HR & Office Manager

Job title: HR & Office Manager

PO number: 4500023083

Location:

• Brussel
• Remote location possible (this overrules the stipulation in the Framework contract that “The Freelancer undertakes to provide the Services at the premises of the Customer …”)

Role objectives:

• Keep building AREA42 into a high-impact team.

Role responsibilities:

The office & talent manager is primarily responsible for creating an effective work environment for highly talented teams by:

• Being responsible for the team cohesion in a diverse ecosystem, for both on-site and remote team members.
  • Effective and efficient recruiting, on-/off-boarding
  • Support managers in managing talent & skill in an effective way
  • Manage team-events
  • Act as supporting shoulder: individual and team behaviour development (DISC, SWARM or alike) to enable high-performing teams
• Maintaining and continually developing a functioning and practical workspace for the team. Taking care of the office.
• Managing procurement, invoicing, financial reporting, travels, expense and administrative reporting (Limosa, A1, …)
• Administratively supporting various services such as collaboration tools, shared drives, on-boarding material, etc.
• Temporarily assisting with filing payments to accounts payable.
• Support the management team (meeting organisation, travel organisation, creating minutes of meetings, etc.)

Next to all of the above, promoting the vision and values of AREA42. Lead by example.

Profile of the possible candidates:

Atypical profiles often work better for atypical jobs, and it is hard to predict the multiple winning skill combinations of the best candidates for the job. Moreover, we prefer team culture over individual performance. This being said, here are a few qualities we may be looking for:

• Previous experience managing a fast-paced office and environment.
• Unparalleled attention to details, combined with high execution skills. Proactive, adaptable, self-starter with a real sense of service.
• Very well organized. Basic knowledge of accounting. At ease with numbers.
• Perfectly fluent in English, and interest for team culture and development.
• Highest level of professional and intellectual integrity. Trust matters.
• Can handle success and failure, positive feedbacks as well as critiques.

Remuneration range:

• 250-900€/day
• Job subject to contract via proUnity (AREA42 procurement platform), with monthly timesheets and invoicing
• Invoices must be sent to ​proUnity and to invoices@area42.tech (preferably as cc to proUnity).

Work hours, travel requirements, etc.:

• Work up to maximally 230 days in 2025. As a freelancer, the office & happiness manager is free to choose when s/he wishes to work with AREA42 or to take holidays.
• Monthly team meeting in Paris or Brussels.
• Occasional travels to support the development of the ecosystem (occasionally when requested by AREA42).
• For administrative simplicity all travel assignments are approved and arranged by AREA42 and also the costs are carried directly by AREA42.

Company description: AREA42

AREA42 vision:

We work in a smooth B2B trade environment empowered by new technologies.

At AREA42, we create, innovate, and manage solutions for a fluid, risk-savvy trade environment. We support companies who want to recode trade for the digital era.

Together with disruptors, technologists and visionaries, we build a more fertile trade environment. We co-design ambitious visions. We experiment and launch new solutions. We turn innovations into new growth engines.

We are backed by Credendo, the Export Credit Agency from Belgium and the most trusted leader in trade credit insurance and surety bonds.

​Focus:

Our current investment thesis revolves around big untapped opportunities related to:

• Platforms and marketplaces,
• SMEs and freelancers,
• Innovative credit data and machine learning,
• Blockchain and other new trade paradigms.

For us, success can be measured in the upgrades we offer to trade ecosystems. We do not see technology as an objective in itself, but we believe it is key to unlock radical improvements for trade and accompanying risk. We take inspiration from diverse universes. We try to hack things, fail sometimes, learn always, and thrive when we co-innovate with partners who share our passion.

Structure:

AREA42 is an ecosystem with 2 highly complementary zones: AREA42 innovation lab and AREA42 accelerator. Each zone contributes to a successful AREA42 innovation ecosystem.

• Our innovation lab aims at growing a high-quality network of trusted partners, open to co-innovation and passionate about upgrading trade; it takes a lean start-up approach to experiment with new ideas and incubate them to become validated product concepts with a market fit. The learnings, successes and failures contribute to the feedback-loop and is shared with our innovation community.
• Our accelerator works like a growth factory. We take validated product concepts and turn them into new lines of business. Our accelerator team works with the same powerful means as the best high-growth start-ups in order to scale the most ambitious ventures in trade.

Our first basecamp is Brussels, but our playground is Europe and the world.

Culture:

We are a diverse team based on 3 important values: respect, curiosity, and boldness. We believe in mutual trust, entrepreneurship, collective creativity, technological excellence and solid execution. For us, these values are essential to creating high-impact innovations, which we need to deliver successful long-term growth, which will help spread an innovation culture in trade.

Often, we do not know exactly what we are building. However, we always start with an exciting vision and we iterate as fast as possible to confront it with reality. We have faith in the science of experimentation and in the lean start-up approach. We invite and welcome innovators of all kind to contribute and to have an impact. We share together the benefits of our successes.