HR, Manager - India

About this job

The HR Manager - India role at Handshake involves serving as the primary point of contact for the fast-growing Bangalore team. Handshake powers millions of job seekers and educational institutions while building its Handshake AI data business to support frontier AI labs. A normal day in this hands-on position includes answering day-to-day policy, leave, and benefits questions, ensuring compliance with local Indian labor laws, managing employee relations, and collaborating with the US-based People team. The professional will handle the complete employee lifecycle from onboarding to offboarding, maintain accurate HR documentation, support workforce planning, and help the organization scale smoothly.

Responsibilities

• Own front-line employee relations and HR compliance for the Bangalore team, answering day-to-day policy, leave, and benefits questions.
• Independently triage and resolve routine employee complaints, escalating complex cases with clear context to HRBP leadership.
• Maintain HR policies, documentation, and statutory compliance including POSH, PF, ESI, Shops & Establishments Act, and gratuity.
• Partner with recruiting on onboarding, offer logistics, and new-hire compliance while collaborating with the US-based People team.
• Support light workforce planning by tracking headcount, leave, and organizational changes for managers and HRBPs.
• Manage the complete employee lifecycle from onboarding through offboarding to ensure smooth transitions and a positive experience.

Requirements

• 4-6 years of experience in an HR Manager, HR Generalist, or Associate HRBP role, ideally at a fast-growing tech or startup company.
• Working knowledge of Indian labor law and statutory compliance requirements like POSH, PF, ESI, and gratuity.
• Track record of resolving employee questions and routine employee relations issues independently with good judgment.
• Strong stakeholder management and partnership skills to build trust with employees, managers, and US-based teams.
• Comfort handling sensitive employee situations with discretion, empathy, and professionalism.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to translate policy into plain, practical language.
• Experience with HRIS, payroll, EOR, or ticketing tools such as Deel, Workday, or Freshservice.
• High attention to detail and comfort operating with ambiguity in a fast-moving environment.

Good to have

• Experience working cross-functionally with a US-based team with comfort for overlap hours.
• Exposure to contractor, gig, or data-annotation workforce models.
• Familiarity partnering with Employers of Record like Deel or Rippling.
• Prior experience flexing between generalist HR execution and higher-judgment HRBP-style partnering.

Who should apply

This role suits HR professionals with four to six years of generalist or manager experience in fast-moving tech or startup environments. Candidates must have solid expertise in Indian labor laws and statutory compliance, along with experience managing full employee lifecycles. It is ideal for individuals who excel at stakeholder management, can navigate sensitive employee relations independently, and are comfortable collaborating with international teams, specifically in the US.

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