What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of People, North America position at Magma Math US?
About Magma Math
Magma is one of the world’s fastest-growing and most celebrated edtech companies, transforming math education through the power of AI. Our platform turns handwritten solutions into digital insights, empowering teachers to focus on creativity and deeper learning - while giving them real-time visibility into student progress. The result is more inclusive, engaging, and effective math classrooms for every learner.
We're tackling one of the biggest challenges in global education: math underperformance. With 1 in 5 students worldwide struggling in math, a subject that underpins so many career paths, the opportunity to improve outcomes at scale is enormous. We're already the go-to solution in thousands of schools, and as we expand across the U.S. and Europe, we're building a team as ambitious as our mission.
About The Role
We're looking for a head of people in North America who can wear multiple hats and thrive in a fast-moving startup environment. We are seeking a person to build and own the people function in North America that keeps a growing team running smoothly and compliantly, as well as being the driving force behind our culture as we scale.
This is a hands-on, foundational role. You'll be our first dedicated People hire in the US, which means you'll own the full employee experience end to end: how we hire, how people join, how they grow, and how our culture feels day to day. This role covers culture building, onboarding/offboarding, employee relations, HR policy, employment law compliance, benefits administration, and HR systems.
We're a European-rooted company growing fast in North America ,with a hub in NYC and employees working remotely across the country. You'll play a key role in bridging those worlds, translating who we are into a US team that feels genuinely connected to the mission and to each other, whether they're in the office or remote.
This is a great fit for someone who wants real ownership, is energized by ambiguity, and would rather build foundational processes and culture from scratch than maintain what's already set in stone.
What You'll Do
Culture & Engagement
Office location: New York, NY
Note: we are an in-office first culture and work from our NY office four days per week
Magma is one of the world’s fastest-growing and most celebrated edtech companies, transforming math education through the power of AI. Our platform turns handwritten solutions into digital insights, empowering teachers to focus on creativity and deeper learning - while giving them real-time visibility into student progress. The result is more inclusive, engaging, and effective math classrooms for every learner.
We're tackling one of the biggest challenges in global education: math underperformance. With 1 in 5 students worldwide struggling in math, a subject that underpins so many career paths, the opportunity to improve outcomes at scale is enormous. We're already the go-to solution in thousands of schools, and as we expand across the U.S. and Europe, we're building a team as ambitious as our mission.
About The Role
We're looking for a head of people in North America who can wear multiple hats and thrive in a fast-moving startup environment. We are seeking a person to build and own the people function in North America that keeps a growing team running smoothly and compliantly, as well as being the driving force behind our culture as we scale.
This is a hands-on, foundational role. You'll be our first dedicated People hire in the US, which means you'll own the full employee experience end to end: how we hire, how people join, how they grow, and how our culture feels day to day. This role covers culture building, onboarding/offboarding, employee relations, HR policy, employment law compliance, benefits administration, and HR systems.
We're a European-rooted company growing fast in North America ,with a hub in NYC and employees working remotely across the country. You'll play a key role in bridging those worlds, translating who we are into a US team that feels genuinely connected to the mission and to each other, whether they're in the office or remote.
This is a great fit for someone who wants real ownership, is energized by ambiguity, and would rather build foundational processes and culture from scratch than maintain what's already set in stone.
What You'll Do
Culture & Engagement
- Partner with leadership to define, embed, and protect our company culture and values as the US team grows
- Own the full employee experience, from onboarding to everyday rituals, so people feel connected, supported, and set up to do their best work
- Design and run engagement initiatives, feedback loops, and surveys; turn what you learn into action
- Help managers build strong, healthy, high-trust teams through coaching and thoughtful people practices
- Create connection across a distributed US team, making sure remote employees feel as much a part of the culture as those in our NYC hub
- Bridge our European and US cultures so the US team feels part of one company with a shared mission
- Own onboarding and offboarding for all US employees, including administration, tech/systems setup, benefits enrollment, and coordination across teams
- Serve as a point of contact for employee questions on policies, benefits, and general HR matters
- Own and drive initiatives to build a strong culture across the North American team, including how to build a strong remote culture when the teams are spread out
- Support and manage employee relations matters, including investigations, conflict resolution, and coaching managers on people issues
- Help plan and execute HR programs and initiatives (engagement, performance review cycles, policy updates)
- Assist in building and maintaining a strong employer brand across job boards, careers page, and social channels
- Manage the day-to-day relationship with our PEO, including escalations, payroll and benefits administration, and compliance updates
- Own and maintain our HRIS (HiBob), including employee data accuracy, workflows, and reporting
- Assist with maintaining HR records and ensuring compliance with employment laws and company policy, including employment handbook
- Partner with leaders across the business to build and improve HR infrastructure, including policies, processes, and systems as the company scales
- Partner with leadership on ad hoc People team projects as needed
- Own full-cycle recruiting for assigned roles: intake calls with hiring managers, sourcing, screening, interview coordination, and offer management
- Maintain relationships with external agencies and build a pipeline of qualified candidates through proactive sourcing (LinkedIn, referrals, job boards, etc.)
- Partner with hiring managers to define role requirements and build effective, unbiased interview processes
- 7 years of experience in HR, with meaningful exposure to both recruiting and generalist work
- Demonstrated experience shaping culture and engagement at a scaling company, not just executing programs but helping define how a company feels to work at
- Comfort operating without a lot of structure and building processes from scratch
- Strong working knowledge of employment law and HR compliance basics
- Experience working with a PEO
- Experience owning or administering an HRIS (e.g., HiBob, Rippling, Gusto, BambooHR)
- Demonstrated experience managing multi-state employment compliance (wage/hour, leave laws, classification) in a startup or lean HR environment
- Excellent judgment and discretion when handling sensitive employee matters
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- A bias toward action and comfort with ambiguity, common in early-stage startup environments
- Play a key role in an exciting journey. We are a young company with ambitious targets and meaningful goals
- The chance to build the people function and blueprint and shape the culture from the ground up
- Fantastic colleagues in a fun environment with great opportunities to learn
- Competitive remuneration & benefit package
- An opportunity to work on a meaningful mission and have an exceptional impact on education, society and how children learn math across the world
Office location: New York, NY
Note: we are an in-office first culture and work from our NY office four days per week
Salary : $175,000 - $225,000