People & Performance Lead

Your Impact

Tacto is building the intelligence layer for manufacturing. Engineering designs products in bits. Manufacturing builds them in atoms. Procurement connects both at the right quality, cost, and time - yet it runs on outdated systems. We're here to change that. Sequoia and Index backed us for the team we've built. This is Europe's chance to build a globally leading AI company, and we're at the center of it.

Now comes the hard part: scaling the team that scales the company. We're past 100 people, expanding internationally, and shipping AI-native products daily. The quality of the people we hire in the next 12 months will determine whether Tacto becomes a generational European tech company or not. Thus, People isn't a support function for us, it is the single biggest lever we have.

As People & Performance Lead, you run and scale our people and performance function. You report directly to André (CEO), work closely with our leadership team, and have full ownership over how we develop, retain, and get the best out of our team. You're the sparring partner to every Team Lead and the person who makes sure our performance culture scales with the company.

We're not looking for someone who wants to run a traditional HR function. We're rethinking people from the ground up - focused on performance, not process theater. Your job isn't “people ops” - your job is to make Tacto as high-performing as possible.

Your Tasks

• Be the sparring partner to Team Leads: Coach and challenge Team Leads on performance management, team composition, org design, and hard conversations. You're the person they come to when something is off - and you push back when standards slip

• Drive performance management: Own calibrations, feedback frameworks, career progression, and comp benchmarking together with the CEO. High performers thrive, underperformance is addressed fast

• Own org development & culture: Onboarding, leadership development, AI enablement, internal communication on key decisions. You make sure our culture stays strong as we grow past 100, 150, 200 people

• Scale the function as we grow: Design the systems and processes that let Tacto operate at 200+ people without losing speed or quality. Build it hands-on first, then build a team of your own around it

• Optional - Talent exposure: Depending on your interest and profile, there is the opportunity to get involved in or take ownership of talent topics (recruiting, employer brand). Our talent function already has dedicated owners, but this role naturally touches talent through performance management and org design

Your Profile

• 3-5 years of experience, with meaningful time spent in people, performance, or org development topics in a high-growth environment (Series B+ SaaS, top startup, or similar)

• Alternatively: 2-3 years in Tier 1 consulting combined with hands-on people or org development experience in a startup

• You have a super high bar for great people - you know what excellence looks like and you won't lower the standard

• You're a builder: you've created performance frameworks, onboarding programs, or org development systems from scratch - not just inherited them

• You combine structured thinking with raw execution speed - you can design the system AND run it yourself

• You're outgoing - you genuinely like working with people, convincing them, and building relationships

• You use AI tools daily and experiment with new workflows

• Native German + strong English (written and verbal)

• You're ready to commit - this role requires exceptional energy and intensity

Bonus: Network in the DACH startup ecosystem (CDTM, MBB alumni, VC circles). Experience with or interest in talent/recruiting topics

We know that nobody is perfect and therefore have no specific 'minimum qualifications'. If the role sounds interesting to you, we would like to know more about you - whether you already fulfill all the qualifications or not.

Why Tacto

• Growth at the frontier of AI: You shape how manufacturing is reinvented for the age of AI - surrounded by best-in-class talent and leading minds in tech. 95%+ of the company uses AI tools daily. A Sequoia board member: "I don't know of another company founded pre-LLM that moves this fast on AI." You'll build the most AI-native People function in European tech

• Real ownership, real impact: You own outcomes, not tasks. No decks that sit in a drawer. You see the result in every performance review, every team that levels up, every leader who gets better because of your coaching

• A company that bets on you: We hire for potential. High expectations, great talent density, and a culture where your ambition, performance, and agency are what count — not where you come from or how big your ego is. You'll grow into the Head of People role as you prove yourself and as Tacto scales

• Build something new: We're rethinking people and talent from the ground up. No legacy processes, no bureaucracy — full ownership to build the function your way. Most startups do a mediocre job at People — this is a massive opportunity to do it differently

• In-office, high-energy: 100+ people in the Munich office every day. Founded by CDTM/TUM/Berkeley alumni, backed by Sequoia and Index. 20+ companies founded by ex-Tacto employees. You'll work alongside people from the best companies and universities in Europe

• Setup: Munich (4+ days in office), competitive comp + meaningful equity

Our Background

Tacto is building the intelligence layer that connects AI to the physical world of manufacturing, starting with procurement. AI is transforming every industry, but it stops at the factory gate. The knowledge that holds manufacturing together - part costs, suppliers, materials - is scattered across systems and people. Over 50% of a product's cost originates from suppliers, making procurement the single largest cost lever in manufacturing and the missing connection between the digital and the physical world. Yet it still runs on Excel and legacy systems. We're changing that with our Procurement Intelligence Platform, trusted by hundreds of companies running billions of Euros of material.

Based in Munich, we are 100+ passionate builders who are in-office, with high expectations, fast growth, and a lot of fun. We are supported by >€50m from Sequoia, Index, and Europe's leading tech entrepreneurs and industry veterans.

Why It Matters

Manufacturing forms Europe's economic backbone, driving a fourth of Europe's GDP and providing over 30% of jobs. These hidden champions and global market leaders manufacture the physical world around us, from the machines that build our cities to the medical devices that save lives.

But the world is changing. The US dominates the digital world of bits. China is scaling the world of atoms, manufacturing at unprecedented speed and scale. Geopolitics are more uncertain than ever. Europe's strength lies in its deep industrial knowledge through generations of engineering. Manufacturing worldwide runs on European machines and software. But that heritage is only an advantage if we leverage it in the age of AI.

Tacto builds the AI that connects Atoms and Bits, empowering our Industrial Base to Stay Stronger and building a lighthouse for European tech.

What We Offer

The people at Tacto are passionate about building the organization, growing themselves, and our product while having fun and being real. We have high expectations, great talent density, and a culture where your ambition, performance, and agency are what count - not where you come from or how big your ego is. You'll grow at the forefront of AI, have real ownership and impact, and be surrounded by the best people in their field who challenge you and make you better every day. That is demanding and rewarding, but that's where we thrive. Besides that you have:

• Money: Competitive salary & equity in the company with real upside, so you are invested in our success

• Workplace: A vibrant in-office culture (> 4 days/week) in a beautiful office in central Munich

• Development: A development budget and regular exposure to exceptional people, e.g., Lunch & Learns, peer mentoring, external speakers

• Freetime: 26 + 4 vacation days per year (4 fixed “company rest days”) as well as regular off-sites and team events

• Health: Wellpass membership, of course, a fruit basket (!), and access to Jobrad, for your health

• Family & Social Security: Voluntary pension contribution, voluntary KITA subsidy for your children

Tacto is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, or gender identity. Please do not submit personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning your health, or data concerning your sexual orientation.