People Operations & Office Coordinator in New York, New York at Coucou French Classes

Coucou is a French language school for adults, with in-person classes at our Soho location and online classes. Over the past decade we've built our own teaching method and a real community around it, along with cultural workshops and events, and 6pm in Paris, its digital platform for cinematic, on-demand French learning.

We are united by the mission to make language learning part of everyday life, something people do for joy, curiosity, and connection the way they read, travel, or cook. We strongly believe that learning French isn't the end goal here, but the vehicle to something bigger: confidence, connection, and a richer life.

This role runs the day-to-day administrative and people operations of the company. You'll be the person team members come to with administrative questions, and who ensures the team has what it needs to be at its best. This is a hybrid position, with 4 days in Soho and Fridays remote.

Employment lifecycle

• Support recruiting by screening candidates and coordinating interviews
• Onboard new hires: send contracts from templates, create accounts, and run onboarding sessions
• Support employees through their time at Coucou: performance review logistics, integration periods, and offer updates
• Offboard employees

Payroll

• Run bi-weekly and monitor semi-monthly payrolls according to established procedures under the supervision of company owners

Office Management & Administrative Support

• Pay contractors, vendors and other bills
• Keep the office stocked and running smoothly
• Light bookkeeping: categorizing and cleaning up transactions (monthly reconciliation stays with the partners)
• Assist with tax document preparation
• Monitor general inquiries inbox
• Occasionally assist with event organization
• Pitch in on other admin tasks as they come up

Team support

• Serve as the first point of contact for questions about pay and policies, answering what you can and passing up what needs a partner
• Run regular check-ins with team members, both formal and informal
• Surface themes, issues, or early concerns to the partners

We're a small team, so this role suits someone who likes variety, picks things up quickly, and takes real ownership of their work. Ideally you have:

• 2+ years of relevant experience
• Curiosity, a self-starter streak, and comfort learning on the job as things change
• Knack for reading situations, and you are comfortable being the person people come to
• Discretion and ability to handle confidential information
• Good judgment about what to handle yourself and what to pass up
• Attention to detail and consistency; you keep things tidy and organized
• A previous experience working with HRIS (Rippling) and/or an ATS
• Ability to question things in place and suggest improvements
• Excitement to work on a small team where everyone helps with everything
• Familiarity with French culture and/or multicultural teams
• Awareness of NY employment basics
• An interest in HR, ideally a certification like SHRM or working towards one

Not sure you’re a fit?

This description is not a day one checklist. If you think you are a good fit for the role and would love to contribute to Coucou’s mission, but don’t tick every box, we encourage you to still apply.

• Working as part of a tight-knit team, in a mission-driven, founder-led company
• Room to grow: roles here tend to expand over time
• 25 days of vacation (including 2 weeks closure at the end of the year)
• 3 personal days annually
• Sick leave
• Transport reimbursement
• Free classes for you and conversation classes for a plus-one