Martina Ruiss - Talent Advisor

Expertise

Where I add value.

Whether you're in hyper-growth, scaling your org, or aligning People strategy with business goals - I partner with you to build what's right for your stage.

Supporting your overall business goals with a coherent, forward-looking people strategy.

Attracting the right talent by building a compelling and authentic employer brand.

Enabling you to identify and land the right people for your organisation.

Building robust processes around operations, performance, development, and reward.

Enabling data-based decisions and meaningful performance tracking across your organisation.

Increasing quality and efficiency by leveraging AI, the right tools and workflows at the right moment.

Offering

How we work
together.

Built around you: We define scope, pace, and involvement together.

Talent Advisory

A trusted sparring partner for your most critical People decisions.

A senior sparring partner for founders and leaders. I help you think through complex People topics, challenge assumptions, and make better decisions-fast. No theory, just experienced judgment and a clear outside perspective.

Example Work

Strategic thought partner on the full People agenda - from hiring the first Head of People to designing career frameworks and performance cycles that could scale.

Project-Based Consulting

From diagnosis to execution - solving your most pressing People challenges.

Targeted support for critical People challenges. I diagnose root causes, define the right approach, and work with you to implement it. Structured, hands-on, and focused on outcomes.

Example Work

Defined what makes yoummday a great place to work and turned it into an EVP that accelerated hiring.

Interim / Fractional People Lead

Experienced leadership when you need it most.

I step in when you need immediate People leadership. I bring structure, direction, and momentum, while building your team and setting you up for a strong long-term hire.

Example Work

Joined as Interim Head of People at a critical growth stage - 45 to 70 people in 5 months, with a complete people infrastructure as well as the people team built in parallel.

Example Work

Strategic thought partner on the full People agenda - from hiring the first Head of People to designing career frameworks and performance cycles that could scale.

Defined what makes yoummday a great place to work and turned it into an EVP that accelerated hiring.

Joined as Interim Head of People at a critical growth stage - 45 to 70 people in 5 months, with a complete people infrastructure as well as the people team built in parallel.

Turning talent into a lever for value creation across your portfolio.

Talent Due Diligence

See the talent risks behind the numbers.

I assess leadership, hiring capability, and organizational scalability to surface the talent risks that don't show up in financials. You get a clear, decision-ready view on whether the team is set up for the next stage of growth.

100-Day Talent Plan

Turn your investment into execution.

I define the critical People priorities immediately post-investment, from hiring roadmap to org structure and performance setup. The focus is on speed and clarity, so teams execute from day one instead of losing momentum.

Portfolio Talent Partner

Senior talent support across your portfolio.

I work with founders and People leaders on their most critical talent challenges: from key hires to org design and performance. Flexible, on-demand support that brings experienced judgment exactly where and when it's needed.

About Me

A data nerd
with a passion
for People.

15 years in Talent and People, built in high-performance environments and tested in real scaling. I started at McKinsey & Company, learning how to operate at senior level and solve complex business problems.

I then joined Personio early and led Talent through hypergrowth, scaling the company from 50 to 1.500 employees in four years. That experience shapes how I work: pragmatic, fast and focused on what actually moves the business.

I know the pressure of hiring at speed, the cost of wrong decisions, and what it takes to build a People function that keeps up with growth.

Today, I partner with founders, leadership teams, and investors to build high-performing People organisations, and turn talent into a real competitive advantage.

Data-driven Empathetic Hands-on

Technology Management
Business Education
English Language and Literature

Recruiting

Director Talent

Talent Operating Advisor

Today

Independent Talent Advisor Business Angel

Today

Building
world-class
People businesses.

Where I add value.

People & Talent Strategy

Impactful Employer Brand

Outstanding Hiring Practices

Scaling People Processes

People Analytics

Digitization, Automation & AI