People & Culture Manager

At Happy Socks we have made it our mission to spread happiness everywhere, and you only have to spend a few minutes with us to realize how seriously we take it! In fact, our fun, positive approach is probably the reason we’ve seen such amazing growth over the past couple of years.

We want to make sure this happiness spreads to every corner of the world by having engaged, motivated and talented employees; and we’re now looking for a new People & Culture Manager to our HQ in Stockholm, Sweden. In this role, you will shape, protect, and develop our people initiatives, with a strong focus on talent, culture, compliance, and employee experience.

The Role

As People & Culture Manager, you will hold strategic and operational ownership of our global people function. You will ensure that our company’s core values are lived and breathed across all our global offices while building a robust, compliant, and scale-ready HR infrastructure. This requires strong project management skills, a modern approach to people operations, deep employment law expertise, and an understanding of the critical role culture plays in a young, global growth company where change is the norm.

You will report directly to our CEO and work alongside a collaborative support and experience team, which includes an Executive Assistant & Business Partner and a Customer & Workplace Experience Specialist. Together, you will build a seamless, welcoming, and high-performing workplace environment.

We’re looking for an experienced HR professional who can seamlessly bridge strategic planning with hands-on execution. You love rolling up your sleeves and digging into the details when needed, whether that means resolving a complex labor law query or designing a creative recruiting process.

Main Areas of Responsibility

• Employment Law & Compliance: Act as the ultimate subject matter expert on Swedish labor law (LAS, MBL, AML, etc.) and work council/union relations (Kollektivavtal). Maintain and develop our global labor policies, contracts, and compliance frameworks.

• Employee Relations & Conflict Resolution: Serve as the trusted advisor for managers and employees on complex HR issues, performance management, and rehabilitation processes, ensuring fair, legal, and empathetic resolutions.

• Culture & Values: Ensure that Happy Socks’ core company values are maintained and celebrated across all our global offices.

• Workplace Collaboration: Partner with the Executive Assistant & Business Partner on leadership alignment, and the Customer & Workplace Experience Specialist to align our internal culture with physical and virtual workplace experiences.

• Talent Acquisition: Manage and constantly develop recruiting processes based on culture, role assessment, and talent resourcing needs.

• Talent & Growth: Develop the company’s talent management processes and initiatives to attract, develop, and retain the best talent. Proactively design employee growth and development frameworks.

• Leadership Development: Develop and implement modern leadership and management training programs globally, coaching our leaders on both emotional intelligence and legal/managerial responsibilities.

• Global Compliance: Work as a key point of contact regarding foreign labor law, global labor policies, and employee relations with local partners.

Required Skills and Knowledge

• 6+ years of progressive HR/People Operations experience, with at least 2-3 years in a broad HR Generalist or HR Manager capacity (ideally within a fast-paced retail, e-commerce, or global scale-up environment).

• Solid, hands-on expertise in Swedish employment law (Arbetsrätt) and experience managing union negotiations, local agreements, and collective bargaining frameworks.

• University degree in Human Resources (PA-programmet), Business Administration, Law, or a related field.

• Proven track record of managing people programs, compliance projects, and culture initiatives in a multicultural, global environment.

• Experience partnering directly with executive-level leadership (C-suite/CEO).

• Well-versed in change management, organizational development, and modern HR tech stacks.

• Collaborative team player who thrives in a shared-responsibility setup alongside executive support and workplace experience functions.

• Proactive and positive approach to problem-solving, balancing legal compliance with commercial reality.

• Flexible and enjoy a constantly evolving environment at a young, fast-moving growth company.