Ahmedabad
PlayBlue has to hire a lot of people, fast, across cities - store staff, corporate hires, the frontline that customers actually meet - and there's no HR function to do it. You're going to build that: the policies, the org design, the hiring machine, the culture. Rapid store rollouts across Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi NCR only work if the people engine works. That engine is yours to build. If scaling teams from zero at a company that's actually growing is what you want, read on.
What you'll own
Build the foundation. Scalable HR policies, employee lifecycle standards, and compliance with labour laws across states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi NCR) - and the structure to add more states as we expand. Startup-appropriate, not corporate-heavy.
Design the org. You'll define the first-phase structure - roles, responsibilities, reporting lines, R&R - with room to scale, and run workforce planning across large-format flagship hubs and small-format stores. When we open a store, the headcount plan, the roster, and payroll readiness are already in place because you built the process.
Own hiring. You'll build TA playbooks for frontline and corporate roles, design campus and non-campus sourcing, and create onboarding that gets people productive fast instead of lost for a month. At launch pace, hiring speed without quality drop is the whole game.
Set the people bar and the culture. Performance management, L&D, compensation and benefits benchmarked to market - plus a culture of play, performance, inclusion, and customer-first that shows up on the shop floor, not just a deck. You'll run grievance redressal, engagement, and HR dashboards that tell you what's actually happening with the workforce.
What we're looking for
8-12+ years in HR leadership, preferably in retail, consumer goods, or omnichannel fashion/athleisure - and you've done it in a startup: built policy and org from scratch, run TA, and scaled teams fast. Strong on local labour law and HRIS/analytics. You work across Retail Ops, Finance, Marketing, and Store Ops without friction, and you're as comfortable designing the org as you are running a store recruitment drive. MBA/PGDM in HR or equivalent preferred.
Why now, why PlayBlue
You won't inherit someone else's org chart or someone else's policies. You'll build the people function for a brand defining a new category in Indian sport - from zero, with real ownership from day one. That's a rare thing. Come talk to us if you want it.
The best sports brands in India will all be in one place. We're building that place. Come be part of it.
Fast-moving, sport-obsessed, building something India's never had. If that sounds like your kind of problem, let’s talk?
