People Lead at Apheris in Remote (UTC +/- 2 hrs)

About Apheris

At Apheris, we are building the future of how AI is applied in pharmaceutical R&D.
Our federated computing technology enables global pharma companies to collaborate securely on large AI models that accelerate drug discovery, without ever sharing their proprietary data. By powering multi-partner data networks across small molecules, antibodies, and protein folding, Apheris is redefining how science and AI intersect.

We currently host two flagship networks: the AI Structural Biology (AISB) Network, focused on protein co-folding and binding affinity prediction, and the ADMET Network, focused on small-molecule property prediction. In addition, we have just launched ApherisFold, an enterprise co-folding application that enables pharma teams to deploy cutting-edge models such as OpenFold 3 and Boltz-2 directly within their own environments.

We are scaling rapidly and are now at a stage where professional, well-structured people processes are critical to sustaining execution quality, team health, and culture as we grow.

About the role

We are hiring a People Lead to own and evolve Apheris’ people function end to end, for Apheris as a whole, and particularly for Apheris’ engineering organization.

This is a hands-on individual contributor role combining strategic people leadership with day-to-day execution. You will design, implement, and continuously improve our people processes across hiring, onboarding, performance management, professional development, and organizational effectiveness. A core mandate is to ensure that engineering teams operate smoothly, communicate effectively, and scale sustainably, while actively supporting engineers in their (soft skills) career development and growth into team lead roles.

You will work closely with the CEO, CTO, and the broader leadership team, acting as a trusted partner on team structure, capacity planning, capability development, and performance. By taking ownership of people-related topics, you will free up senior technical leadership to focus on product, science, and delivery.

This role is ideal for someone who has operated as a senior people partner in engineering-heavy, scientifically minded organizations and who enjoys building structure without unnecessary bureaucracy. To clarify, this is not a role that will build and lead a large People team; instead, this role is highly hands-on.

What you will do

Build and run people processes
- Design, own and continuously improve pragmatic people processes across the full employee lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding to performance management, development, and retention.
- Establish clear, pragmatic performance management frameworks that support accountability, growth, and feedback.
- Drive professional development and upskilling initiatives, with a focus on soft skills, behavioral growth, and leadership capabilities, while partnering with engineering leadership on technical career paths.
- Ensure people processes scale effectively, while keeping them lightweight and startup-friendly, as the company grows from roughly 40 to 70+ employees.
People operations and execution
- Take hands-on ownership of people-adjacent operational topics as they arise, including employment-related legal, policy, compliance, and coordination with external advisors.
- Drive execution on cross-cutting people and organizational topics that fall between functions or lack clear ownership, ensuring timely resolution as the company scales.
- Support CEO effectiveness in people and organizational matters by structuring decisions, translating direction into concrete actions, and ensuring follow-through.
- Enable the CEO, CTO, and functional leads to stay focused on their core responsibilities by independently progressing people- and organization-related operational topics and escalating only when decisions are .
Close partnership with engineering leadership
- Act as a people partner to the CTO, the product function, and engineering managers.
- Conduct targeted one-on-ones with key team members where appropriate, especially during periods of change or growth, while primarily operating as an unbiased third-party coach
Hiring and workforce planning
- Own early-stage recruiting execution until we potentially place an in-house recruiter as we further increase our growth.
- Create and refine job descriptions in collaboration with functional leads.
- Select, manage, and evaluate external recruiters where needed, and act as a hands-on hiring manager for specific roles when there are capacity constraints.
- Assess organizational capacity and capability gaps and translate them into concrete hiring and development plans.
- Support leadership in headcount planning and prioritization.
Culture and organizational effectiveness
- Actively shape and strengthen Apheris’ culture as a remote-first organization.
- Ensure strong connectivity, trust, and collaboration across distributed teams including supporting team rituals and organizing team get-togethers where helpful.
- Continuously assess and improve how the organization works, balancing speed, clarity, and sustainability.
- Serve as a trusted sparring partner to the C-level on people, team health, and organizational topics.

What we expect from you

6+ years of experience in people, HR, or organizational roles within best-in-class and highly engineering-focused organizations, ideally with scientifically or technically minded teams.
Demonstrated experience supporting organizational growth in startups or scaleups, for example from ~40 to ~100+ employees, at Series A to C stage.
Strong track record of partnering with senior technical leaders and earning trust at C-level.
Deep understanding of performance management, team dynamics, and professional development in engineering environments, with strength in coaching, behavioral topics, and people dynamics rather than technical skill development itself.
Comfort operating in a remote-first organization and addressing the associated challenges around culture, communication, and collaboration.
Ability to thrive in a fast-changing startup environment with shifting priorities.
Strong operational skills to translate people strategy into concrete, repeatable and pragmatic processes (e.g., hiring, performance cycles, career frameworks), run them hands-on, and continuously improve them in a fast-changing startup environment.
Excellent communication skills and strong judgment when dealing with sensitive people matters.
Fluent English; German optional.

Nice to have

Experience in life sciences, AI, or drug discovery environments.
Background in building or significantly improving culture in distributed or remote organizations.
Experience setting up early people functions or professionalizing existing ones.
Exposure to scaling engineering organizations specifically, including career frameworks and role definitions.

What we offer you

Industry-competitive compensation, includingearly-stage virtual share options
Remote-first working – work where you work best, whether from home or a co-working space near you
Great suite of benefits, including a wellbeing budget, mental health benefits, a work-from-home budget, a co-working stipend and a learning and development budget
Generous holiday allowance
Office Days at our Berlin HQ or a different European location (3x a year)
A fun, diverse team of mission-driven individuals with experience across leading organizations and a drive to see AI and ML used for good
High impact, significant ownership, and the opportunity to shape how Apheris scales its people and culture over the next phase of growth

People Lead

Job Description - People Lead