APAC HR Manager

About us

Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language. We begin by teaching the next billion people English, Spanish, and French.

English is the global language of business, culture, and communication, and over 1.5 billion people around the world are actively trying to learn right now. Others dream of communicating with the half-billion native Spanish speakers across the globe. The problem is that it's nearly impossible to learn to speak a language without constant access to a speaking partner. Grammar and vocab apps don't really help – you need to actually converse with someone.

Speak is on a journey to fix this. We're creating an AI-powered experience that replicates the flow of a conversation, without needing a human on the other end. The goal is to make it radically more accessible to be able to have conversations in a foreign language and eventually help hundreds of millions of people gain fluency who otherwise wouldn't be able to.

We started on this journey over five years ago and we've still got a long ways to go. We're thoughtfully adding new team members only when we think they can truly play a big role in our mission.

Speak launched first in South Korea where we have quickly grown to become the top grossing education app in the country. We have now delivered this winning product to more than 30 countries globally and are continuing to expand to more markets in the coming months. The company is well funded, raising a recent Series B backed by investors like OpenAI, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Lachy Groom, Josh Buckley, and others. We’re a team of 75 based primarily in SF, Seoul, Tokyo, and Ljubljana.

About this role

Speak continues to grow its footprint and local teams in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan — markets that are home to the majority of our subscribers — and there are a number of G&A processes that need more local ownership. We’re looking for an ops generalist who can support Speak Korea, and other Speak teams across APAC, such that we have a best-in-class employee experience in these offices and well-run operations across Finance, HR, and Workplace. Someone who is passionate about developing talent, policies, and processes will excel in this role

What you’ll be doing

• Being a culture champion, creating an environment where every employee feels well-cared for and fostering a sense of belonging in our offices

• Supporting key People Ops processes in partnership with US team, like onboarding, offboarding, and performance management

• Helping develop local people policies and benefits as needed to augment global policies

• Leading ad hoc local miscellaneous HR items like training or benefits administration

• Managing third-party accounting firm that will be responsible for daily finance operations including accounts payable, accounts receivable, month-end close, tax and compliance filings, statutory filing needs, and payroll

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years experience in related roles

• Exceptional people ability, high EQ, communication across cultures and offices

• Sensible balance between employee well-being and company needs, as well as a risk appetite that matches Speak’s

• Strong organizational capabilities and a willingness to roll up your sleeves, where no task is too big or small

• Competent, trustworthy leader that can manage sensitive items like treasury, finance, and personnel-related matters

• Ability to manage people operations processes like employee onboarding/offboarding, performance management, compensation, benefits

• Ability to coordinate sensitive finance operations with third party support

• Ability to manage contractors and external vendors as needed

Why work at Speak

1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time:  we're growing very quickly, we've raised our Series B and an additional extension from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.

2. Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with:  we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.

3. Global in nature:  We're live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, and Tokyo, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.

4. Impact people's lives in a major way:  Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.

Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.