The Role
The HR Controlling & Workforce Planning Lead will manage headcount planning, workforce cost analytics, and budgeting to optimize people investments.
Summary Generated by Built In
sennder is Europe’s leading digital freight forwarder. In a traditional industry, we are moving fast to digitize and automate all road logistics processes. We move trucks with courage and the power of data to unlock endless and sustainable capacity at exceptional quality. Get to know us better by reviewing our "About Us" presentation.
We are a growing team looking for an HR Controlling & Workforce Planning Lead in the People team to help us on our journey to revolutionize road freight logistics. The role is located in our Milan office.
You’ll work closely with our Senior Director & Head of People Business Partnering and collaborate with our Finance and People teams across Europe. Based in our Milano office, you will own the headcount planning cycle end-to-end and be the go-to expert for workforce cost analytics and reporting across the organization.
WHAT YOU WILL DO …
As a HR Controlling & Workforce Planning Lead you’ll be at the intersection of People, Finance and Business Strategy owning critical decisions on people investment across sennder:
- Own the end-to-end annual headcount planning cycle (bottom-up and top-down) across all business units and geographies.
- Build and maintain rolling HC forecasts, translating hiring plans into FTE timelines, onboarding curves, and attrition scenarios.
- Develop HC planning models that capture growth drivers, productivity assumptions and organizational design changes.
- Partner with Talent Acquisition to align hiring pipeline data with approved headcount slots and proactively surface risks to senior stakeholders.
- Own the cost centre set up in close cooperation with Finance from annual budget setting through to monthly actuals management.
- Maintain and develop the Workforce Cost dashboard in Power BI, ensuring real-time labour cost visibility for sennder Leadership.
- Own the correct reporting of labour costs in both actuals and forecast dimensions: manage the monthly actuals cycle following payroll run — reconciling payroll outputs with cost centre allocations, validating charges and feeding validated data into Finance reporting.
- Support the forecast cycle by updating workforce cost projections based on latest actuals, headcount movements, and business changes.
- Model scenarios for headcount changes, restructuring, compensation adjustments, or business expansion, quantifying the cost impact to support decision-making.
- Ensure accuracy and consistency of labour cost data between HRIS (HiBob) and Finance tools, proactively identifying and resolving discrepancies.
- Build clear, actionable reports and dashboards for People Leadership team, Finance and the C-suite, covering cost evolution, budget vs actuals, and forward-looking projections.
- Consolidate Workforce Cost (WFC) actuals on a monthly basis, ensuring completeness and accuracy of all cost entries and providing a reconciled view to Finance and People Leadership.
- Drive the Headcount and budget planning process, coordinating bottom-up inputs from business units, aligning with Finance on planning assumptions, and maintaining the HC budget model throughout the year.
- Manage workforce cost accruals end-to-end: identify accrual needs (e.g. open positions, variable pay, and deferred costs), calculate and post accruals in coordination with Finance, and ensure timely reversal and reconciliation.
This is a high-impact, high-visibility individual contributor role with direct access to People leadership, Finance counterparts and business budget owners. You will shape how sennder makes decisions on its most valuable asset, its people. Upcoming priorities in 2026 include:
- Building a scalable, automated Power BI workforce cost reporting framework.
- Improving HC forecast accuracy.
- Supporting sennder’s continued European growth with robust headcount scenario planning.
- Driving data quality and consistency across HRIS and Finance systems.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR …
- 3+ years of experience in workforce/headcount planning, HR controlling, or People Finance — ideally in a fast-growing tech or logistics company.
- Proven ability to own a full HC planning cycle, including annual budget, rolling forecast, and reforecast.
- Strong financial modelling skills; fluent in Excel and Power BI, comfortable building complex, scenario-based models from scratch.
- Hands-on experience with HRIS and/or FP&A tools (e.g. HiBob, NetSuite,).
- Experience managing labour cost actuals following payroll run and supporting Finance reporting cycles.
- Excellent analytical skills: ability to translate large datasets into clear narratives and actionable recommendations.
- Strong communication skills — able to present complex data to non-technical stakeholders and influence decisions at all levels.
- Familiarity with SQL or Python for data extraction and automation is a plus.
- Fluent in English (working language at sennder); Italian is a plus.
ABOUT sennder Italia
sennder Italia, based in the heart of Milan, is a joint venture company between sennder and Poste Italiane. Our company matches the digital and innovative focus on technologies and digitalization of sennder with the expertise and know-how of the largest distribution network in Italy, Poste Italiane.
