We are hiring an HR Manager to set up and run the people function at Assurekit. This is a one-person HR team role with a primary focus on talent acquisition and end-to-end ownership of the employee lifecycle. You will partner with the founder, vertical heads, and external recruiters to build a sharp, talent-dense team — and put in place the operating rhythm a growing organization needs across hiring, onboarding, payroll, performance, and team culture.

What Success Looks Like (6-12 months)

A reliable, predictable hiring engine: defined funnel, time-to-hire targets, candidate experience benchmarks, and a vetted pool of recruitment partners.
A documented onboarding experience that gets new hires productive in their first 30 days.
A working performance review cadence with clear ownership across vertical heads.
Payroll, leaves, and HR compliance running cleanly with finance.
A people operating system powered by AI, owned by HR, used by everyone.

Key Responsibilities

Talent Acquisition

Own the full recruitment funnel: sourcing, screening, interview coordination, offers, and closing for all open roles.
Build and manage a pipeline of recruitment partners and agencies; negotiate terms, manage performance, and broaden the sourcing base.
Partner with hiring managers on JDs, evaluation rubrics, and interview design.
Run the offer process end-to-end including compensation benchmarking, references, and background verification.
Track funnel metrics (sourcing channels, stage conversion, time-to-hire, offer-to-join ratio) and report regularly to leadership.

Onboarding (in coordination with Ops)

Revamp and run the new-hire onboarding experience: pre-boarding, day-1, role-specific ramp plans, and 30/60/90 check-ins.
Coordinate with Ops on logistics (laptop, access, seating, IDs) and ensure a polished arrival experience.

Payroll and HR Operations (in coordination with Finance)

Own monthly payroll inputs (attendance, leaves, reimbursements, variables) in coordination with Finance.
Maintain employee records, contracts, and statutory documentation.
Manage leaves, attendance, and policy enforcement.
Stay current on labor law and compliance (PF, ESIC, gratuity, POSH).

Performance Reviews (in coordination with Vertical Heads)

Run the annual performance review cycle: timelines, templates, calibration, and roll-up into compensation and progression decisions.
Coach vertical heads on giving effective feedback and setting goals.
Track and surface trends in performance, retention, and engagement.

Culture, Engagement and Offsites

Plan and run team outings, offsites, and recurring engagement programs (with help from the wider team).
Build rituals that reinforce ownership, transparency, and high standards.
Run engagement check-ins and act on what they surface.

Required Qualifications

5+ years of HR experience, with meaningful time owning talent acquisition.
Hands-on experience hiring for technical and senior roles in a startup or high-growth setting.
Comfort running HR as a generalist across recruitment, onboarding, payroll coordination, performance, and engagement.
Strong understanding of Indian labor law, payroll compliance, and statutory benefits.
Excellent written and verbal communication.

Skills and Competencies

Operator mindset with strong follow-through and bias for action.
High judgment in evaluating candidates and reading talent.
Comfortable working autonomously as the first and only HR resource.
Strong stakeholder management with the founder, hiring managers, and external partners.
Data-led approach to running the function.
Agentic AI power user

Nice to Have

Experience in fintech, Insurtech, or B2B SaaS startups.
Familiarity with Zoho and Notion
Past experience setting up the HR function from scratch

Reporting and Role Type

Reports to: COO
Location: Mumbai or Bangalore
Employment type: Full-time, hybrid (3 days in office)