Senior Personalreferent/International HR Advisor

We're looking for an Senior Personalreferent/International HR Advisor based in Berlin/Munich to join our growing global HR team on a full-time basis.

This is a generalist role with real breadth and genuine ownership. You'll be the dedicated German HR expert within our team — serving as Rise's named Verantwortlicher and owning our AÜG (Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz) licence compliance as your primary responsibility — while also supporting a wide range of HR activities across our EMEA region and some coverage of the Americas/APAC.

Key Responsibilities

AÜG Licence & German HR Compliance

• Serve as Rise's named Verantwortlicher — Rise's legally designated responsible person for all staffing and workforce deployment operations in Germany
• Own Rise's AÜG licence compliance end-to-end
• Maintain all required documentation including assignment agreements, equal pay assessments, maximum assignment duration tracking, and mandatory disclosures
• Monitor AÜG regulatory developments and ensure Rise's processes remain fully compliant
• Manage German-language authority communications and compliance filings
• Lead audit preparation including documentation review, records organisation, and authority liaison
• Work closely with Rise's legal team and external counsel to ensure AÜG documentation is watertight and audit-ready
• Maintain an AÜG compliance tracker and flag risks or issues promptly

Broader Compliance & Licence Management

• Maintain a compliance tracker covering employment licences, labour hire registrations, and regulatory obligations across EMEA
• Manage licence renewals, applications, and documentation across all active jurisdictions
• Liaise with employment authorities and regulatory bodies across the regional remit
• Ensure HR compliance records are audit-ready at all times
• Identify and flag compliance gaps or legislative changes before they become problems

Employee Relations

• Own ER cases end-to-end across the regional remit — grievances, disciplinaries, PIPs, and investigations
• Conduct investigations, chair or support hearings, produce outcome letters in English and German, and manage appeals
• Advise on Kündigungsschutz, notice periods, and statutory entitlements under German employment law
• Manage Betriebsrat interactions and works council consultation processes where applicable
• Coach managers and clients through ER processes with clear guidance and procedural compliance

Right to Work & Global Mobility

• Own right to work checks across the regional remit — ensuring valid documentation before and throughout employment
• Maintain a right to work tracker with expiry dates and renewal management
• Ensure processes are consistent, compliant, and audit-ready across all jurisdictions
• Manage German-language interactions with employees and authorities where needed
• Support visa tracking, work permit applications, A1 certificate management, and posted worker notifications
• Maintain a global mobility tracker covering active assignments and compliance obligations
• Liaise with immigration authorities and external advisors to keep everything compliant

Global Benefits Management

• Contribute to the management and evolution of Rise's global benefits offering — not just administration
• Work with brokers, insurers, and providers to benchmark, review, and improve schemes across jurisdictions
• Manage enrolment, changes, and leaver processing across EMEA
• Ensure statutory benefits compliance including German mandatory benefits and local obligations
• Feed into the annual renewal process and benefits strategy discussions

HRIS, Time & Attendance

• Act as the HR voice in product and tech conversations about HRIS upgrades, new features, and platform improvements
• Contribute to system testing, implementation, and user acceptance activity
• Maintain data accuracy and manage time and attendance including timesheets, absence tracking, and exception handling
• Ensure compliance with the Arbeitszeitgesetz and working time obligations across all jurisdictions
• Maintain GDPR and German BDSG compliance across all HR and time and attendance data

Client, Sales & Partnerships

• Work alongside account managers and client contacts to deliver best-in-class HR service across the regional remit
• Act as a German HR subject matter expert for client-facing queries and escalations
• Collaborate with the sales and partnerships team on HR and employment law readiness for new market launches, whilst conducting thorough research on new and existing countries

Legal Team Partnership

• Partner closely with Rise's legal team and external counsel on AÜG documentation, EMEA ER matters, contract reviews, and compliance
• Manage legal sign-off processes cleanly and know when escalation is needed

Recruitment Support

• Support hiring managers with job descriptions, interview processes, offer letters, and compliant onboarding
• Ensure new hires are set up correctly from day one across all jurisdictions

Learning & Development

• Identify L&D needs across the EMEA and Americas population and coordinate training delivery
• Support manager capability building around German employment law, AÜG, ER, and people management
• Contribute to Rise's broader L&D framework as the HR function grows

Experience Required

Essential

• 3–5 years' HR experience with exposure to German employment law and HR compliance
• Personalfachkaufmann/-frau (IHK) qualified or equivalent German HR qualification — must have
• Bilingual in German and English — both to a professional written and spoken standard — must have
• Based in Berlin, Germany — must have
• Eligibility and commitment to serve as Rise's named Verantwortlicher under the AÜG — a core requirement of this role, including a clean criminal record (Führungszeugnis) — must have
• Some direct exposure to AÜG compliance requirements, documentation obligations, and audit processes — does not need to have been the sole owner but must understand the framework
• Experience managing German HR documentation, compliance filings, and authority communications in German
• Experience managing employee relations matters in line with German employment law
• Organised and detail-oriented with strong compliance and documentation habits
• Comfortable working independently in a remote, internationally distributed team

Strongly Preferred

• Direct experience managing AÜG licence compliance, documentation, or audit preparation
• Experience working with employment authorities, regulatory bodies, or government agencies in Germany
• Exposure to broader EMEA, APAC, Americas HR compliance requirements
• Experience collaborating with client-facing or commercial teams in an HR capacity
• Familiarity with works council (Betriebsrat) obligations and interaction requirements
• Experience supporting global mobility, work permits, A1 certificates, or posted worker processes
• Experience in a fast-growing, scale-up, EOR, or PEO environment
• CIPD qualification or equivalent UK HR qualification an advantage
• Additional language capability welcome — French, Spanish, or other European languages an advantage