YLabs is a global design and research organization designing technologies that amplify youth power, agency, and opportunity. Founded in 2014 at the Harvard Innovation Lab, YLabs partners with young people to co-create inclusive digital products and services across optimum health and wellness, improved economic opportunity, and increased climate resilience. The team is based in Rwanda and the USA and has worked in 18 countries.
YLabs is growing its People Operations department and is looking for an independent, people-centered Operations Specialist to help build and run the systems that enable the team to do its best work. This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys taking ownership from start to finish, with direction and support from the Deputy Director, People Operations.
Responsibilities:
- Own day-to-day People Operations: onboarding and offboarding, employee requests, benefits administration, and personnel records.
- Run recruitment for individual-contributor and coordinator-level roles, from sourcing and screening through interviews, candidate communication, and offers.
- Build systems that help YLabs scale, including onboarding processes, equipment management, staff request workflows, and HRIS practices.
- Create a strong employee experience: support staff wellness and connection, organise team events and the annual retreat, and use pulse survey data to improve how the team works.
- Keep operations running: Google Workspace and software access, equipment and supplies, vendor relationships, contracts, documentation, and compliance records.
- Partner closely with the Deputy Director, People Operations.
Qualifications:
- 3-6 years of experience in operations, people operations, HR, administration, or a related field. NGO, research institute, social impact, or multi-country organisation experience is a plus.
- Strong execution, organisation, and follow-through.
- A builder's mindset and comfort with ambiguity.
- People-centered judgment, discretion, and empathy.
- Recruiting experience, including sourcing, screening, interview coordination, and offer logistics.
- Strong written and verbal communication.
Desirable: experience supporting distributed multi-country teams, managing vendor or contract relationships, and using an HRIS such as BambooHR.
Job type: full-time, remote, based anywhere in Africa, with an anticipated start date in October. Occasional travel for in-person meetings is fully reimbursed. Pay range: $17,000 - $26,000 per year, commensurate with experience, paid in local currency.
HOW TO APPLY: