Head of Workplace

Personio's intelligent HR platform helps small and medium-sized organizations unlock the power of people by making complicated, time-consuming tasks simple and efficient. Our growing team of 1,800+ Personios across Europe and the US are building user-friendly products that delight our 15,000+ customers and their 1.5 million employees. Ready to make an impact from day one?

This is an office-based role located in Personio's Munich (ideally), Berlin or Dublin office.
Bring your drive. Build our culture. Join People, Workplace, & IT at Personio to shape the future of work for our teams—and influence how HR teams across Europe think about people experience.

As Head of Workplace & Experience, you will set the vision and lead the global strategy for our workplace, space, and people experience across our offices. You'll build and enable a high-performing team, partner closely with Executive Leadership Team and functional leaders, and deliver a scalable, data-led workplace model that accelerates productivity, collaboration, and belonging.

What You'll Do
Strategy and Leadership

• Set and own the global Workplace & Experience strategy, roadmap, and operating model across EMEA sites; define the right mix of office-led and remote-friendly practices to enable high performance.
• Lead, develop, and scale a multi-site Workplace & Experience team (real estate & workplace operations, facilities, space planning, global events/engagement, health & safety), with clear goals, career paths, and standards of excellence.
• Build the business case for investments; own annual planning, headcount plans within the function, and multiyear space and workplace technology roadmaps.

Real Estate, Space, and Portfolio Management

• Partner with Real Estate and Finance to shape our office portfolio: market assessments, scenarios, lease negotiations support, renewals, and expansions/rightsizing.
• Own space strategy and utilization performance: implement data-led space planning, occupancy targets, seating philosophy, move/add/change processes, and workplace standards across sites.
• Oversee design and delivery of new or refurbished spaces that reflect Personio's brand, sustainability goals, accessibility standards, and hybrid use cases.

Operational Excellence and Vendor Performance

• Own global workplace operations end-to-end: reception, facilities, maintenance, security, cleaning, mail/parcel, food & beverage, and on-site services.
• Establish and manage vendor strategy, RFPs, SLAs, QBRs, and performance scorecards; optimize for quality, cost, and experience.
• Own the workplace technology stack (e.g., access control, visitor management, room/desk booking, with clear processes, integrations, and adoption metrics.

Experience, Community, and Culture

• Design and scale programs that drive belonging, connection, and engagement: rituals, on-site moments, cultural initiatives, and signature events aligned to Personio principles.
• Partner with People Ops, IT, Onboarding, and Site Leads to deliver a frictionless Day 1 to Day 90 on-site journey; measure and iterate for impact.
• Sponsor Culture Committees and ERG programming to ensure inclusive, locally resonant, and globally consistent experiences.

Health, Safety, Risk, and Compliance

• Serve as accountable owner for workplace H&S across sites; ensure policies, training, audits, drills, and documentation meet local regulations and internal standards.
• Oversee physical security posture in partnership with corp security, including access governance, incident response, and continuity planning.

Data, Insights, and Outcomes

• Define the KPI stack and cadence: experience NPS/CSAT, utilization, cost per seat, service-level adherence, issue MTTR, program adoption, safety metrics, and vendor QoS.
• Run a quarterly business review for Workplace & People Experience; translate insights into roadmap priorities and continuous improvement.

Cross-functional Partnership and Communication

• Operate as a trusted partner to ELT, Site Leads, Finance, Procurement, Legal, People, and IT; align workplace initiatives to business priorities, headcount plans, and location strategy.
• Communicate clearly and proactively: site updates, changes, renovations, policy shifts, and major events; set expectations and maintain feedback loops with employees.

What You Need To Succeed

• 8–12+ years leading Workplace/Facilities/Real Estate/Experience in multi-site, high-growth tech or enterprise environments; 4+ years people leadership with managers and vendors under management.
• Demonstrated success building and scaling a global or multi-country workplace function with measurable improvements in experience, utilization, and cost efficiency.
• Deep experience with vendor strategy, procurement, RFPs, contracts, SLAs, and operational playbooks across reception, F&B, cleaning, security, and maintenance.
• Proven delivery of space strategy and office buildouts: concept to handover, including sustainability and accessibility considerations; comfort with portfolio scenarios and TCO modeling.
• Track record designing culture-anchored engagement programs and flagship events that drive connection, retention, and performance in a hybrid context.
• Fluency with workplace technology stacks (e.g., access control, visitor management, room/desk booking, IWMS/CAFM) and data-led decision-making.
• Executive-ready stakeholder management; clear written and verbal communication in English and German.
• Bias to action with sound judgment; thrives in ambiguity, sets crisp standards, and scales through systems and people.

Bonus Points

• Experience in EMEA regulatory environments for H&S and facilities.
• Background collaborating with IT Security on physical-security and business continuity.
• Exposure to lease strategy, negotiations, and cost modeling in partnership with Real Estate and Finance.
• Experience supporting M&A integrations or site consolidations.

Why Personio
Personio is an equal opportunities employer, committed to building an integrative culture where everyone feels welcomed and supported. We embrace uniqueness and understand that our diverse, values-driven culture makes us stronger. We are proud to have an inclusive workplace environment that will foster your development no matter your gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, education level, or race.

At Personio, we value in-person collaboration while also offering flexibility. This role is office-based, with 3 days required in your contracted office location. The remaining days can be worked from home or in the office if you prefer. In addition, you'll have 20 Flex Days per year to work remotely from other locations.

Aside from our people, culture, and mission, check out some of the other benefits that make Personio a great place to work:

• Receive a competitive reward package – reevaluated each year – that includes salary, benefits, and pre-IPO equity
• Enjoy 28 days of paid vacation, plus an additional day after 2 and 4 years
• Make an impact on the environment and society with 1 (fully paid) Impact Day
• Receive generous family leave, child support, mental health support, and sabbatical opportunities
• We enjoy gathering for meals, cultural initiatives, and events like local Summer Sessions and year-end celebrations. There's also healthy snacks, drinks, and a weekly catered lunch