Job Description

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, we help organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk. Our customers include Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake, and we're backed by Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed, Mantis VC, Redpoint, Sequoia, and Spark.

The role, in a nutshell: As Chainguard scales across EMEA, we need someone to own the region the way our People team already owns the US — deeply, locally, and without a net. This is a newly created seat: you'll be the first People Business Partner based in EMEA, standing up the function as we open entities in the UK (live now) and Germany (coming soon). You'll partner closely with regional leaders — starting with our GVP of Sales and engineering leadership — on everything from performance and employee relations to compliance across a fast-growing, multi-country footprint. Today, Remote (our EOR partner) is the bridge for EMEA employee matters; as we stand up local entities, you'll take direct ownership of that work, including full-cycle employee relations and investigations, since we don't yet have a dedicated ER function. This is a builder's role — you'll shape how the People function works in the region as much as execute it.

What you'll do:

• Serve as the primary People partner to EMEA leaders, starting with our GVP of Sales and engineering leadership, coaching them through performance, org, and talent decisions
• Own end-to-end employee relations across the region, including sensitive or cross-border cases and formal investigations — there is no separate ER team, so this sits with you
• Lead performance management cycles (quarterly and annual) across multiple EMEA markets, adapting process to local norms while keeping a consistent bar
• Partner with our Compensation Manager on region-specific comp benchmarking and guidance through hiring, promotion, and annual review cycles
• Guide managers through country-specific employment requirements, including works councils, statutory notice periods, collective bargaining, and GDPR — partnering with Legal and outside counsel on jurisdiction-specific risk (redundancy, TUPE, co-determination)
• Work closely with our People Ops lead (based in Poland) on onboarding and operational execution, and with our L&D team on leadership development and culture programming for the region
• Stand up local-market infrastructure as we open new entities, starting with the UK and expanding to Germany
• Use people data and analytics to surface trends by country and market, and turn that into recommendations leadership can act on
• Support the wider EMEA footprint (UK, Ireland, and other EU markets, plus India), coordinating with the US-based People team on any APAC-adjacent needs

What we're looking for:

• 5+ years as a People Business Partner or equivalent is a must, with real, hands-on exposure to multi-country EMEA employee populations — not just policy knowledge
• Working fluency in employment law across key EMEA markets (UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Netherlands), including works councils and statutory employee representation, is a must
• Experience owning employee relations and investigations independently — without a dedicated ER team to lean on — is a must
• Background in a startup or high-growth technical company is a must; this role assumes ambiguity and building process from scratch
• Based in the UK is a strong plus — most of the EMEA team sits there, and it's the anchor market
• Experience working with an EOR (e.g., Remote) is a strong plus
• Comfort operating with real autonomy across time zones, with senior enough judgment to make calls independently, is a must
• Strong consulting, coaching, and facilitation skills, and the ability to build trust quickly with senior stakeholders, is a must
• Willingness to travel across the region as needed