Kyla Staal

People Partner | EMEA HR & Talent | Scaling Tech Startups

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

About

People-first and performance-driven, I bring over 4 years of experience building People Ops foundations, scaling technical teams, and partnering with leadership in high-growth, globally distributed startups. I thrive in ambiguity, and I care deeply about being a true partner to the teams I support.

Experience

  • People Business Partner at Stitch
    Jun 2026 - Jun 2026 · 1 mo

  • Jua.ai ()
    • Human Resources Generalist
      Jun 2023 - Jun 2026 · 3 yrs 1 mo

      • Talent Acquisition: I have played a pivotal role in Jua's growth, contributing to the expansion of our team by +271.4% • HRIS and ATS Implementation: Within my first 6 months, I spearheaded the implementation of HiBob (HRIS) and Greenhouse (ATS), enhancing our HR and talent management capabilities. • Onboarding Excellence: I successfully implemented and executed a streamlined onboarding process, ensuring new team members seamlessly integrated into our organization. • Policy Development and Process Enhancement: I have drafted essential policies for approval and consistently improved existing processes to drive organizational efficiency. • Cultivating Culture and Engagement: Establishing the Culture Club has resulted in the implementation of several successful initiatives, fostering engagement and camaraderie within our remote work environment.

    • Talent Partner
      Oct 2022 - Jun 2023 · 9 mos

      Joined as employee number 7 at a deep tech startup. “Our economy and our energy system are becoming more dependent on (rapidly changing) weather. For the future of society and the economy, we need to develop technology to adapt to those changes and to accelerate the energy transition." Jua.ai offers the world’s first AI for weather-dependent power and energy traders, providing better accuracy, lower latency and higher refresh rate whilst outperforming legacy technologies on significant events.”

  • SPAN Digital Innovation ()
    • Technical Recruiter & HR Generalist
      Feb 2022 - Oct 2022 · 9 mos

      • Turnkey internal talent acquisition including salary negotiations and offer management. • Contributed significantly to recruitment efforts that led to scaling the organisation by 35%. • Owning the onboarding function & successfully improving the process through iteration. • Managing external recruitment partners, reviewing and negotiating SLA's. • Policy development and the refinement of processes. • Oversee corporate social responsibility activities. • Employee data analysis relating to demographic diversity and location. • Event management and coordination. This includes creative ways to foster engagement like meetups. • Working remotely, a-synchronously and with global teams (USA) • Liaise with the marketing team to improve the organisation's EVP. • Collect and analyse market data in order to make data-driven decisions. • Applicant Tracking System (FreshWorks)

    • Junior Technical Recruiter
      May 2021 - Feb 2022 · 10 mos

      SPAN is a software solution and product development firm that strategizes, designs, and develops software solutions for our clients, ranging from startups to global brands. We custom-build everything from prototypes and poof-of-concepts to services and product enhancements. We also build products that overcome the complexity of accelerating change for teams that build digital solutions.

  • English Teacher at The Really Great Teacher Company
    Dec 2019 - May 2021 · 1 yr 6 mos

    Duties: • Remotely teaching English as a foreign language to Chinese students of various levels of proficiency. • Engaging with a complex CRM system to track and monitor classes and feedback. Achievements: • High monthly performance rating. • Employee of the month (December- January 2020). • Leadership training. • Training in class management & client satisfaction

  • Au Pair at Private
    Feb 2017 - Dec 2019 · 2 yrs 11 mos

    I worked as an Au Pair while attending University.