From Labor Law to Corporate Contracts: Meet Personio’s Legal Team

With such a wide variety of responsibilities, the team also hires a wide variety of subject matter experts to ensure Personio operates on a foundation of legal stability. Today we introduce you to a few of those experts working in our Munich office:

Nadine Sickmüller, Commercial Legal Counsel | Joined July 2021 | Languages: German, English, Swedish 🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇸🇪

Elena Sommer-Hörl, Legal Counsel| Joined January 2021 | Languages: German, French, English 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇬🇧

Claudia Saraiva, Legal Operations Manager | Joined February 2020 | Languages: German, English, Portuguese 🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇵🇹

Philippa Pasquali, Junior Legal Specialist | Joined November 2020 | Languages: German, English 🇩🇪 🇬🇧

The enthusiasm and energy of Personio’s culture really drew me in – it’s impossible to miss when chatting with employees or seeing them engage on social media! But ultimately it was the ambitious growth and goals of the company that really hooked me. I knew Personio was a place where I could come and make an impact. – Nadine

I started as a working student in 2020 and, honestly, I didn’t really know what to expect! But it didn’t take long for me to realize that I wanted to stay on with the team as a full-time employee. The fact that I was trusted and given responsibility even as a working student, and the great support and opportunity to learn from my colleagues, sold me on Personio and Legal almost immediately. – Philippa

Personio is a place where employees can actively contribute new ideas, and those ideas actually get implemented. That and the chance to be a part of a growing team in a fast-paced environment were big motivating factors to me joining the team. But I’m also a big believer in Legal teams functioning as enablers of the business, and that’s exactly how Legal acts and is treated at Personio. – Claudia

My work often depends on how I can best support teams internally. It might include clarifying legal details, drafting labor law contracts, or giving legal advice on labor law topics. The other part of my job is to enable my non-Legal colleagues, which means I am often training other Personios on a variety of legal topics. – Elena

We always have a nice balance of ongoing projects and smaller daily tasks that come in regularly. And our team is super hands-on, so I get to work closely with the Sales team to help them grow, build structures, and learn with them how we can best work together. It means that no two days are the same on this team! – Nadine

Different days offer different mixes of topics to touch on, teams we communicate with, and projects to move forward. We get to work on everything from implementing new systems to establishing process improvements together with the teams, so we’re always focused on and learning something new. – Claudia

Working in a hypergrowth startup means a consistently steep learning curve. One day is rarely the same as another – there is definitely no boredom here! You also learn to manage your tasks with a certain calmness, even when there’s a high level of change around you. – Elena

“Agile” is not just a buzzword around here! The speed at which we function at Personio is something I’ve never experienced before. There is always something new to learn and interesting to tackle. Plus, working with motivated teammates makes even stressful times fun and enjoyable. – Nadine

We in the Legal team are feeling the incredible growth of Personio because a lot of diverse topics come to us. It means that we never know what the next day will bring! – Philippa

The general hypergrowth of Personio definitely challenges me every day! Working at a rapidly expanding company typically means you’ll have plenty of exposure to interesting new projects: new products or services, new markets or territories, a lot of new hires…the list goes on. – Elena

There is never a lack of interesting challenges to take on. Whether it’s creating Sales training, tackling month-end, preparing self-service information, or working on new terms and conditions – we’re always experiencing something new. – Nadine

Due to its complexity and also the impact it will have in the coming months and years, the introduction of our new contract management system has been a very interesting challenge. It’s a leap towards a more automated contract process flow that will really make a difference for the Personio team. – Claudia

I enjoy working with fun, honest, and reliable people that want to make a difference. We want people who can bring their unique perspective to the table, as it gives discussions and team meetings more depth and helps us all see things from different perspectives. – Nadine

New colleagues should be open-minded and interested in a new way of working because our attitude to work can be pretty different from Legal departments in other companies! We’re the partners of Personio, not task-takers. – Philippa

We’re looking for people who are curious, who want to explore and present different solutions to a variety of challenges. – Claudia

It’s hard to pick just one! But #Ownership has always been a favorite. I love the way it impacts how we all work, and seeing Personios across the company embrace this value is always amazing to me. – Nadine

I really appreciate the #Teamspirit at Personio. It is clear that many companies advertise this company value, as everyone likes to work in a team that understands each other and also sticks together. But at Personio, I have the feeling that this is not just a good slogan, but a way of life. For me, the team is the most important thing in my job, because these are the people I spend most of my day with. It makes me grateful to have a team that I know will support each other at any moment, from leadership to working students and everyone in between. – Philippa

In a small team like ours, it’s tremendously important to be able to rely on one another and know that everyone will come together whenever one of us needs support. So from my perspective, #Teamspirit is one of the most important, and my favorite, of our company values. – Claudia

Are you interested in joining Elena, Philippa, Claudia, and Nadine on our Legal team? We’re hiring for multiple roles in our London and Munich offices, including Corporate and Commercial Legal Counsels. If you think you’re a good match, head to our careers page and apply today!