HR Strategy Intern

What do we do:

ShopDeck helps e-commerce merchants set up and manage their D2C storefront profitably.

Proposition for merchants:

D2C selling made as easy as selling on marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart or Myntra/

Why build this:

•  India’s D2C wave has been limited to venture-funded D2C brands today

• The art of selling on your own website is not democratised. There are ~500k-1M sellers who can sell D2C but can at best sell on marketplaces

• Philosophically - we feel brand owners should spend most of their time on the product and not on channel optimization

• Shopify / Status-quo software solve for work-flow management of storefront but don’t do enough on “helping” merchants sell well!

Team and scale:

We’re at ~$8M ARR and had hit profitability earlier in the year. We’ve recently raised series-B from led by Bessemer Venture Partners (who had famously led Series A for Shopify in 2010) with participation from Elevation Capital, General Catalyst (fka Venture Highway) and Chiratae Ventures.

HR Strategy Intern :-

Role Overview

Location: Bengaluru | In-office
Duration: 3–6 months
Team: HR / People Strategy

About the Role

We are looking for a high-ownership HR Strategy Intern who wants to work closely with the HR team on building scalable people systems for a fast-growing startup.

This is not a routine HR internship. You will get exposure to performance management, culture-building, HR automation, employee engagement, manager enablement, and HRBP execution. The role is ideal for someone who is structured, analytical, execution-focused, and eager to learn how high-impact HR systems are built from scratch.

What You Will Work On1. Performance & Growth

You will support the HR team in building and improving performance management systems across the company.

You will work on:

• Creating and maintaining performance scorecards, review trackers, calibration inputs, and performance cycle documentation.

• Supporting career pathing work across functions, including IC and Manager tracks.

• Helping define role expectations, competency frameworks, level definitions, and promotion criteria.

• Assisting in performance fairness checks through data, documentation, and calibration support.

• Supporting the design and execution of Reward & Recognition frameworks linked to company values and business outcomes.

• Preparing manager toolkits, communication drafts, review templates, and performance enablement material.

2. Culture & Values

You will help convert company values into practical, observable behaviors that teams can understand and apply.

You will work on:

• Translating company values into simple behavior definitions and examples.

• Supporting culture rituals such as onboarding sessions, manager rituals, recognition moments, and employee engagement programs.

• Helping maintain the Employee Handbook, culture playbooks, and HR communication material.

• Supporting initiatives that improve adoption of people practices across teams.

• Creating simple, engaging content to make HR policies, values, and rituals easier to understand.

3. AI-led HR Ops & Automation

You will support HR Ops automation and process improvement projects.

You will work on:

• Mapping HR processes such as letters, approvals, onboarding, offboarding, policy queries, FAQs, and recurring reports.

• Identifying manual work that can be automated using tools, workflows, templates, trackers, and AI.

• Supporting the creation of SOPs, dashboards, SLA trackers, and process documentation.

• Helping improve HRIS hygiene, employee data accuracy, and recurring HR reporting.

• Working with the HR team to make HR Ops more process-first, automation-first, and scalable.

4. HRBP Execution & Change Management

You will support HRBPs in driving adoption of key people initiatives across teams.

You will work on:

• Helping managers understand and use new HR frameworks, templates, and processes.

• Supporting employee communication, training material, and enablement sessions.

• Preparing people dashboards, org insights, and review notes for leadership discussions.

• Assisting in tracking people risks, engagement inputs, manager feedback, and action items.

• Supporting change management for new HR initiatives across pods and functions.

What We Are Looking ForMust Have

• Hunger to learn, take ownership, and work in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset.

• Good comfort with Excel/Google Sheets, documentation, and structured thinking.

• Ability to convert ambiguous problems into simple trackers, templates, and action plans.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• High attention to detail and follow-through.

• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders and build trust across teams.

Preferred

• MBA/PGDM student or recent graduate with specialization in HR, Organizational Behaviour, Strategy, or related fields.

• Tier 1 / Tier 2 campus background such as XLRI, TISS, MDI, SCMHRD, XIMB, SIBM, NMIMS, or similar. (Preferred) 

• Prior internship or project experience in HR, consulting, startups, people analytics, L&D, or HR operations.

• Interest in AI-led automation, people analytics, culture-building, and performance management.

What You Will Learn

• How performance management systems are designed and run in a high-growth company.

• How to build scalable HR processes, dashboards, SOPs, and operating rhythms.

• How HR partners with business leaders on performance, culture, org design, and people risks.

• How to use data, automation, and structured thinking to solve real HR problems.

• How startup HR works beyond routine operations.