People Program Manager (Market Expansion)
Summary
Program manager leads People workstream for global market expansions, coordinating HR ops, legal, and tech to build scalable launch playbooks and ensure compliant country entry.
We are looking for a People Program Manager for Market Expansion to one of our clients in Stockholm
Start date: ASAP (6 Months with possible extension)
Location: Stockholm (4-5 days onsite)
About the assignment:
The organization is expanding rapidly across markets, establishing new legal entities and building the infrastructure needed to employ and support people globally. This role coordinates the People workstream across multiple market launches, connecting Legal, Business Operations, People Operations, People Tech and local external partners. The consultant will turn ambiguity into executable roadmaps and help build a repeatable market-expansion model that supports fast, compliant country entry.
Core Responsibilities:
• Own the People workstream for multiple market expansions, from scoping through launch and operational handover
• Translate expansion plans into roadmaps, milestones, dependencies, decision points and accountable owners
• Coordinate delivery across People Operations, People Tech, Reward, Talent Acquisition, Legal, Finance and external partners
• Establish governance and operating rhythms to create visibility and accelerate decisions
• Track progress, risks and interdependencies across markets, escalating and resolving blockers early
• Define People-readiness criteria covering employment setup, payroll, benefits, policies, systems, employee data and onboarding
• Build and continuously improve a scalable market-expansion playbook, including plans, checklists, templates and decision logs
• Ensure new processes are documented and handed over cleanly to owning teams
• Prepare updates and decision material for senior stakeholders
Profile & Qualifications:
• 5+ years of experience in program management, PMO, transformation, international expansion or People projects in a complex cross-functional environment
• Strong track record leading projects with multiple workstreams, stakeholders and dependencies
• Experience coordinating senior stakeholders and driving progress without formal authority
• Strong documentation skills and experience building playbooks and governance structures
• Experience with international employment, entity setup, payroll implementation or global People Operations is highly valuable
• Experience using AI tools or building agentic workflows to improve program delivery