--- title: 'People Ops Specialist (Contract) - Korea at Speak' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/people-ops-specialist-contract-korea-speak-seoul-wrbbd36m9z8c' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-13' --- # People Ops Specialist (Contract) - Korea at Speak - **Company:** Speak - **Location:** Seoul, South Korea - **Employment:** contract - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-08-03 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/speak/da8300f7-4e4b-4e3f-aeb4-4f3569d00460 ## Job description ## 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 - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. ## About Speak ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Speak is an AI-powered language learning app that focuses on teaching conversational fluency through real-time speaking practice and instant feedback, without needing a human tutor. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C; $1B valuation as of December 2024) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA (with offices in Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, and Ljubljana) - **Founded**: 2016 - **Founders**: Connor Zwick (CEO) and Andrew Hsu (CTO) ## Core Business - **Industry**: Language learning / EdTech - **Target Customers**: B2C (individual language learners) and B2B (Speak for Business – over 200 enterprise customers) - **Mission/Purpose**: “To reinvent the way people learn, starting with language.” The goal is to make conversational practice radically accessible so that hundreds of millions of people can gain fluency. ## Products & Services - **Speak App**: A subscription-based mobile and web application (iOS, Android, Web) that uses a proprietary “Speak Method” – learn useful phrases, practice them out loud with AI-driven drills, then apply them in simulated real-world conversations. Supports English learning from eight source languages; plans to add Spanish and French. - **Speak for Business**: A B2B tier for companies that want to provide English conversation training to their employees, currently serving 200+ corporate clients. ## Market Standing - **Valuation**: $1 billion (December 2024, Series C led by Accel) - **Key Metric**: Total funding of $171.3 million across six rounds; annual revenue estimated at $7.0 million (LinkedIn data) - **Notable Investors**: Accel, OpenAI Startup Fund, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Lachy Groom, Buckley Ventures; individual angels include Sam Altman and Peter Thiel. - **Growth Signals**: - 10M+ app downloads, #1 English learning app in South Korea - Available in over 30 countries - Headcount grew 30.9% YoY to 166 employees (LinkedIn, May 2026) - B2B segment has 200+ customers - Average user engagement of 10–20 minutes per day ## Competitive Advantages - **Conversation-first approach**: Unlike grammar/vocab apps, Speak teaches by making users speak out loud, using proprietary speech recognition and generative AI to provide immediate feedback. - **AI tutor that scales**: Replicates natural conversation without needing a live human, making high-quality practice affordable ($20/month or $99/year). - **Deep OpenAI partnership**: Early access to the latest speech AI from OpenAI (also an investor), giving a technological edge in voice interaction. - **Strong product-market fit in Asia**: Proven adoption in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and expanding to other markets. ## Strategic Focus - Expand target languages (Spanish and French are next) - Scale Speak for Business globally - Develop a standardized, accurate English fluency assessment (an AI-powered test) - Continue to invest in AI research and engineering to improve tutoring effectiveness ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Mission-driven team passionate about language learning and AI; values efficacy over gamification. - **Team & talent**: 166 people from companies like Meta, Google, DoorDash, Block, Dropbox, and Duolingo. Engineering office in Ljubljana, product and design hubs in San Francisco, operations in Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei. - **Flexibility**: Hybrid/office-based across locations; employees encouraged to travel between offices; annual company offsite. - **Perks**: Competitive salary and equity, comprehensive medical/dental/vision, unlimited PTO, parental leave, 401(k), monthly wellness and language learning stipends, pet-friendly office (official company dog). - **Growth**: Rapidly scaling headcount (+30% YoY) with active roles in engineering, product, marketing, sales, and design. ## Sources 1. [speak.com/careers](https://www.speak.com/careers) 2. [speak.com](https://speak.com/) 3. [linkedin.com/company/usespeak](https://www.linkedin.com/company/usespeak) 4. [TechCrunch: OpenAI-backed Speak raises $78M at $1B valuation](https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/10/openai-backed-speak-raises-78m-at-1b-valuation-to-help-users-learn-languages-by-talking-out-loud/) 5. [Y Combinator: Speak](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/speak) ## Other roles at Speak - [Product Lead, Enterprise](https://feeny.ai/job/product-lead-enterprise-speak-san-francisco-pv45a3bsw3js) — San Francisco, CA - [Content Localization Specialist (Chinese - Traditional / Japanese)](https://feeny.ai/job/content-localization-specialist-chinese-traditional-japanese-speak-south-korea-9c7ckjwm39cd) — South Korea - [Assessment Design Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/assessment-design-lead-speak-united-states-w55yxvzn27x2) — United States - [Full-stack Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-engineer-speak-san-francisco-z8ecxdk1xw63) — San Francisco, CA - [B2B Sales Lead - Korea](https://feeny.ai/job/b2b-sales-lead-korea-speak-seoul-k7qx1kfghnya) — Seoul, South Korea - [Content Localization Specialist (Japanese / Korean)](https://feeny.ai/job/content-localization-specialist-japanese-korean-speak-south-korea-kenmfgqkdwrf) — South Korea - [Content Localization Specialist (Korean / Chinese - Simplified)](https://feeny.ai/job/content-localization-specialist-korean-chinese-simplified-speak-south-korea-9qvr499kdcq7) — South Korea - [Lead Business Analyst](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-business-analyst-speak-san-francisco-dzkeyxkp1096) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Accountant](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-accountant-speak-san-francisco-h4wye00jhcc6) — San Francisco, CA - [Product Designer - Consumer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-designer-consumer-speak-san-francisco-bfhhepdsbj7p) — San Francisco, CA