Global VP HR

The organisation

Backbase was founded in 2003 in Amsterdam. When the organization decided to focus on offering innovative software for the financial sector, the development went sky high in no time. Within few years the customer base grew tremendously to more than 100 banks, with major players such as Citibank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank. Simultaneously the employee number grew from 50 to the current 1250, allocated at offices in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boise, Cardiff, New York, Mexico, Toronto, London, Hyderabad, Krakow and Singapore. And more offices to follow. The ambition  for the upcoming 5 years is to double the number of employees, predominantly in the U.S.A. and India.

As Global VP HR you shall work in an enthusiastic team of seven HR Business Partners, one Compensation & Benefits Specialist, one Talent Development Manager with a team of two people, and one HR Operations Manager who in turn manages five HR Operations employees and three payroll professionals. Your can-do mentality, courage, entrepreneurial mindset and business acumen have a great added value to this environment. You are convinced that HR facilitates and services the business in the best possible way. Additionally you should be able to create long-term structures and overview, while building the organization of today. The motto is ‘keep it simple’. 

Surely you would like to know what it is like to work at Backbase. This is the best way to describe it: informal, flat, young, rapidly growing, multi-cultural (more than 65 nationalities!) environment where decisions are taken fast. English is the working language.

The position

Backbase can rightfully be called a groundbreaking FinTech organization. Just as Bol.com does within retail, Netflix within the world of television, Uber for the taxi industry, Backbase brings radical innovation within the financial sector. Thanks to their software platform, mobile banking is more customer oriented, flexible and practical. This young, Amsterdam originated organization already won many awards, among which the award for most innovative software company. They accomplished this in a period of rapid groundbreaking innovations from various start-ups/scale-ups.

And the ambition continues: Within the coming years Backbase aims to grow even bigger in their market share, turnover and impact. This expansion requires attracting and keeping the best professionals, opening new offices around the world and creating a unique employee experience that is equally innovative, professional as well as playful. HR has the wonderful task to facilitate this strong growth ambition. Without question, the Global VP HR plays a significant role in planning, steering and supervising this.

Are you specialized in facilitating growth within fast-growing, dynamic and continuously changing environments? 
Do you know how to remotely carry out your inspiring HRM vision within a global context? If yes, then apply for this challenging position with impact and influence!

Tasks & responsibilities

• Develop, embed and further professionalize the worldwide HR strategy, in close cooperation with the business and other Business Support Units;
• steer, inspire and coach the HR team, both located in Amsterdam as well as local HR representation in various countries;
• (strategically) advise the management team;
• further develop a solid HR foundation for an innovative HR policy that is all about talent empowerment;
• advise on a wide range of HR themes within C&B, global mobility, international payroll processes, Talent Management and L&D (there is a separate recruitment team, with a different reporting line);
• enable and open new offices all across the world to empower autonomy and entrepreneurship;
• lead the connection between headquarters in Amsterdam and other offices over the 5 continents.
• As Global VP HR you shall (temporarily) report to the CFO. In due course a COO will be appointed, to whom you will report, together with all other Directors within the People function at Backbase.

Candidate profile

• Minimum 10 years of work experience in a broad and mature HR function within a dynamic, fast growing scale-up environment;
• several years of (remote) managerial experience;
• experience in an international context, preferably in a global perspective;
• track record in facilitating exponential growth and experience in opening new foreign offices;
• experience with centralization/decentralization challenges;
• preferably experience within SaaS, b2b software/IT environment(s) and affinity with lean/agile way of working;
• previous experience with global C&B topics is a great added value;
• fluent in English;
• strategic mindset as well as hands on decisive handling, capability to switch quickly and knowledge of how to build common ground;
• ability to enable the team to stay afloat with the company pace, instead of delegating tasks.

The offer

• Being part of an inspiring environment with a great deal of ambition and potential;
• an enormous international organization with offices all over the world and more than 65 different nationalities;
• great variety within HR spectrum, equally within strategic long term projects as well as hands-on short term projects;
• full-time salary of maximum € 140.000, excluding bonus (max. 2 month salary).

Interested?

If your profile matches the job description, then we welcome your CV along with a short motivation letter. You can apply to this position by using the link below. Within 5 working days you will receive an initial reaction.

Our colleague Nienke Sinnaeve +31 (0)6 46 81 12 33 will be more than happy to answer any questions.