Job Description

People Lead, Norway at Ardoq

The trusted People Partner and culture carrier who builds energised, high-trust, peak-performance teams.

This role is based in Oslo and relocation support available.

The Ardoq story

Ardoq is one of Norway's most exciting tech scale-ups, a truly global company built out of Oslo with an incredibly diverse and international team. We're backed by leading global tech investors, including EQT and One Peak, giving us the stability of a mature company with the speed and soul of an international tech growth business.

We're a SaaS AI First platform that helps organizations understand, manage, and evolve their complex digital landscape. By providing a dynamic, collaborative "digital twin" of their business, we connect systems, people, and processes to drive better decision-making and accelerate digital transformation.

Today, we help some of the world's most complex organizations (like ExxonMobil and British Telecom) gain clarity in a changing world.

About the role

As People Lead for Norway, you're the person who makes operating as a fast paced, highly effective , caring and commercial global business a reality on the ground: the trusted partner and the culture carrier who keeps our Oslo roots strong as we scale globally.

This role is a full generalist requiring an international mindset with localized knowledge and someone who can plan ahead and execute flawlessly. You will need to think, design, create and execute. From partnering with all levels, coaching for excellence, shaping how teams operate at their best, helping people do the best work of their careers and overall creating a culture that is vibrant, differentiating, and we are really proud to call Ardoq. The operational and compliance foundations also matter supporting the Ops team, and you'll own it to a high bar, but as a team, we will increasingly use AI and automation to clear the manual work so your time goes where it counts, with people.

You'll be part of a top class People team consisting of 10 global colleagues with everyone pulling in the same direction to make the boat go faster [usually with a lot of AI!].

What you'll do

• Partner with Care & Commerciality : Act as a trusted People Partner to all levels so we deliver as a Peak Performance company
• Carry the culture: Lead as the People presence for Norway, building community and keeping our Nordic identity strong and living and driving our global performance culture.
• Raise the employee experience: Use data to improve the employee lifecycle and make targeted changes.
• Own complex employee relations: Guide sensitive cases with deep knowledge of Norwegian employment law and practical application.
• Fuel the People engine: Use AI and automation to remove manual work and keep our operational and compliance foundation audit-ready, from GDPR to Norwegian labour law. Step into supporting the people ops team cover as required.

On a typical day, you will

You might start by coaching a manager through a tricky team restructure, then join a leadership session where your read on engagement data shifts the plan. Before lunch you've pressure-tested a compensation decision against Norwegian norms and flagged a risk the global team hadn't seen. In the afternoon you ship an automation that takes a recurring manual task off the whole team's plate, closed some tickets such as promotion requests and you end the day as the person a new joiner feels genuinely welcomed by.

Who you are

You lead with candor and care and you balance the needs of local Norwegian employees with global goals without losing either.

• The Partner: You've influenced leaders and steered organizational change, and people come out of those conversations trusting you more, not less.
• The Norway expert: You bring deep, current knowledge of Norwegian labour legislation, trade union relations, and local compliance, and you're fluent in Norwegian and English.
• The operator: You can run compensation, benefits, and payroll coordination when it's needed, and you hold a high bar for data accuracy and GDPR.
• The bold one: You act decisively with incomplete information, and you're driven by outcomes, not effort.

Ideally you have experience working with Engineering and Product teams but this is not essential. You will have a proven track record as progressive commercial people partner and deep understanding on Norwegian law and practices

Behavioural Competencies

• Tech savvy & AI Fluency: Confidence and scaling effectiveness of your own work and that organisation though AI advancements. Uses systems, people data, and digital tools confidently to support efficient operations, accurate information, and scalable people processes. Leverages technology to reduce errors, improve consistency, and enhances improved outcomes through the employee and manager experience.
• Action orientated: Takes proactive ownership, progressing cases and operational requirements efficiently while maintaining accuracy and compliance. Prioritises effectively, closes loops, and ensures actions are followed through to resolution rather than left open or escalated unnecessarily.
• Drives results: Consistently delivers high-quality, timely outcomes across people operations and partnering responsibilities, maintaining focus despite competing priorities or administrative complexity. Measures success through accuracy, completion, and reliability of delivery rather than activity alone.
• Collaborates: Works closely with People colleagues, Centres of Expertise, managers, and cross-functional partners to deliver consistent and aligned people outcomes. Shares information openly, seeks input where appropriate, and avoids duplication or rework by coordinating effectively across stakeholders.
• Courage: Addresses sensitive matters and operational risks directly, pragmatically and professionally. Escalates appropriately when issues exceed role scope, acting with integrity even when conversations are uncomfortable.
• Customer focus: Provides clear, empathetic, and practical support to employees and managers, particularly during complex or sensitive moments in the employee lifecycle. Balances responsiveness with consistency to ensure individuals feel supported while maintaining fair and standardised application of People practices.

Role-Specific Competencies

• People Partnering & Culture builder: Acting as a trusted advisor to leaders to align people strategies with global commercial goals and business priorities and People execution. Brings high level of energy and activation to ensuing Ardoq AS and Ardoq overall is a thriving place to work
• Organisational Design & Effectiveness: Designing and facilitating the implementation of agile organizational structures that optimize performance and stakeholder alignment.
• Talent Management & Workforce Planning: Developing appropriate strategies for workforce design, talent density, and leadership development to ensure long-term organizational capability.
• People Analytics, Data Literacy & AI: Interpreting complex data to drive evidence-based decision-making and measure the strategic impact of People initiatives.
• Change Management & Culture Leadership: Supporting cultural transformations from small team changes to enterprise-wide with a focus on resilience and sustainable results.
• Organisational savvy: Understands how the organisation operates, including how it delivers value and generates revenue, and applies this awareness when supporting people-related decisions and services. Navigates organisational structures, policies, and decision pathways effectively, engaging the right stakeholders or COEs while helping managers balance people needs with business realities.

The Ardoq Way

We live by three values, Bold, Caring, and Driven, that define how we work, how we treat each other, and how we win. Take a look at our careers site to learn more

Why Ardoq?

We believe that high performance is powered by wellbeing. You'll have access to a competitive package that supports performance, wellbeing, and long-term success.

• Employee Stock Options - share in Ardoq's success as we grow together
• 25 days annual leave offered globally
• Enhanced parental leave available globally to support you and your family
• Retirement and insurance benefits, including travel, health, disability and life insurance
• Annual learning budget to support your growth and development
• Onsite emphasis with Hybrid hybrid: ideally minimum 3 days per week in our Oslo office

How to apply

Send us your CV, we'd love to hear from you. Our hiring process typically includes four stages: Talent team intro screen, chat with the hiring manager, chat with a People leader , case interview, and values interview.

Final note

At Ardoq, every teammate has a voice. Whether you love tackling enterprise-scale challenges or improving how companies run, you'll not only belong, you'll impact, grow, and make work meaningful.

#LI-Hybrid