EMEA People Operations Lead (Fixed-Term Contract)

Please note this is a 12-month fixed term contract.

Toast is driven by building the all-in-one restaurant platform that helps restaurants operate their business, increase sales, engage guests, and keep employees happy. Our PeopleHub team is the heartbeat of our People & Places function, responsible for building global scalable tools, systems, processes, and dashboards that support our employees at every stage of their employee journey. We are helping transform the way that the People and Places Team delivers service to employees.

As the EMEA People Operations Lead you will help build and deliver a frictionless employee experience across the employee lifecycle for our teams in EMEA and help shape a global "shared services" model as it scales. You will own front line support for employee inquiries including benefits and leave administration, alongside other operational activities and program delivery. This role carries real ownership: you are the person Toasters in EMEA come to in the moments that matter, and the person who spots what is not working and fixes it. To be successful you will bring a customer-centric and continuous improvement mindset, a proven ability to use technology and process to elevate the employee experience, strong stakeholder management, and experience in a shared services function within a global matrixed organization.

This role reports to the PeopleHub Manager and will work closely with the PeopleHub Director and across our global centers of excellence (COEs).

This is a hybrid role requiring 2 days a week in our Dublin office.

A day in the life (Responsibilities)

• Deliver front line People Services (Shared Services) support for the EMEA region across the employee lifecycle, including operations, benefits, leave administration, and compensation

• Serve as an escalation point for complex EMEA cases, resolving them accurately, compliantly, and with a high standard of service

• Track and report on metrics and service level agreements (SLAs) to measure service quality and provide insights for decision-making

• Spot what is not working and bring forward ideas to fix it, with the autonomy to test and implement improvements

• Drive continuous improvements focused on automation, standardization and scalability that improve the Toaster experience, increase efficiency, and ensure compliance with local laws and customs

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across the People Team, Legal, Finance, and Business teams to influence change and drive adoption of an evolving service delivery model

• Be the local subject matter expert who can influence Global COEs on program design that is locally relevant and compliant while aligned to global principles

• Partner across the People & Places team globally to prioritize and deliver a variety of small to large, complex, integrated People team initiatives

What you'll need to thrive (Requirements)

• Professional fluency in English and French (preferred), both written and spoken, with the ability to support Toasters and partner with stakeholders in both languages

• Typically requires a minimum of 8 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 6 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 3 years experience; or equivalent experience

• Significant hands-on experience within People Operations or Shared Services functions

• Experience operating in a matrixed structure, and influencing outcomes without direct authority

• Experience with new entity creation and creation of complete employee lifecycle processes

• Experience supporting Global HR Transformation: strategy, design, and transition of People Operations to create value for the organization

• Working knowledge of labour regulations, GDPR requirements and best practices to help ensure Toast remains compliant

• Familiarity with SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley), and experience working within SOX-compliant programs and processes

• Understanding of HR Technology, HR reporting, workflow, and auditing requirements (experience with Greenhouse, Workday, and ServiceNow is valuable)

• Excellent analytical, problem solving and decision making skills with strong attention to detail

AI at Toast

At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture.

Our Total Rewards Philosophy

We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits.