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Yana Panayotova
People Partner Lead
Meet Yana, a seasoned Payhawk veteran and the pioneer of our People team. Yana laid the groundwork for our TA, People Partnering, Employer Branding, and People Ops functions. As our VP of People, she’s the driving force behind a high-performance, people-first culture - obsessed with spotting and retaining top 1% talent, building resilient teams, and embedding people practices that truly move the business forward. She’s a true partner to our leaders, shaping Payhawk’s growth through enabling people strategies. And when she’s not keeping our HR game strong? She’s exploring new countries, food, and cultures.
Yana Panayotova is Payhawk’s VP of People, championing a business-driven, high-performance people strategy that blends hyper-growth with a strong, values-led culture. From scaling cross-functional teams to designing customer-focused processes, Yana ensures that the People function is not just supportive, but strategic, helping every team operate at its best while staying true to its values.
Based in Sofia and a proud graduate of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Yana brings a unique blend of humanities perspective and data-led decision-making to her work. Her deep knowledge of the Bulgarian tech landscape gives us a strong local edge, while her global mindset ensures cohesion across our international teams.
She’s as comfortable in calibration sessions and feedback workshops as she is out in the community meeting future Payhawkers - proving that building great culture can be both strategic and fun. Whether she’s launching new people programs, refining new joiners’ onboarding experiences, or celebrating team wins, Yana’s mission is constant: build high-performing teams, create real impact, and make Payhawk the place where top talent chooses to stay and grow.
