase
• A front‑row seat in a purpose-driven global tech company that is reshaping the future of agriculture

xFarm Technologies is committed to creating a work environment where diversity and inclusion are critical to the well‑being and growth of all employees.

This search complies with Legislative Decree 198/2006 and is open to candidates of all gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, ages, ethnicities, and religious beliefs.