Lead, People Operations – France

Shine is the financial copilot for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Rico Andersen and Martin Hegelund, Shine is a leading European fintech unicorn on a mission to restore the joy of running a business, by ending wasted time on financial admin. Shine offers a connected solution for invoicing, accounting, payroll, business accounts, payments, and financing, meaning business owners can focus their energy on growing a healthy business, not held back by manual admin. Part of something bigger Today we're part of Cegid, a European leader in cloud software for finance and accounting. Together we're building Europe's leading financial copilot for small businesses and their accountants. Shine already supports more than 400,000 small businesses. As part of Cegid, we now reach over one million small businesses and 15,000 accountants across Europe. We're a multicultural team working from France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands, contributing to a wider European network that spans Spain, Portugal. Your hiring experience matters Just as we respect our customers' time, we respect yours. Your experience with Shine and Cegid should feel simple, transparent and genuinely supportive. If this sounds like somewhere you want to grow, we'd love to hear from you.

Location:
Paris, France (Hybrid
· Full-time or Part-time possible) Reports to: Head of People Operations Scope: France Our People Operations team sits at the core of our business strategy. We are responsible for the operational infrastructure, precision, and compliance that enable our organization to run smoothly. We partner closely with Legal, Finance, Payroll, and Leadership to ensure every touchpoint—from offer generation to offboarding
- is seamless, compliant, and supportive. You will join at a pivotal moment as we mature our processes, migrate core systems, and establish a best-in-class, robust operational foundation for France.

About the Role
This is an individual contributor role with significant ownership and authority: you will lead the function, not a team of direct reports. We are past the blank-slate phase, but well into full-scale operational construction. We need a seasoned functional expert who can architect, standardize, and govern core People Operations processes for France while actively executing them. You will be the operational and administrative backbone of our French footprint—setting standards, auditing data, solving complex local edge cases, and ensuring regulatory compliance. If you are an experienced operator who thrives on French employment administration and autonomous problem-solving without wanting the management overhead of direct reports, this role is built for you. What You’ll Do
• Drive Functional Architecture: Design, standardize, and optimize end-to-end lifecycle operations (onboarding, contract amendments, internal mobility, leaves, exits) specifically tailored to our French organization.
• Own French Operational Compliance: Serve as the Paris-based subject-matter authority for all French HR operations
• HRIS Ownership & Data Governance: Act as the functional product owner of our HRIS for France. Oversee employee data integrity, configure custom workflows, manage system cleanups, and maintain accurate reporting pipelines for Finance and Leadership.
• Payroll Data Preparation: Structure, calculate, and validate all monthly payroll variables, leaves, and statutory elements for our French payroll provider and internal finance teams. (You do not calculate net pay, but you own the upstream data accuracy that makes payroll run cleanly).
• M&A and Local Team Integration: Lead the operational integration of newly acquired French teams into Shine’s HR ecosystem—auditing historical personnel files, aligning contract data into our systems, and harmonizing operational cadences.
• Hands-on Administration: Balance high-level operational design with rigorous personal execution. You will draft French employment contracts (CDI, CDD, alternance, stages), audit leave accruals, calculate solde de tout compte documentation, and resolve day-to-day employee queries with zero drop in quality. What You Bring
• Functional Leadership: Proven track record in People Operations, HR Operations, or HR Administration within a fast-moving tech, fintech, or scaling corporate environment.
• Deep Mastery of French Frameworks: Comprehensive, hands-on expertise in French labor administration, contract types, statutory leaves, employee lifecycle compliance, and standard collective agreement application (e.g., Syntec or equivalent).
• HRIS Acumen: Advanced working knowledge of modern HRIS platforms (e.g., Lucca, HiBob, Personio, or Workday), workflow automation, and spreadsheet data validation.
• Payroll Interfacing: Solid experience structuring monthly payroll inputs, understanding gross-to-net variables, and managing payroll cut-off cadences in France.
• Individual Contributor Drive: You take full personal accountability for deliverables. You enjoy designing process architecture just as much as executing the operational steps required to maintain it.
• M&A / Data Migration

Experience:
Prior exposure to auditing, cleaning, and migrating employee data during entity integrations, mergers, or system transitions.
• Languages: French, with full professional working proficiency in English.
• Pragmatic Problem Solver: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, establishing clear playbooks where none exist, and exercising sound judgment under fast turnaround times.

What We Offer
• Direct Functional Ownership: Full mandate to shape and stabilize how People Operations runs for France, free from people-management bureaucracy.
• Visibility & Direct Impact: Close partnership with the Head of People Operations, Legal Counsel, Finance, and Executive Leadership.
• Balanced Environment: The speed and autonomy of a product-led scale-up backed by the stability and resources of the Cegid group.
• Flexibility: Paris office hub with hybrid working ; full-time or part-time arrangements (e.g., 80–90%) considered for the right profile. Our Recruitment Process
• 30-minute introductory call with our Talent Acquisition team to align on your background, functional expectations, and Shine's culture.
• 45-minute deep dive with Julia (Head of People Operations) to explore your functional expertise, operational track record, and technical approach.
• 45-minute practical case study presentation to walk through a concrete French HR operations, compliance, and systems scenario.
• 30-minute stakeholder interview with key cross-functional partners (e.g., Legal or Finance) to evaluate alignment and collaboration style Equal Opportunity Employer We follow the principle of equal treatment to consider all job applicants and do not discriminate based on their gender, sexual orientation, color, racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, etc. as per applicable law.