HR Director

HR Director

RoomRacoon was founded by Nadja Buckenberger and Tymen Van Dyl in 2017. Our mission is to redefine hotel operations through our all-in-one hotel management system.

Our diverse team of 110 professionals, spread across five offices worldwide, serves 2000+ clients in Europe, the USA, and Africa. Our benefits include equity, a formal training budget allowance, and an annual hotel allowance.

Location: Breda, Netherlands

Language: English

Work-type: On-site

Contract Type: Full-Time (6 month contract > 12 month contract > Permanent)

Your North Star

As the HR Director, your north star is achieving an Employee Engagement Score of 4.25 out of 5, ensuring our employees feel valued, supported, and inspired to do their best work every day. This operational leadership role is all about turning strategy into action; driving initiatives that not only boost engagement but also create a thriving workplace culture.

A Day in the Life of the HR Director

As our HR Director, you'll be responsible for making things happen; ensuring our people plans run on time, policies are followed, and our employee experience stays top notch. This is a hands-on role where you'll be directly involved in delivering initiatives, keeping processes moving, and ensuring every corner of the People function operates smoothly.

You should be able to thrive in a flat, fast-moving organisation where decisions are made quickly and collaboration happens directly, without layers of bureaucracy. You'll be hands-on, close to the work, and unafraid to roll up your sleeves.

Manager Partnership & Support

• Align daily and weekly priorities with the Advisory Board to deliver quarterly kick-off plans in line with the company strategy.
• Own the bi-annual employee engagement survey process; from rollout to collating results and creating, tracking and following up on action plans for each team based on survey feedback.
• Ensuring every employee receives a follow-up on critical feedback.
• Implements and maintains underperformance frameworks (e.g., performance improvement plans).
• Work with the Talent Development Manager to run training plans, performance improvement plans, and personal development plans to schedule.
• Handle employee relations cases with the relevant manager providing clear, decisive guidance and decision making based on labour legislation.

HR Administration & Policy Compliance

• Ensure company-wide adherence to policy and process standards.
• Monitor People team delivery of compliance tasks, addressing gaps promptly.
• Verify that our internal knowledge base for employees are up to date and conduct regular audits in BambooHR.
• Take corrective action when compliance standards are not met.
• Own global policy and governance, tracking and implementing legislative changes in all regions.
• Maintain a forward-looking people strategy to support business goals for the next 1–3 years.

Employee Experience & Engagement

• Execute the global engagement and culture plan within budget.
• Deliver regular initiatives and events to boost engagement.
• Drive visibility of the People team and leadership through ask me anything sessions, office presence, and proactive communication.
• Monitor employee experience through feedback tools and act quickly on improvement opportunities.
• Track and deliver retention and engagement initiatives to reduce turnover.

HR Process Execution

• Launch and manage the performance appraisal cycle on time.
• Ensure managers are trained on giving feedback and using relevant tools (e.g., Airtable).
• Implement and maintain engagement policies for contractors across all regions.
• Review, approve, and submit monthly payroll and benefits data to finance and providers on schedule and without error.

Talent Acquisition & People Management

• Oversee day-to-day talent acquisition operations, ensuring pipelines, budgets, and workforce plans are on track.
• Forecast and execute hiring plans in line with attrition and business growth.
• You'll lead a high-impact People function made up of three direct team members; our Talent Development Manager, People Operations Specialist, and Talent Acquisition Lead, supported indirectly by our IT Support Specialist and Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist. Your role is to ensure that the team is focused on delivering maximum impact with agility and collaboration.
• Provide hands-on coaching, direction, and feedback to maintain team performance.

Data & Reporting

• Maintain accurate tracking of people metrics and team performance.
• Report on how people performance impacts business performance.
• Provide quarterly and annual operational reports to the Advisory Board.
• Use data to identify areas requiring action and ensure follow-up is completed.

You'll Be Responsible For

As our HR Director, your role is about making things happen and making them stick. You're the operational backbone of our People function, ensuring our culture, compliance, engagement, and budget all run like clockwork.

• Drive Employee Retention: Be the champion of our people by keeping exits below 2.5% per quarter.
• Right People on the Bus: Make sure we have the right talent in the right seats. You'll ensure every hire and transition supports our growth, culture, and long-term success.
• Manage Culture & People Budget: Establish and allocate line items for culture and people-focused initiatives. Keep spending laser-focused, always delivering impact, always within the budget you've been given to manage.
• Ensure Compliance, Everywhere: You'll oversee 100% policy compliance across all our regions, with zero tolerance for critical breaches. It's not just about ticking boxes; it's about keeping every Raccoon secure, confident, and empowered.

Key Skills

We're looking for a hands-on HR leader who thrives in a fast-moving, scale-up environment and knows how to get things done. You'll bring:

• Extensive HR Expertise: 20 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 10 years in a leadership role, with proven success in operational execution and managing teams across various locations.
• Scale-Up Experience: Recent experience in a high-growth, fast-changing scale-up environment where processes need to be built, refined, and delivered at pace.
• Deep Legal Knowledge: Strong understanding of employment laws across the Netherlands, Portugal, and South Africa (nice to have), with the ability to navigate complex cases confidently.
• Process Builder & Executor: Demonstrated track record of creating HR processes and best practices that deliver measurable, long-term results.
• Stakeholder Influence: Exceptional communication and relationship management skills, with the ability to work closely with C-level leaders, managers, and employees alike.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Skilled in using people metrics and analytics to guide decisions, identify trends, and implement improvements.
• High-Performance Leadership: Proven ability to inspire, coach, and lead multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring delivery against tight deadlines and ambitious targets.

How to be successful as the HR Director

You'll be the engine that transforms ideas into outcomes. You'll be successful when you:

• Are visible and approachable: Get out there, connect with employees across teams, listen to what's working (and what isn't), and make yourself a familiar, trusted presence in the business.
• Deliver real impact; every day: We need an HR leader who doesn't just strategise, but executes. Your success is measured by what's changing for the better, not just by what's written in documents. Push through hurdles, simplify processes, and move fast.
• Communicate clearly and sincerely: You'll wear many hats; mentor, mediator, policy keeper. Communicate with clarity and authenticity, translating complex ideas into language everyone can act on. Your credibility comes from honesty and clarity, not corporate speak.
• Balance strategy with detail: It's easy to get lost in the big picture or overwhelmed by the minutiae. The best HR leaders master both; they see the forest, and tend to the trees. Keep your vision long-term, but pilot