We not only connect shippers to our fleet of thousands of trucks, but also improve how they move products in sustainable, cost-efficient, and transparent ways - making the logistics industry fit for the future. In a traditional industry, we’re growing and moving fast to digitally automate all road logistics processes.
We are building a curious team that is driven by an ambitious desire to solve the toughest logistics puzzles. What others may consider uncertainty, we see as an opportunity to learn and be proactive. We invite you to go on this journey with us and be part of one of Europe’s inspiring growth stories as we fast-forward road logistics into digitalization. Read more about the sennder Italia joint venture here.
WHY CHOOSE SENNDER…
We believe in empowering our people to grow beyond their limits, embrace challenges, and create solutions that drive our collective success. Our culture thrives on entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, and collaboration.
Dynamic Scale-Up sennder is at a pivotal stage – transitioning from a scale-up to a sustainably growing company. This means we move fast and constantly push ourselves to improve. Joining us means being part of an ambitious, international team of talented individuals who value teamwork as much as bold thinking. Face-to-face connections across our offices remain central – it's not uncommon to travel to our offices across Europe to collaborate as we tackle challenges and celebrate wins, together.
Put Your Stamp on the Industry We operate in a complex and ever-changing industry where your ideas and efforts have tangible, transformative impact. This is your chance to be hands-on in creating sustainable, meaningful solutions that help businesses thrive.
Employee Well-Being We make mental wellbeing and engagement a priority through initiatives like our sennCare program, a partnership with nilo (global wellbeing platform), and regular satisfaction surveys via Culture Amp. And most importantly, work alongside people who truly care about you as a person. There is something special about the people at sennder that goes beyond just ‘work’.
Your Growth, Rewarded We believe in rewarding our team for their commitment and contributions to our long-term success. Our compensation package may include performance bonuses, referral rewards, or equity that align with our goal of building a thriving company together. We're excited to grow with you!
Vibrant Workspaces Our offices are equipped with healthy snacks, focus zones, and social areas to keep you energized and connected. When you walk into a sennder office, you immediately feel the sennder spirit: our shared culture paired with each location’s own unique character. Highlights include a slide in our Wroclaw office and a sunny rooftop terrace in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Milan! We also enjoy coming together regularly, from monthly aperitivos to spontaneous team moments.
For the Milan office we offer: free on-site gym! Vibrant offices complete with healthy snacks, focus zones, and social areas to connect with your colleagues. Click here for a virtual tour and better yet, hope to see you soon!
We celebrate diversity and value your character just as much as your skills. If you don’t meet every requirement, don’t worry, we still encourage you to take a chance and apply. Bring your authentic self and help us shape the future of logistics in Europe. Do not hesitate to apply as a member of the protected categories law 68/99.
We value humility and we're as interested in your character as we are in your talent. Please apply, even if you feel you only meet part of our listed criteria. Diversity drives our innovation and we offer a collaborative, dynamic, and international work environment. Just be yourself. We are excited to meet you and for you to join us in shaping the future of the logistics industry in Europe.
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Learn more about us on our career website.
Skills Required
- 3+ years of experience in workforce/headcount planning or HR controlling
- Fluent in Excel and Power BI
- Experience managing labour cost actuals following payroll
- Excellent analytical skills and strong communication skills
- Familiarity with HRIS and/or FP&A tools
- Fluent in English; Italian is a plus
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The Company
What We Do
sennder – Europe’s #1 digital freight-forwarder platform for Full Truck Loads. sennder is a leading digital road freight forwarder in continental Europe, linking large commercial shippers with small freight carriers. With its in-house-developed platform, sennder provides a new level of automation, transparency and efficiency to the European €300 billion road freight market, which until now has been dependent on paper, phone and fax and characterized by multi-layer subcontracting. sennder’s digital connection to over 40,000 trucks allows for almost unlimited capacities, no matter what time of the day. sennder digitalizes the truckload-shipping ecosystem by providing mobile apps to drivers, fleet management tools to carrier managers and logistics management solutions to shippers. Real-time booking, a designated contact person always on hand, as well as precise live tracking, bring full transparency to any logistics supply chain. By integrating directly with the shippers’ Transport Management and Freight Management Systems via APIs and by cutting the multiple middle men, sennder increases efficiency and reduces cost for all stakeholders
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