As an HR Manager with three years of experience in startup environments, Rakel specializes in building people operations from the ground up for distributed, global teams. Having served as the sole HR function for a 20+ person remote-first organization, she bring hands-on expertise across the full employee lifecycle, from recruiting and onboarding through performance management and offboarding. Rakel is energized by creating structure and clarity in fast-moving, ambiguous environments, and thrives when partnering directly with executive leadership on org design and people strategy. Her goal is to help clients build people operations that are compliant, efficient, and genuinely supportive of their teams.
Rakel Midtlyng
HR Manager
Professional Specialties
Areas of Expertise
- People Operations & HR Management
- Full-Cycle Recruiting & Talent Acquisition
- Payroll Administration (Multi-State & International)
- Employee Lifecycle Management
- Remote & Distributed Team Operations
Technical Proficiencies
- Rippling
- Claude
- Gemini
- ChatGPT
- Zapier
- Asana
- Slack
- Indeed
- G Suite
- Microsoft 365
- Canva
- Webflow
- BILL
- Stripe
- QBO
- Tax1099
Certifications/Credentials
- Rippling Certified: Payroll Operations
- Claude 101
Professional Experience
Chief of Staff
Crunchfirm – June 2023 – June 2026
- Served as the sole HR and People Ops function for a 20+ person distributed global team, owning the full employee lifecycle including full-cycle recruiting for 10+ roles, onboarding, performance reviews, payroll, benefits administration, and offboarding.
- Administered multi-state and international payroll in Rippling, ensuring ongoing compliance, while building and maintaining structured onboarding and offboarding workflows that standardized operations across a fully remote team.
- Planned and executed annual in-person company offsites for a fully remote, international team, managing end-to-end logistics and programming to foster team connection and culture.
Education & Credentials
- Bachelor of Business Administration – Marketing California State University Long Beach (CSULB) May 2023
Personal Interests
Outside of work, Rakel enjoys snorkeling and spending time at the beach. She loves to travel and visit new places.