How do I figure out whom to hand my notice?

Question

I would like to quit my current job as a software developer. I'd like to do it gracefully, and reading online it see advice that you shouldn't tell anyone before you tell your boss or supervisor. And my personal experience has been that when people leave they just disappear without any prior notice. A slack message in the morning either saying "today is my last day" or "yesterday was my last day" and they are gone. So it seems like the process is rather secretive.

However I don't think I have a boss or supervisor. I have teammates some of them are senior to me and I look to them for advice or help, but they aren't in control of my employment. Above my team there is the technical lead team and they guide the project and make high level decisions, but I also don't think any of them are in control of my employment. There are company owners, but there are over 200 employees, I don't think that they really handle resignations.

It seems like the many roles that a boss or manager would have are split between several people or teams.

My next bet would be a "Human Resources" department, but we don't have a single department for that, there's a recruiting team that handles hiring people (it's members rotate in and out of other teams) and there's a professional development team.

I reread my employment contract and the company directory but neither was all that helpful. My contract says I must inform "the company" rather than a person or role.

I'm not sure how I can politely and gracefully find the right person to inform, without announcing that I'm leaving. Is there a way to handle this sort of situation?

For the extent to which it matters I live in Germany, but my employer operates in several countries in Europe with offices in two.

Answer 1

Your company will have an official address. If you send a letter to that official address, it will count as "received". If you send a letter to that official address as a registered letter, it will count as "received" and you have proof of it - the post office might not be able to deliver your letter, or someone might refuse to accept it, but then the post office will give you proof of that, and it will still legally count as "received". But that's a worst case scenario.

I'd first contact whoever is right now acting as "Human Resources", plus your team lead, and ask them. Record the communication with them. They should get you closer to the proper person. And if you cannot figure out who the "proper" person is, then you can send your resignation to your team lead and someone who is kind of Human Resources, and a letter by registered mail to the company address.

PS. If mail is sent to the official company address and is either received, or rejected, or the company address does not exist, then any problems that the company has is their problem. If you need documentation that you left the job (in the UK, they would have to provide you with a form that states your income and tax paid in the current tax year), and can't get it from them, an employment lawyer will only be too happy to help you.