Principal HR Business Partner

Principal HR Business Partner (all genders)

Department: Central Functions

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Berlin

Reporting To: Maria Kamischke

Description About Lingoda Founded 12 years ago, Lingoda addresses a pressing global challenge: meeting the demands of growing economies and aging populations through the mobility of global talent. Driven by its mission "to empower global talent with the language, cultural, and technical skills for integration and success", Lingoda has established itself as a leader in education. 
What We Do Lingoda's highly effective Small Group Learning Model is delivered via over 800,000 classes a year, powered by 2,400 qualified teachers and a unique proprietary curriculum designed to help learners achieve their goals, whether that be career progression or integration into a new country.
Who We Serve A rapidly growing and ambitious company, Lingoda operates in both B2B and B2C: while the B2B business has a strong focus on the healthcare sector in Germany and a credible ambition to expand into other professions and geographies, Lingoda's B2C business has a global presence, teaching German, English, Spanish, French, and Italian to students worldwide. Learning a language with Lingoda is a rewarding experience, made possible by us Lingodies who support our students every step of the way. We're committed to living the learning journey alongside them to create a world of connection and opportunity.

Why Join Us?
Joining Lingoda means becoming part of a team that's committed to getting better, together. We foster and inclusive culture of bravery, curiosity and growth, where insight turns into actions, and every team member contributes to igniting positive change

Be part of our journey to transform lives through Education
We are seeking an Principal HR Business Partner (all genders) based in Berlin, Germany.
Your mission with us: Design initiatives that support Lingoda's employer value proposition and that enables our employees to perform, develop and shine with excellent people programs and fit-for-purpose support. 

Your tasks:

• Act as a trusted strategic partner to the departmental leads within the assigned business areas, shaping people and organizational decisions in line with company strategy.
• Build and maintain strong, credible relationships with the broader senior leadership team, including Managing Directors, CXOs, and influential leaders across other departments.
• Serve as a sparring partner at executive level, providing clear, data-informed, and forward-looking perspectives on organizational effectiveness, leadership, and talent.
• Partner with leaders to design scalable, efficient, and future-ready organizational structures, balancing business needs, cost, and talent strategy.
• Ensure org design decisions are coherent across departments and aligned with long-term company priorities.
• Act as a senior anchor within the People & Culture function, setting standards for strategic HR partnering. Translate business strategy into people priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Oversee and contribute to all core HR processes relevant to the business areas (performance, talent, engagement, employee lifecycle, change management).
• Act as a change leader during periods of growth, transformation, or restructuring.
• Act as a senior HR interface for works council–related topics, ensuring high-quality preparation, alignment, and decision-making across relevant people processes.
• Lead complex or sensitive topics in the works council context with strong judgment, legal awareness, and pragmatic problem-solving.
• Be a critical thinker and a professional mediator when navigating through a high degree of complexity and ambiguity, in a growing company with different business models.
• Staying updated with industry best practices recommending innovative approaches to enhance HR processes and programs.

You bring to Lingoda

• Min. 5 years of experience in a strategic HR role
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human Resources, psychology, law, economics or social sciences or in a related field
• Strong facilitation and negotiation skills, particularly in regulated or co-determined environments. Experience to work and maintain a fruitful relation with works council in Germany.
• Experience in applying local labour law regulations and mitigating grievances, experience in DE and other international (EU) labour law is an advantage
• Excellent, executive-level communication skills – articulate, confident, and credible with senior stakeholders. Ability to influence without authority and navigate sensitive topics with diplomacy and clarity.
• Strong business acumen and the ability to connect people topics to commercial and strategic outcomes.
• High degree of independence, ownership, and judgment in complex or ambiguous situations. Demonstrated ability to effectively plan and manage change and HR projects from initiation to completion.
• Problem-solving skills and ability to proactively identify areas for improvement and innovation within the HR function
• A mindset of continuous improvement and a proven experience in implementing lessons learned from previous projects and applying best practices to drive efficiency and effectiveness
• Strategic yet pragmatic - ability to move seamlessly between big-picture thinking and operational execution.
• High integrity, resilience, and discretion.
• Business fluency in English (German would be an advantage).

You add to our culture with:

• Following your hands-on attitude and can-do approach you go for pragmatic but aligned solutions rather than waiting. 
• You know about the importance of strong networks and connections and use them in your and Lingoda's best interest.
• You are business savvy and strive to develop a business acumen that lets you understand our business models, revenue streams and maturity grades of the company.

What you can expect from Lingoda:

• Approachable leaders and transparent communication - every voice counts at Lingoda
• Company events and colleagues who are always happy to socialise + budgets towards team building events
• An inclusive environment with great team spirit and passion for languages
• A well-structured and exciting onboarding process to set you up for success
• The possibility to work remotely from your home or in the office located in the heart of Berlin
• Learning & development opportunities
• Free access to our language classes
• Mental Health programs
• Corporate benefits & pension funds
• 30 vacation days per year
• Free snacks & drinks at the office
• The modern hardware necessary for your work (n/a for freelancers)
• Flexible working hours

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