HR Business Partner

Wakuli. Impacting the world with exciting coffee.

While consumers are paying too much for low-quality coffee, farmers are earning below what they need to sustain their livelihoods.

That's why we are all about selling the best coffee – not just in taste, but also in fair pay for the farmers we work with. Our beans are traceable to the farm and poured by us in your cup or freshly delivered at home through your mailbox. We are a no-nonsense, ambitious start-up with a profound mission: impacting the world with exciting coffee.

We are building the new coffee brand of the 21st century with a team of like-minded origin partners, innovators and investors from all over the world. We operate a European e-commerce and 15 retail bars (and counting) in 5 cities across the Netherlands.

Your role

This role combines classic HR with strategic thinking, data insights, and cultural leadership — all in a startup environment where you can truly build something from the ground up. For the past 2.5 years, in addition to our e-commerce business, we’ve also opened 15 physical stores in the cities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen, The Hague and Rotterdam — with international expansion on the horizon. This rapid growth means that our retail barista team (100+), in particular, requires the most of your focus and support when starting this role.

Our baristas are the ambassadors of our business and they have a big impact on the satisfaction of our customers. You will track and improve their working experience and therefore play a very important part in our company growth.

Job requirements

Your Mission

• Shape and safeguard our inclusive, high-impact retail culture, balancing people-first thinking with business realities.
• Ensure full HR compliance for our flex workforce, while also co-creating a sustainable retail workforce strategy with our Retail Lead.
• Make data-informed decisions to increase barista retention, improve team wellbeing, and build a place people want to work — even if it’s just for a chapter in their career.
• Contribute directly to a healthy P&L through smart people strategy and workforce cost insights.

Why (we believe) this role is exciting

• You’ll work at one of the fastest-growing consumer startups in the Netherlands — with the ambition to change the coffee industry to benefit the millions of coffee farmers around the world
• The retail part of the company is still in its early stages — you’ll get to design and build a vision from scratch.
• You’ll work with a diverse team across multiple departments, while directly impacting customer experience and company growth.
• There’s lots of room for growth, especially as we expand internationally.
• You report directly to our Leadership team.

What You'll Own

1. Workforce Data & Cost Insights (Retail, flex hour focus)

• Monitor and analyze barista-related cost structures (wages, training, sick leave).
• Support the Retail Lead with cost projections and staffing strategies.
• Use data to identify trends (like churn or absenteeism) and drive smart interventions.

2. Culture & Employee Experience

• Build and sustain an inclusive, positive work culture across all retail locations.
• Ensure baristas feel safe, supported, and proud to be part of Wakuli.

3. Learning & Development

• Own and evolve our Retail HR learning platform (360).
• Design scalable onboarding & training programs, from Lead Barista to Store Manager.
• Partner with Store Managers, Product, Impact and Design teams to create clear learning paths and training content.

4. Leadership & International Expansion

• Lead and coach our HR Generalist, with plans to expand the team
• Maintain cultural consistency across markets while adapting to local needs.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of relevant working experience
• Experience working with temporary or flexible contracts in the Netherlands
• Experience with HR systems, preferably Sympa & Nmbrs
• Ideally fluent in Dutch (or deep experience in Dutch HR systems and flex legislation) and German is a strong plus
• Strong analytical skills: comfortable with reporting, projections and turning insights into action

What we offer:

• A starting salary of €4.500 -€5.500 based on 40 hours per week, with steep growth opportunities
• The opportunity to make a difference in this world (Find our latest Impact report: https://wakuli-impact.com/)
• Pioneering, a lot of responsibility and a steep learning curve
• The best coffee and direct access to all relevant information, including interaction with our farmer partners worldwide.
• Talented international and impact-driven colleagues (100+ people from 22+ countries) with a great team spirit

Ready for a new adventure? 🚀