About us

Our mission is to reinvent the way people learn, starting with language.

Learning a language can change a life by opening doors to new cultures, careers, and communities. Two billion people around the world are actively trying to learn a language, but the best way to learn (one-on-one tutoring) is hard to access at scale and hasn’t been meaningfully improved in decades. Speak is building a human-level, AI-powered tutor in your pocket: a conversation-first experience that lets learners actually speak, get instant feedback, and progress through carefully designed lessons. The result is a complete path from beginner to confident speaker across multiple languages.

Speak first launched in South Korea in 2019, where Speak has now become the number one language learning app, and we now serve learners across many markets and 15+ languages. Speak is one of the world’s leading AI companies, with over $150m raised in venture investment from OpenAI, Accel, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and more, with a distributed team across San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana.

About this role

Speak has more than doubled our team across Korea, Japan, and Taiwan in just over a year, with continued APAC growth planned through 2026..

Our People Ops team runs lean. We're looking for a People Ops Specialist (Contract) to the APAC team who can join & support the team during a high-momentum period, making quick yet meaningful impact across all three major APAC offices as well as emerging markets.

This role comes with real access and real responsibility. You'll work with sensitive employee data, including compensation and performance, to support day-to-day, month-over-month operations in key processes & programs. You’ll work in coordination with the APAC team and the broader Global People Ops team.

This is a 4~6 months contractor position, based in our Seoul office. If you’re looking to grow continually in your HR/People Ops career in an insanely fast pace and global start-up environment, this is a strong fit.

What you'll be doing

Employee lifecycle support across APAC

• Handle onboarding, offboarding, and contracting processes, following each local system guidelines & checklists across several internal tools and databases

• Maintain the region’s HRIS data

• Settle any “employee Day 1” tasks including, but not limited to, software/hardware set-up and access, onboarding plan preparation, and new hire communication

Compliance and regulatory operations

• Handle ad hoc compliance & regulatory cases (leaves, insurances, PTO policies, etc.) as the first responder, escalating as needed

People programs and analysis

• Support the APAC region during global People Programs’ execution such as workplace/IT operations, employee events, etc.

What we're looking for

If you don't think you meet all of the criteria below but still are interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box, and we're looking for someone excited to join the team.

• 2~4 years of experience in people operations, HR, or related field

• You're a strong communicator with high EQ. You navigate sensitive conversations, identify action items, and execute independently.

• You prioritize well, especially when new workstreams/requests come in unexpectedly.

• You're curious about AI and automation, and you pick up new tools quickly.

• You can operate without clear direction in a fast-moving environment.

• You're comfortable communicating in basic English, especially in writing.

• You're based in Seoul and available for hybrid in-office work (minimum 3 days/week).

Bonus points:

• You have experience working across multiple legal entities or countries

• You've worked in high-volume, client-facing environments (People Services, Customer Support, etc.)

• You've worked at a startup or high-growth company before

Why work at Speak

1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time: we're growing very quickly, we've most recently raised our Series C from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit in our initial markets. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.

2. Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with: we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.

3. Global in nature: We're live in over 40 countries and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.

4. Impact people's lives in a major way: Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn, and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.

Speak does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.