Head of People

Head of People
Hybrid · Ghent, Belgium (HQ)
Reports to the Chief of Staff

Polysense builds operational intelligence software for food manufacturers. Companies like Agristo, Lotus Biscoff, and La Lorraine already run on it.

We're about 40 people today, two months off an $11M seed round as we build toward Series A. Performance, coaching, recognition, growth: it all sits informally with the founders right now, and it doesn't scale.

As our Head of People, this is a build-it-yourself role. There's no framework to inherit and no playbook to follow. You're writing it as you go, then rewriting it as we grow. You'll touch the performance system, coaching for our mostly-first-time managers, targeted L&D, recognition, and a handful of comp-adjacent projects that have never had an owner. You'll also do some hands-on recruiting early on, fading out as you settle into the rest.

If you nail one thing, make it the performance framework. Everything else cascades from there.

Mission: build the performance culture and people foundation that lets Polysense keep its bar high while it grows.

💼 What you'll be doing

1. The performance framework, top priority
   The review structure, the leveling grid, the internal comms that explain it, one shared bar across every team, not just engineering. Build it to work at our size now, then keep it working as we grow.

2. Coaching managers, especially first-time ones
   You're who our newer managers come to for the harder conversations: real feedback, handling low performers, the stuff nobody hands you a script for.

3. Targeted L&D
   You spot the actual skill gaps, team by team, and build focused training to close them. Not generic, not compliance-style, the real thing.

4. Recognition, done properly
   Today it's ad hoc Slack shout-outs. You build real, structured recognition tied to a visible growth path.

5. The comp-adjacent projects nobody owns
   A handful of low-cost, high-value structural projects, mobility budgets tied to leveling, a flexible income plan, sector wage schemes, stalled purely on capacity. Yours to pick up.

6. Some hands-on recruiting, early on
   Real hiring work at the start, so you understand the org and the bar from the inside. Fades out as you move fully into the rest.

Not in scope: full-cycle recruiting isn't where this role lands long-term, that stays with the Talent Partner track.

Key point: this isn't a process-heavy People Ops role. You're building a performance-first, high-performing-team culture, not a policy-and-checklist HR function.

💪 What you bring

Background & Experience

• A solid TA/recruiting background, not because you'll keep recruiting full-time, but because it ties closely to performance work, and it's where you learn the difference between good and great talent.

• You've directly managed a team or have coached others, not just been an IC, with people who'd vouch for you as their manager.

• You've worked the develop/retain side of the talent lifecycle, and contributed to at least one structured people process beyond sourcing: a leveling grid, a review cycle, a training program you helped build.

• You can spot a specific, team-level skill gap and design targeted training for it, not a generic compliance course.

• You've coached managers on feedback or handling low performers, even if informally.

• You've operated in at least one fast-paced, lower-structure environment, at series A+, and you're comfortable holding a lot of hats.

• You've already built and run a performance framework or leveling system, including comp bands, and used it to drive real outcomes: promotions, PIPs, exits.

• Extra bonus if you've personally been through a Series A (or comparable) stage transition, or you've done exec-search/senior-hire recruiting.

Mindset & way of working

• A trusted advisor, not just a policy-writer: you're comfortable coaching managers, including founders, through the tough calls. We've got a lot of first-time managers who need that directly.

• In it for the work, not the title: your ambition reads as wanting to actually build this, not chasing "Head of" as the next natural step up.

🌟 What success looks like
✓ Month 1-3: you've mapped what exists today across the org, and what doesn't. The performance framework work is already underway.
✓ Month 3-6: quick wins like the wage-supplement and mobility-budget projects are already live. The performance framework itself never really "finishes," but