People & Culture Partner – NYC Office
Required skills
- People & Culture
- HR
- Talent Acquisition
- People Operations
- Recruiting
- U.S. employment practices
- Performance
- Engagement
- Onboarding
- Offboarding
Nice to have
- People data
- Employee insights
- Strategic sparring partner
- Playbook development
Role summary
Lio is seeking a People & Culture Partner to establish and lead their New York office's HR function following a $30M Series A funding round. This foundational role involves creating the HR infrastructure from scratch, including end-to-end recruiting, onboarding, performance management, and employee engagement. The partner will act as a strategic advisor, adapting global initiatives to the U.S. market while fostering a unified company culture across New York and Munich. The ideal candidate has 3+ years of experience in a fast-growing startup, strong recruiting skills, and a solid understanding of U.S. employment practices.
Build the team and culture behind Lio’s next chapter.
Following our $30M Series A, we’re expanding internationally and building our New York office from the ground up. As our first People & Culture hire in the U.S., you won’t step into an established function, you’ll create it.
You’ll hire the exceptional people who will shape our U.S. organization and build the foundations for their performance, development, and engagement. Working closely with our Munich People team, U.S. team and founders you’ll help create one global company with shared values and ambitious standards.
This is your opportunity to do more than join a great culture, it’s your opportunity to help build one!
What You’ll Do
Establish Lio’s local People & Culture presence in New York as an extension of our Munich-based People team
Act as a strategic sparring partner to our People & Culture Lead, helping shape a unified global people strategy
Own the NYC employee journey, including recruiting, onboarding, engagement, performance, development, and offboarding
Lead end-to-end hiring for U.S. roles and help build a high-performing New York team
Serve as the trusted local point of contact for employees and managers
Support managers with team development, feedback, performance, and employee-related topics
Adapt global initiatives and processes to the U.S. market while ensuring consistency across both offices
Build scalable local structures that support our growth while remaining closely connected to the global People strategy
Use employee insights and people data to continuously improve the employee experience
Strengthen the connection between Munich and New York: one company, one People team, and one shared culture
Your Profile
You have at least three years of experience in People & Culture, HR, Talent Acquisition, People Operations, or a related role
You have worked in a fast-growing startup or scale-up and understand what it takes to build while a company is scaling
You bring strong recruiting experience and are comfortable owning critical searches end to end
You understand the fundamentals of U.S. employment practices and know when to involve external experts
You have supported managers and employees across performance, development, and engagement topics
You combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution and are excited to establish People & Culture in a new location
You are proactive, structured, and comfortable making progress without an established local playbook
You communicate clearly, exercise sound judgment, and handle sensitive topics with care
You enjoy collaborating across cultures, offices, and time zones
You are based in New York City and excited to work closely with the team in person
Why Lio?
Build from the ground up: Establish the People & Culture foundation for our New York office
Shape the team: Hire and develop the exceptional people who will drive our U.S. growth
Strategic influence: Work closely with our People & Culture Lead, founders, and U.S. leadership
One global team: Connect Munich and New York through shared values, standards, and experiences
Visible impact: Every person you hire and every process you build will directly shape Lio’s future
This isn’t about creating a separate U.S. People function. It’s about building the New York arm of one global People team: one company, one culture, and two offices.
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