Nick Schaefer

HR Management & EMEA Reorganization

Nick Schaefer
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Experience

May 2025 - Present
9 months
Frankfurt, Germany

HR Manager Central Europe & Nordics

SharkNinja

  • Successfully set up a quarterly talent assessment process including performance, potential, promotion readiness, retention risk, succession planning to validate talent density, which is planned to be rolled out across EMEA.

  • Grew headcount from 70 when I joined to 105, while terminating 12 employees, 5 of which were VP+ and General Manager level, resulting in top management reset and cultural realignment to SharkNinja’s global cultural principles in preparation for the next stage of growth.

  • Project managed the setup of a Norwegian and a Polish entity from the HR perspective, each with 8 headcount.

  • Established a management team meeting structure, communication cascade for confidential topics, and a cadence for all-hands meetings, significantly improving communication quality and quantity, providing a “north star” while allowing for recognition of great work.

Aug 2024 - Apr 2025
9 months
Frankfurt, Germany

Senior HR Generalist EMEA

Liferay GmbH

  • Provided strategic guidance to revenue-generating and technical teams (up to VP/General Manager level) of over 120 employees, covering operational aspects and localization of global programs.
Jul 2023 - Jul 2024
1 year 1 month
Frankfurt, Germany

HR Generalist DACH, BeNeLux, Nordics

Liferay GmbH

  • Modernized, digitized, and streamlined local German, Austrian, Dutch, and Finnish HR processes within six months, reducing operational time from 30 hours weekly to 5 hours and enabling work on global projects.

  • Project managed a reorganization in EMEA covering more than 150 terminations and over 30 strategic internal transfers across 9 countries within three months, refocusing teams on partner-led revenue activities and improving product quality metrics.

  • Project managed the roll-out of global career paths and a corresponding total rewards initiative, including benefits alignment and bonus system.

  • Legally and operationally partnered with and consulted global revenue team leaders on EMEA revenue team reorganization, removing VP-level local revenue leaders, refocusing on partner-led revenue streams, and achieving double-digit percentage revenue growth with a lower cost basis.

May 2023 - Jun 2023
2 months

Caring for a close family member

Left Procter & Gamble to care for a grandfather full-time until viable accommodation was found, requiring flexibility that did not allow continuation of employment at Procter & Gamble.

Oct 2022 - Apr 2023
7 months
Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany

HR Business Partner

Procter & Gamble

  • Acted as HR Business Partner for the Quality Assurance leadership team (up to Senior Director level) in the DACH region with a client group of about 60 employees.

  • Successfully executed a talent acquisition campaign focused on medical and pharmaceutical professionals, filling 8 of 10 open requisitions within four months without agency recruitment, saving up to €300,000.

  • Led health & safety initiatives for the German headquarters, organizing more than four events.

  • Enabled and processed three complex terminations of highly tenured employees, working closely with the works council.

Jul 2021 - Sep 2022
1 year 3 months
Frankfurt, Germany

Management Trainee - HR International

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

  • Acted as HR Generalist and HR Business Partner for senior asset management leadership (up to VP level) with a client group of 35 employees across 10 countries.

  • Managed all operational aspects within a highly compliance-driven field across entities in the USA, Singapore, and several EMEA countries.

  • Operationally and legally enabled restructuring of the US branch at the General Manager level following a severe compliance violation.

  • Project managed the implementation of remote work from abroad for 4,400 employees, addressing security and compliance factors in banking.

Jan 2019 - Jun 2021
2 years 6 months
Hanau, Germany

Junior HR Manager

AMG Engineering

  • Acted as HR Generalist for a subsidiary with a client group of 50 employees and assisted HR Business Partners on all aspects of their work for a combined client group of over 550 employees in Germany.

  • Served as SME for global mobility topics, including complex secondments, international payroll, and contractual topics for top management, successfully processing six top management secondments to and from Germany.

  • Advised senior management (up to C-Level) on a newly implemented structured employee feedback tool.

  • Implemented a SaaS solution to track legal, social security, and tax status for over 200 regularly traveling employees.

  • Acted as the primary point of contact for travel restrictions, enabling AMG Engineering to resume business travel to Japan after COVID by coordinating with international embassies.

Summary

Senior Interim People Architect | Global Scaling & Infrastructure

I transform 'People Debt' into high-performance infrastructure for international scale-ups. With a career forged in high-stakes environments like Procter & Gamble, DekaBank and SharkNinja, I specialize in orchestrating the interface between global Centers of Excellence (CoE) and local operational needs. Having managed People Operations for a €650M revenue region and navigated compliance across 12+ jurisdictions, I provide the 'Safe Pair of Hands' required for rapid expansion. I am a systems orchestrator who installs the frameworks your next growth stage demands.

Skills

Scaling & Infrastructure Orchestration

  • Process Modernization: Digitizing Legacy Workflows To Reduce Administrative Overhead By Up To 85%.
  • Performance Architecture: Designing Scalable Talent Assessment Cycles And Global Career Paths.
  • Entity Setup: Project Managing The Hr And Legal Rollout For New International Jurisdictions.

Strategic Hr Partnership & Transformation

  • Executive Sparring: Partnering With Gms And Vps To Lead Management Resets And Cultural Realignments.
  • Operational Continuity: Maintaining 100% Momentum For Regional Teams During Vacancies.
  • Global Sync: Bridging Global Centers Of Excellence With Local Speed Across 12+ Countries.

Problem-solving Focus

  • Closing Leadership And Hr Scaling Gaps That Create Risk And Distract The C-suite.
  • Digitizing Legacy Workflows And Installing Scalable Performance/hris Tools To Increase Efficiency.
  • Bridging Friction Between Global Headquarters (Coes) And Local Execution To Maintain Regional Speed Without Compliance Risk.

Languages

German
Native
English
Advanced
Russian
Intermediate
French
Elementary

Education

Oct 2020 - Present

FOM University of Applied Sciences

Business Psychology (part-time) · Frankfurt, Germany

Oct 2016 - Jun 2018

AMG Engineering

Industrial Clerk Apprenticeship (Office Management) · Hanau, Germany

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