People Advisor

Butternut Box; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Vacation days + holidays

Paws days off

Learning & development budget

Parental leave

Bike lease

Dog discounts

Job summary

Butternut Box is seeking an experienced People Advisor to own the Belgium payroll operations and support payroll, contracts, and administration across Benelux. The role focuses on compliance, contract lifecycle management, and first-line employee support with a view to expanding to the Netherlands.

You will drive automation projects with the payroll provider ecosystem, improving data flows and reducing manual input while maintaining accurate HR records in HiBob.

Qualifications

• Proven experience with Belgian employment law and payroll.
• Fluent in English and Dutch (written and spoken).
• Experience coordinating with outsourced payroll providers.
• Strong Excel/Google Sheets skills for payroll data validation.
• Ability to translate complex payroll requirements into practical guidance for managers.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end payroll administration for Belgium and Benelux.
• Draft, issue and manage compliant contracts and onboarding/offboarding docs.
• Provide first-line employee support on payroll, policies, and processes.
• Coordinate benefits renewals and enrollment processes.
• Lead automation efforts to streamline payroll data flows and reduce manual input.
• Maintain data integrity in the HRIS (HiBob) and related systems.

Skills

Belgian payroll

Dutch language

HiBob

Payroll systems

Excel/Sheets

Communication

Vendor management

Tools

HRIS HiBob (HRIS)

Job description

We believe dogs deserve the healthiest, most natural and tastiest meals - with none of the nasties. That’s why we make FRESHly prepared food, cooked just like you would at home and delivered direct to our customers in perfect portions. As a B-Corp certified company, you’re joining a sustainable business that genuinely cares about our people, our products and our impact on the planet. Our goal is simple: to help dogs live healthier, happier, and longer lives, while leaving humans smiling after every interaction.

We’ve come a long way since our co-founders (Kev & Dave), hand delivered the very first Butternut Box. Today, we feed hundreds of thousands of hungry dogs across the UK and Europe - but we won’t stop until we’re feeding dogs everywhere. To get there, we need a team of brilliant people who share that ambition to come and work for us.

The job:

We are looking for an experienced People Advisor with proven experience in the Belgian employment landscape to join us on a fixed-term basis. In this role, you will own the day-to-day HR operational cycle for Belgium, while ideally scaling your expertise to support our payroll and generalist needs in the Netherlands (BNLX).

You will own the people operations for all things payroll, contracts, and administration, ensuring smooth experiences for our teams in-market. Beyond daily operations, you will have a unique opportunity to leave your mark by helping us transition, set up, and automate a new payroll provider ecosystem to cut out manual input.

A bit about the work you’ll deliver:

• Payroll & Admin Ownership (Belgium): Execute and own end-to-end payroll administration for Belgium and Netherlands (approx 75 employees), managing relationships with our outsourced payroll partners to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Contract & Lifecycle Management: Draft, issue, and manage compliant employment contracts, addendums, and local onboarding/offboarding documentation aligned with Belgian labor law.
• First-Line Employee Support: Act as the primary, go-to contact for our Benelux team, confidently answering daily employee and manager queries regarding payroll, local company policies and general HR processes.
• Benefits Administration: Coordinate annual benefit renewals and benefits platforms, day-to-day benefits processing, including new-hire enrollments, life events, terminations and responding to employee queries.
• Systems & Provider Automation: Play a key role in an upcoming project to change and optimize our Belgian payroll provider. You'll identify opportunities to build automations with the help of AI, streamline data flows and reduce manual data entry.
• Data Integrity: Maintain accurate, up-to-date employee records within our central HRIS (HiBob), running reports and ensuring seamless data alignment between internal systems and external providers.

A bit about the team you’ll be joining:

You will partner closely with regional Managers, Finance and external vendors to address employee queries regarding pay, benefits and local labor legislation.

You will report to the Benelux People Manager and be part of the wider People Team, collaborating with other payroll specialists to drive payroll excellence across our global footprint.

A bit about what we’re looking for:

• Belgian HR & Payroll Expertise: You have a proven track record working confidently within the Belgian employment law framework and running payroll with outsourced payroll partners. Ideally you have experience in PC200 and with contracts with variable work patterns and hours.
• Languages: You are fluent in English and Dutch (both written and spoken), allowing you to communicate effortlessly with our teams and local partners. Fluency in French is a massive bonus and will make your profile stand out!
• Systems & Spreadsheet Savvy: Proficient with HRIS platforms (experience with HiBob is ideal) and highly comfortable using Excel/Google Sheets to cross-check and manipulate payroll data.
• Hands‑on, zero ego, proud of your craft: You are comfortable working through highly detailed compliance tasks, setting up files from scratch and leaving processes better than how you found them.
• Strong Communicator: Strong communication skills to easily translate complex local labor/payroll guidelines into simple, practical advice for managers.
• The "Nice-to-Haves": Experience setting up new local payroll providers, transitioning vendors or introducing HR tech automations to eliminate manual workflows is a massive plus.

The interview process:

• Initial call with your dedicated Talent Acquisition Partner, carried out remotely.
• Skills interview, usually carried out remotely.
• Behaviours interview, usually carried out in person.

We usually expect our interview process to take 3-5 weeks, end to end.

Important things to note:

• Location & Flexibility: This role can be based in Belgium (Brussels) or the Netherlands (Amsterdam). This is a fixed-term contract position for 1 year. We are fully open to both full-time and part-time applicants (with a minimum of 30 hours per week across 4 days).

We’re a small (but mighty!) recruitment team. We aim to respond to everyone personally, but if we’re flooded with brilliant applications, we may need to close the role early. We appreciate your patience while we review applications.

For this specific role, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship, so you’ll need the right to work in the EU.

• We use an AI note‑taking tool called Metaview at some stages in our interview processes. If you'd prefer to opt out, please inform your Talent Acquisition Partner as soon as possible.

We're committed to ensuring a positive interview experience for all candidates. If you have any specific needs or require reasonable accommodations due to disability, neurodiversity or any other factors, please let us know and we'll do our best to make necessary arrangements, for example: extending the interview duration; scheduling short breaks during the interview to ensure your well-being; you may bring any necessary materials or tools for the interview such as your own written notes, communication boards or other assistive devices.

• 25 vacation days + public holidays (+1 extra day per year of service)
• 5 additional, paid 'paws' days off per year dedicated to your learning, development or personal wellbeing. Hit pause when you need it most
• €500 personal learning & development budget per year to sharpen your skills
• Full travel reimbursement (up to €350 per month)
• Extensive parental leave
• Lease a Bike scheme
• Volunteering options at dog shelters during working hours
• Discounts on Butternut Box for your own dog (or those of family & friends)

We believe in a seat at the table for everyone.

Butternut Box is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that to make the best food for all dogs, we need a team that represents all humans. We celebrate different nationalities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.We are specifically committed to increasing representation from underrepresented groups. We want a strong, diverse team built from different identities and lived experiences. We’re not perfect, but we are dedicated to the ongoing work of building an inclusive, supportive place where you can do the best work of your career.