Patagonia - Interim People Operations Specialist (f/m/d) – 6 months - Amsterdam

Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company founded in 1973. At a time when all life on earth is under threat of extinction, we aim to use the resources we have—our business, our investments, our voice and our imagination—to influence changes needed to protect our planet. A registered B Corporation and founding member of 1% for the Planet, Patagonia is recognised internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism, contributing over $145 million in grants and in-kind donations to thousands of grassroots environmental groups around the world.

Your role:

We’re in business to save our home planet. The Interim People Operations Specialist supports the operational employee lifecycle across EMEA, ensuring accurate and compliant execution of core HR operational processes. This includes onboarding, offboarding, benefits administration, HRIS data management, time and absence tracking, and payroll input coordination. The role is integral to delivering a seamless employee experience and maintaining data accuracy in collaboration with the broader People & Culture, Finance, IT, and Payroll teams. 

Main tasks:

• Employee Lifecycle Support: Coordinate and execute all onboarding and offboarding activities across 11+ countries, ensuring documentation, systems access, and communication are aligned with internal processes. 
• Documentation & Compliance: Prepare employment contracts, letters, and other documentation in line with local requirements. 
• Benefits Administration & Vendor Coordination: Maintain knowledge of country-specific benefits offerings and ensure accurate administration of pension plans, insurances, and other benefits in collaboration with external providers. 
• HRIS Maintenance, Data Integrity & Optimization: Maintain and audit employee data in Workday, ensuring system accuracy and consistency across platforms. Prepare reports and assist with audits as needed. Registering and updating employee details with our external vendors (e.g., pension provider, insurance, ARBO services, etc.).  Optimize HRIS (eg. Workday) to adapt to EMEA business flows and train end users.  
• Payroll Input & Data Preparation: Liaise with Payroll. P+C Business Partners and Finance to ensure accurate input of variable data for monthly payroll cycles and support compliance with local reporting requirements. 
• Process Improvement & Knowledge Management: Document operational processes, identify improvement opportunities, and contribute to team documentation and knowledge-sharing resources

What we’re looking for:

• An inclusive mindset

• Good understanding of compliant HRIS administration, ensuring data accuracy and consistency across systems. 

• Good understanding of payroll and benefits administration to ensure administrative compliance  

• Good understanding of HRIS systems (Workday) and process integration with other API integrations for payroll etc.   
• Good understanding of attention to detail, ensuring accurate data management and timely support 
• Good understanding of problem-solving skills to resolve operational issues with employees or systems independently 
• Good documentation and process improvement capabilities for operational content such as process documents, internal guides, and checklists 

• A love of the outdoors

• An interest in saving our home planet and making a positive impact through your work

Other important details:

• This is a full-time 6-month temporary position based in Amsterdam

• We have a hybrid work model, working from home for maximum 3 days per week

• We strive to make unbiased decisions and to offer a great experience to every person who applies for a role at Patagonia. Our interviews include standardised questions that focus on the aspects that are important for success in the role.

• To find out more about what we offer our employees click here: https://eu.patagonia.com/nl/en/what-we-offer/

At Patagonia, we commit to becoming an anti-racist company that leads by example. This means doing the work to be inclusive and equitable, across all aspects of our business.

Every person who applies to join Patagonia receives equal employment opportunities, and we value a welcoming environment where each member of our EMEA team feels included, respected and empowered, regardless of their race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, civil status, national origin, disability or age.

At Patagonia, we strive to have inclusive representation within our organisation and embrace a diverse mix of talent to contribute to our culture. We actively seek applications from Black and People of Colour (BPOC) and other underrepresented groups.

As we are in business to save our home planet, we can only do this together.

Please make sure that your CV and cover letter are in English.

Disclaimer for recruitment agencies:

Thanks for your interest in supporting us for this role, but we don’t accept unsolicited CVs from recruitment agencies