About the role
About TACTILIA
At TACTILIA, we are building the industry-ready robotic hand that closes one of the biggest gaps in Physical AI. Spun out of Schunk, the global market leader in gripping technology, we combine a decade of robotic-hand expertise and real industrial access with the speed and ambition of a deep-tech startup.
This isn't a research project waiting for its first customer. We already have a product, customers are ready to use it, and we are launching now. Your work will directly shape the team, culture and processes that make that possible.
You will join at the moment when a handful of people become a real organization: how do we build a team, and the People & Culture foundations behind it, that are as reliable and scalable as the product we're bringing to market?
The Role:
You'd be our first Head of People & Culture. That means leading and scaling the whole People function — Recruiting, People Ops, and HRBP — setting direction, building the team under you, and raising execution quality as we prepare for rapid growth.
Some days you're sourcing a candidate yourself. Other days you're sitting with the CEO working out what the org chart needs to look like in a year. Both matter equally here.
What you will do:
Building a world-class talent engine. Own hiring end to end — workforce planning, sourcing, assessment, candidate experience, interviews, executive recruiting, and closing, across technical and leadership roles. Build our channels and our reputation as a place worth joining, from nothing.
Designing the org for scale. Work with the CEO, CTO, and department leads on structure, leadership roles, succession, decision rights, and spans of control — figuring out what the org needs to look like before we're forced to react to it.
Raising the management and performance bar. Build practical, no-nonsense systems for goals, feedback, development, promotions, and accountability.
Running the whole employee arc. First interview to onboarding to growth to, if it ever comes to that, a good exit plus the plumbing underneath it: HRIS, payroll, benefits, immigration, policies, employee relations, and the People data that tells you whether any of it's working.
Owning comp and rewards. Partner with leadership on leveling, salary bands, equity, promotion standards, and comp reviews that stay fair as we grow, not just defensible.
Holding things together through change. Growth breaks things. You're the person who helps teams and leads through structural shifts without losing trust or people along the way.
Building a culture that scales, not dilutes. Embed our values into how we hire, communicate, lead, and recognize people — while deliberately reaching past our existing networks to bring in exceptional talent from backgrounds we wouldn't otherwise see.
Thinking about how AI changes the work itself. Partner with leadership and functional leads to rethink roles, workflows, and skills around AI — and actually measure whether it's making us faster and better, not just different.
Keeping the lean stuff lean. All of this needs to hold up under German and EU regulation — without becoming bureaucratic.
What you bring:
A degree in Business, Psychology, HR, or something adjacent
Real years in HR inside fast-moving tech companies
The range to set direction and get into the weeds yourself — including closing candidates
A history of building HR processes that flex for a startup but hold up as things scale
The ability to deliver hard feedback without it landing hard
Comfort using data to make the case for what you're doing
Strong English; German is a real plus, not a checkbox
Bonus:
Built or scaled an HR function from zero before — startup, spin-off, or corporate venture
Worked in robotics, hardware, or deep tech
Got a network you could tap into for sourcing in engineering or robotics
The next chapter of robotics won't be built in a lab. It will be built by people who care about what happens when technology meets the real world.
At TACTILIA, you'll work on one of the hardest open problems in robotics: giving machines the dexterity, reliability, and robustness they need to interact with the physical world at industrial scale.
The technology is taking shape. The team is being built. And the standards for robotic hands and their skills are still wide open.
That means your decisions will have a lasting impact — not just on a product, but on what comes next for Physical AI.
Build the hand. Define the standard. Shape what comes next.
If you're excited by the challenge of building robotic hands that work reliably in the real world, we'd love to hear from you.
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