Role Description Performance Management Expert (AI & Modern Frameworks) - Role Type: Project (6 to 10 weeks, around 20 to 30 hours per week) - Location: Remote - Start: ASAP JH helps people find jobs and be happier in their careers. Our goal is to double ARR per employee within 12 months without growing headcount linearly. In our People & AI strategy, performance management is one of the five key blocks for the next two quarters. Today we have ABC analysis on every person and we measure TDI (talent density index). It works, but it's manual and runs on a quarterly cycle. We want someone to turn this into continuous performance management: a monthly auto-graded system on three axes (results, skills and AI leverage, teamwork), with a dashboard for every person, a clear track from B to A, and clear boundaries for C players. The goal is not to build a classic HR process. The goal is a system that works in a tiny team mindset: minimum rituals, maximum automation, AI as an operating layer. Key Responsibilities - Main deliverable: v1 of the continuous performance management system, live across the full team of 38, with a monthly grade refresh and individual dashboards. - Methodology: Finalize the three axes (results / skills and AI leverage / teamwork), their weights, scales, and the thresholds for moving between A, B, and C. Build on our current ABC framework, don't start from scratch. - Signal sources: Map out where the system pulls data for each axis. What gets collected automatically (Notion, Slack, GitHub, analytics, OKR tracking), what comes from managers, what comes from peer reviews. Keep manual input to a minimum. - Monthly cycle: Design the monthly loop: what runs automatically, what needs a manager's confirmation, and how each person sees their grade and track. - Dashboards: For the individual (my grade, my track, what to work on). For the manager (my team, who we're growing, who we're parting with). For C-level (TDI, A-player density by competency, risks). - Tracks for B and C players: Templates for individual plans. B to A with measurable criteria and an ETA. C to A with performance based and time based boundaries. No fuzzy language. - Launch: Run a pilot on two competencies (for example, Engineering and Product), collect feedback, refine, and roll out to the full team. What we don't want - Classic quarterly performance reviews with long forms and self-assessment essays. - Multi-step approval chains. - Trainings, retention bonuses, formal 8 level career ladders. - Buying and rolling out an off the shelf HR tech platform. For a 40 person team that's overkill. - Any process that won't survive in a team of 25 a year from now. Who we're looking for - Human fit matters more than a polished resume. At a minimum: - You've built performance systems for teams of 30 to 150 people, ideally in product startups at late Seed or Series A stage. - You understand the difference between performance management in a traditional company and in a tiny team. If your resume is all Fortune 500, this is probably not the right fit. - You're comfortable in data. Excel, SQL, Notion API at a level where you can build prototypes yourself instead of waiting on an analyst. - Experience building grading systems, talent review, 9 box or similar is a plus. Experience turning a manual Excel process into a working automated one is a big plus. - Working English. Russian is nice to have but not required. How we work - Clear expectations. You get a measurable outcome and a deadline, same as everyone else on the team. - Minimum rituals. No status meetings. - Direct access to the CEO and HRD throughout the project. - Skills first, low ego, high trust. Process - A short note: 1 or 2 cases closest to our situation. What you built, the outcome, what you'd do differently. - A call with the HRD (60 minutes) to align on context and expectations. - A test task. We're looking at how you think, not for a final answer. unpaid. - A final call with the CEO+HRD (45 minutes) to go through the test, project plan, and terms. Terms - Pay: a fixed project fee plus a bonus tied to the definition of done (v1 live and adoption of 80% or higher one month after launch). Exact number gets discussed on the call. The benchmark is a senior People Ops consultant market rate. - Format: work trial. The first 2 weeks are a paid pilot on one competency. If we click, we move to the full scope. - Contract: B2B or equivalent depending on your jurisdiction.