(Senior) People Operations Manager (f/m/x)

Role Overview

We are looking for a (Senior) People Operations Manager who owns our people foundation end-to-end while helping us build what comes next. In this role you’ll be the backbone of our People function, ensuring everything runs smoothly, compliantly, and efficiently, while also shaping how we scale, automate, and elevate the employee experience.

This role is based onsite in Frankfurt am Main.

About Formo

At Formo, we’re rebuilding dairy to help create a just and resilient food system. 

Using precision fermentation, we produce real, bio-identical milk proteins, starting with casein, without the need for animals.

As a B2B ingredient company, we partner with leading food manufacturers to bring next-generation dairy products to market. We focus on developing and scaling high-performance dairy proteins that enable our partners to create exceptional products.

Our work sits at the intersection of molecular biology, food science, and industrial biotechnology. By combining cutting-edge science with deep application expertise, we empower the dairy industry to deliver products that are indulgent, functional, and more sustainable - without compromise.

Formo is a venture-backed, fast-growing company with an international team of entrepreneurs, scientists, and operators united by the ambition to transform dairy from within the industry. Together with our partners, we are shaping a future where animal-free dairy proteins unlock new possibilities for innovation at global scale.

Own People Operations (End-to-End)

• Manage the full employee lifecycle from onboarding to offboarding

• Own all things people operations; including payroll preparation, contracts, certificates, documentation and benefit programs

• Maintain and continuously improve our HRIS (Personio) and data quality

• Ensure compliance with German labor law, social security, and internal policies
  

Build Scalable, Efficient Processes

• Design, implement, and optimize People Ops processes that scale with growth

• Collaborate with Finance, Legal, IT, and external partners (e.g. payroll, health insurance, authorities)
  

Be a Trusted Partner

• Act as a go-to person for employees and managers on HR topics and processes

• Support leadership with people-related decisions, policies, and best practices
  

Drive Insights & Improvement

• Generate and analyze people data to inform decisions and identify improvements
  

Contribute Beyond Operations

• Support performance management, feedback cycles, and development initiatives

• Contribute to culture-building and cross-functional people projects

• Step into new topics as we grow - from benefits to international expansion
  

Stay Flexible & Hands-On

• Adapt quickly to changing priorities in a fast-paced startup environment

• Balance short-term execution with long-term People strategy
  

About You

Experience & Expertise

• 3+ years in People Operations or similar roles, ideally in a fast-growing startup

• Strong knowledge of German labor law, payroll

• Hands-on experience managing HR processes end-to-end

• Experience working with HRIS systems (Personio is a plus)

• Familiarity with EOR setups and international employment is a plus
  

Builder Mindset

• Proven ability to build and scale processes in a growing organization

• Interest or experience in leveraging AI tools in HR (e.g. workflows, analytics, automation)
  

Analytical & Detail-Oriented

• Comfortable working with data and deriving actionable insights

• Structured and organized, even in fast-changing environments
  

People-Centric & Pragmatic

• Clear, empathetic communicator with confidence in stakeholder interactions
  

Ways of Working

• Hands-on and proactive - you take ownership and get things done

• Fluent in German and English
  
  

Why you’ll love it here

Ready to shake things up?

At Formo, you don’t just trade your labor for compensation - you join a mission. One powered by frontier science, real-world impact, and a team of brilliant, driven people who care deeply about what they’re building.

You’ll work side by side with interdisciplinary experts across highly skilled entrepreneurs, scientists, and operators. We believe the best ideas emerge when diverse perspectives collide, and when people are trusted with responsibility, autonomy, and meaningful challenges.

We’re building something ambitious, and we take the work seriously - but not ourselves. Expect close collaboration, fast learning and innovation, and a culture that celebrates progress (often with cheese tastings 🧀).

What we offer:

• Help reinvent one of the world’s most iconic food categories

• Participate in employee equity and build long-term ownership in what we’re creating

• Benefit from regular team off-sites, monthly perks like discounted public transport passes and fitness memberships

• Invest in your growth with a dedicated annual development budget for learning, training, and conferences

• Enjoy 28 days of paid vacation, and an additional day after 3 and 4 years tenure

• Make an impact on the environment and society with 1 (fully paid) Team Impact Day

• Work in an innovative office and lab environment with access to cutting-edge food and biotech infrastructure

• Connect over regular team lunches, healthy and not so healthy snacks and drinks and shared moments that bring the team together

If you’re excited by the idea of sending cows on an endless vacation, applying world-class science and business thinking to a global challenge, and building the future of food from the inside - you’ll love it at Formo.

Disclaimer

Formo is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, genetic information, color, physical or mental disability, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, medical condition, pregnancy, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.