Associate/Senior Associate – People & Culture

Location: Hebbal, Bengaluru

Experience: 3–6 years

Type: Full-time

Read This Before You Apply

We value initiative and attention to detail at ARL.

If you are applying through LinkedIn, please don't rely only on Easy Apply. Send us an email with the details mentioned in the Application Process below.

We prioritise thoughtful applications over one-click submissions. This role is for someone who enjoys building, executing and owning outcomes — your application is the first opportunity to show us how you think.

Who We Are & Why ARL

At AgResearch Labs (ARL), we're building technology and infrastructure for cleaner, more climate-resilient food production. Over more than a decade of R&D, ARL has developed indigenous aeroponics and farm-automation technologies that power Growize Farms, our commercial platform for building and operating high-performance farms at scale.

Recognised among India's Top 100 deep-tech startups by NASSCOM, ARL is now entering its next phase of growth — scaling our business, teams and operating systems.

For People & Culture, this creates an interesting opportunity: you won't inherit a finished HR playbook. You'll work closely with the founding and leadership teams to help build and implement how ARL hires, develops, manages and supports people as we scale.

The Role

As Associate/Senior Associate – People & Culture, you will help build and run the people systems that enable ARL to scale with clarity, accountability and a strong culture.

This is not just an HR operations role. You will work across hiring, performance management, culture, learning & development and people operations, helping translate the ARL Way into how people actually work and managers actually manage.

What You'll Own:

People & Performance

• Implement ARL's goal-setting, KPI, 1:1, feedback and performance-review systems.

• Help managers establish clear roles, goals and expectations for their teams.

• Support performance and development conversations and ensure agreed actions are followed through.

• Build simple people dashboards that give leadership visibility into performance and organisational health.

Hiring & Onboarding

• Own the recruitment cycle from workforce requirement and JD through sourcing, interviews, offer and joining.

• Build strong talent pipelines while maintaining ARL's quality bar.

• Work with managers to structure roles and selection criteria.

• Own onboarding, probation and confirmation processes so new employees understand their role, goals and the ARL Way from the beginning.

Culture & ARL Way

• Help translate the ARL Way from principles into everyday behaviours and management practices.

• Build practical rituals and feedback mechanisms that reinforce ownership, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.

• Run employee listening and engagement mechanisms and ensure meaningful issues are followed through.

• Help identify people and cultural issues early as the organisation scales.

Learning & Manager Development

• Build practical onboarding, role-based learning and manager-development programs.

• Support managers on goal setting, 1:1s, feedback, performance conversations and people development.

• Work with functional leaders to identify capability gaps and turn internal knowledge into useful learning resources.

People Operations

• Manage employee records, documentation and HR systems.

• Run the employee lifecycle including confirmations, internal movements and exits.

• Coordinate payroll inputs, attendance, leave, benefits and compensation administration.

• Maintain HR policies and coordinate statutory HR compliance with Finance and relevant specialists.

• Be a reliable and approachable point of contact for people-related matters.

What We're Looking For

• 3–6 years of experience across HR, People Operations, HRBP, Talent or People & Culture roles.

• Experience independently owning people processes rather than only supporting them.

• Good understanding of performance management, hiring, employee development and HR operations.

• Confidence working directly with managers and driving follow-through.

• Ability to combine structure with empathy — creating accountability without unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Comfortable working hands-on in a fast-moving environment where systems are still being built.

Good to have: Startup, manufacturing, AgTech or deep-tech experience; exposure to L&D or manager development; HRMS experience; Kannada.

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to help build the organisation, not just administer HR.

You'll work closely with ARL's founding and leadership teams, get exposure across the company, and help design and implement the people systems needed as ARL moves into its next phase of growth.

There is significant room to learn, build, take ownership and grow with the organisation.

Application Process

Email applications to: [HIDDEN TEXT]

Email Subject: Application – Associate/Senior Associate – People & Culture

Attach: Resume/CV only

In your email, tell us:

• Why ARL and why you believe you're a good fit.

• One people, hiring, performance or culture problem you solved — or tried to solve — and, more importantly,

how you approached it.

• Your availability / joining date and notice period.

• Your current take-home salary and compensation expectations.

Applications without the required email write-up may not be considered.

Due to application volumes, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you haven't heard from us within 15–20 working days, it means we couldn't move forward this time. We'd still love to stay connected — please follow our LinkedIn page for future opportunities.

People & Culture Associate