Lena Bondareva

Lena Bondareva

HR Director | People Strategy | AI-Driven HR

I don't run HR. I help businesses run better through people. That means sitting close to the CEO, understanding what the business actually needs, and building people systems that make execution faster — not slower.

I've designed performance frameworks from scratch, built compensation architecture, embedded AI into HR workflows, and partnered with founders and C-level on decisions that moved the numbers. I believe great HR is invisible when it works and irreplaceable when it doesn't. My job is to make sure it always works.

elenawbond@gmail.com @lenabondareva +49 1759472267
Head of HR
IT holding: AI products, fintech, entertainment-tech
October 2025 — March 2026 · Cyprus, remote

Acted as strategic HR partner to C-level and senior leadership across four product engineering companies. Led People Partnering, HR analytics, and Employer Brand functions. Partnered with HR centres of expertise to identify and close gaps across the full people agenda — from compensation architecture to process automation.

Key contributions
  • Built compensation and benefits architecture from scratch: salary bands, benefits structure, competitor benchmarking — and established ongoing market data collection to keep bands current
  • Introduced project management approach across People Partner and analytics teams
  • Redesigned HR-to-employee 1:1 format across business units
  • Launched AI-driven HR tooling: pulse survey bot, birthday automation bot, recruitment automation
  • Redesigned onboarding end-to-end and implemented HR admin workflow automation in Asana
  • Built HR analytics system and delivered regular C-level people reporting
Global Talent Acquisition Head
Dyninno Group — travel, finance, entertainment, technology
December 2024 — September 2025 · UAE, remote

Built global TA operations across 7 countries from scratch. Implemented Sage ATS end-to-end, established recruitment analytics, and piloted AI-powered selection tools including voice interviewing and automated candidate scoring. Sustained monthly hiring volume of 400+ hires across 7 countries.

Head of Talent Acquisition & Employer Brand
Beeline — telecom, 44M+ clients
November 2021 — October 2023

Led a cross-regional recruiting team. Owned end-to-end recruitment strategy across professional, IT, executive search, and graduate programmes. Built recruitment analytics from scratch: funnel conversion, cost per hire, time to hire. Improved recruiter productivity through process optimisation and structured SLA management.

Designed and launched a recruiter capability-building programme: structured assessment, training, and ongoing coaching. Partnered with corporate university to develop and launch an online course on competency-based interviewing for hiring managers, followed by practical workshops — programme was in early rollout stage during tenure. Deployed chatbot automation for inbound applications and led full preparation for career site relaunch: UX research, CJM, technical specification.

HR Director
OPEN Group — market leader in trade marketing and staff outsourcing in Russia, 15,000+ employees
November 2018 — November 2021

Built the full HR function from scratch, reporting directly to business owners.

Key contributions
  • Designed and launched Performance Review cycle linked directly to bonus outcomes; built grading system, competency frameworks, and cascading KPI logic from company level to individual
  • Built succession planning and talent pipeline framework with assessment procedures
  • Launched corporate university: selected provider, adapted LMS to business needs
  • Drove company-wide project management transformation: implemented Bitrix and Monday.com — project launch quality improved by 30%
  • Initiated and delivered "Address Programme" — field staff efficiency improved by 25%
  • Led development of mobile app and web platform for field staff management
  • Established HR analytics and regular people reporting to senior leadership
  • Collaborated with Polish affiliate during early-stage expansion — assessed HR processes and aligned with local team
Results
  • +19% revenue and +49% profit per headcount
  • Attrition reduced from 33% to 28%
  • Internal promotions grew from 27% to 37%
  • Engagement index grew from 76% to 81%
Operations Manager
Adecco Group Russia
2011 — 2014

Started as Regional Operations Manager and grew within the company. Responsible for P&L across service lines. Key project: crisis staffing management for Sochi 2014 Olympics — 5,000 temporary employees hired and deployed across Russia in 3 months.

I don't know how you feel about overachievers, but I may belong to that group 😄

At 15 — Master of Sport in synchronised swimming (regular swimming was just too boring) 🐬. Then a silver medal at school and honours degree at university — couldn't break the streak.

Then I discovered HR — and the overachieving finally found its purpose 😄

I fight burnout the classic way: road cycling, 10km ocean swims and mountains (where at least nobody messages "quick call?").

When my head is properly aired out — I tinker with Claude Code. Sometimes it even works.