[Hiring] People Operations Specialist @Coverflex

Coverflex

Work changed. Pay didn’t.

Coverflex exists to make compensation work for everyone.
Pay is still rigid, fragmented, and hard to feel.
We turn compensation into choice – one platform, one card, one app – for benefits, meal allowance, insurance, and more.

Our platform is simple for HR and meaningful for employees.
We provide choice, smarter compensation tools, and empowerment.

TL;DR (The Essentials)

Role: People Operations Specialist
Seniority Level: Intermediate
Type: Individual Contributor
Languages: English (main) / Portuguese (required) / Italian or Spanish (nice-to-have)
Main Tools: HiBob, Notion, Slack, ChatGPT, Google Sheets, Figures, Teamtailor
Location: Remote (Portugal)
Compensation:

• Salary Range: 28.000 – 33.000€
• Bonus / Commissions: No
• Equity: Yes
• Benefits: All Coverflex Benefits apply
• Contract Type: Permanent

💥 Your Impact

Your role will be essential to how we scale our People operations with precision, clarity, and humanity.

You’ll own the processes that make Coverflex a great place to work – ensuring that data, systems, and workflows run smoothly and that every Coverflexer’s journey, from onboarding to offboarding, is consistent, compliant, and a great experience.

You’ll act as the operational brain and heart of the People Team: transforming complexity into structure, information into insight, and routine into excellence.

You’ll know you’re successful when, after 90 days, you’ve:

• audited and streamlined key People processes in HiBob and Notion.
• created stronger bridges between Finance, Legal, and People for contracts and payroll data flow.
• elevated the accuracy and usability of our HR data for decision-making.

How we’ll measure success:

• Main KPI 1: HRIS data accuracy and reliability
• Main KPI 2: Process SLAs – speed and quality of People Ops support
• Main KPI 3: Cross-team alignment and compliance consistency
• Secondary KPI 1: Efficiency gains through automation or documentation
• Secondary KPI 2: Internal stakeholder satisfaction (via pulse or feedback)

⚡ Reality Check – What Makes This Role Hard

Let’s be real – here’s what makes this role challenging:

• We’re a remote-first, multi-country scale-up, so context shifts quickly and priorities evolve weekly.
• You’ll need to connect dots across People, Finance, and Legal, ensuring smooth workflows without direct authority.
• You’ll often face ambiguity – your job is to bring clarity, not wait for it.
• Although you won’t process payroll directly, you’ll need a strong grasp of payroll logic and compliance to act as an intelligent bridge between teams and vendors.

👤 You

Must-haves (evidence, not years)

• Proven experience in People Operations, HR Administration, or HRIS management within a fast-paced or international environment.
• Strong knowledge of payroll principles and employment law (Portugal required; Spain or Italy a plus).
• Mastery of HR systems and automation tools – ideally HiBob, Notion, Google Sheets, Slack, and ChatGPT.
• Track record of improving processes, building documentation, and driving efficiency.
• A structured and analytical thinker who thrives in autonomy and takes pride in operational excellence.

Nice-to-have

• Experience in SaaS, Fintech, HRTech, or start-up environments.
• Familiarity with multi-country compliance and contractor/EoR models.
• Proficiency in Spanish or Italian.
• Experience in building dashboards or automations (e.g. Sheets, Notion, or Zapier).

🧬 Your DNA

• Curiosity – you constantly ask why before how.
• Ownership – you act like a founder, not a follower.
• Rigour – you care about precision and quality over speed.
• Clarity – you simplify complexity and communicate it cleanly.
• Collaboration – you work transparently, share credit, and elevate others.

You’ll probably find this frustrating if…

• You expect rigid hierarchies or micromanagement.
• You dislike async communication or frequent feedback.
• You see People Operations as “support” rather than a strategic enabler.

👥 Manager & Team

Meet Your Manager

Hiring Manager: João Franqueira – Chief People Officer
Location: Portugal
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaofranqueira

Profile Snapshot:

• Energy: High and passionate, with bursts of humour and intensity
• Communication: Empathetic, transparent, and intellectually demanding
• Feedback Style: Fair, kind, and direct – focused on growth, not blame

How to work with me – in the Manager’s own words:

“I expect excellence, not perfection. I believe empathy, rigour, and humour can coexist at work – and I live by that. I protect my team fiercely and expect the same ownership from them. I accept mistakes made in curiosity, not in carelessness.

I’m often juggling many things, so I value people who act autonomously, think deeply, and use technology to make things better. I love curious, self-starting people who challenge the status quo and bring their whole self to work. You’ll find me pushing hard, laughing hard, and always open to feedback – even when I’m stressed.”

Your Team

You’ll work day-to-day with:

Key Stakeholders:

Team Rituals:

• Weekly 1:1s with João
• Weekly People Pulse (Team)
• People Team Alignment (Sync or Async)
• People Ops Meeting (Fortnightly)
• Monthly Retrospective
• Quarterly People Review

💜 Access & Belonging (Equal Opportunity)

We hire for impact and potential, not pedigree.
We welcome applications from people with non-linear careers, career breaks, caregiving gaps, and those changing fields.

No discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender identity/expression, marital or family status, pregnancy, neurodivergence, race/ethnicity, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation, or any other protected ground.

Assessment fairness:
We anchor on evidence of outcomes (what you shipped, moved, or influenced).
We actively de-bias by using structured rubrics, multiple assessors, and blind screening most of the time  (we won’t know your name, gender, or personal info until the interview stage).

📬 Application Clarity

No cover letter required.
Apply with your LinkedIn or upload your CV.
You may be asked a few short, relevant questions.

Total candidate time investment: ~4–5 hours end-to-end.

🧩 Hiring Stages (What to Expect, Why & How Long)

1. CV / LinkedIn Screen — Signal check vs must-haves
• Done by People + Hiring Manager.
• You’ll hear from us within 7 business days.

2. Role-Fit Questionnaire (async)
Purpose: capture signals your CV can’t (languages, tools, scenario judgement) and calibrate seniority.
Format: multiple choice +  short answers.
Accessibility: prefer a call? Tell us – we’ll swap for a short chat.

3. Quick Interview (Intro Call) – Mutual fit & context • 20 min
With People. Covers role scope, salary, location, and timeline.

4. Hiring Manager Interview – Deep dive into your work • 45–60 min
Structured around outcomes, decisions, and collaboration.

5. Behavioural Interview – Allow us to know you! • 45-60 min
Stress-free virtual coffee, focused on getting to know you as a person. We talk about culture, beliefs, and purpose. 

6. Case / Work Sample – Show how you think • ≤90 min
Use our case or bring a real artefact (deck, PR, analysis, playbook).
We assess clarity, decision quality, stakeholder thinking, and ethics.

7. Case Review & Team Chat – Walkthrough + Q&A • 20–30 min
You’ll get actionable feedback either way.

8. Final Conversation (CEO / C-Level) – Values, strategy, and company growth • 30–45 min

Optional: References (2–3 people who’ve seen your recent work) – async.

⏱️ Speed & Communication

• Decision: within 4 weeks of your application.
• Updates: weekly if the process runs longer.
• Scheduling: interviews between 10:00–16:00 CET (flexible across Europe).
• Feedback: from the Case stage onwards, you’ll always receive written or verbal feedback – what went well, and what to strengthen next time.