Head of People & Organization

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Head of People & Organization based in United States.

This is a strategic People leadership role focused on maximizing organizational effectiveness, not simply managing traditional HR operations.

You will shape the organization’s structure, talent strategy, management practices, incentives, and systems as the business scales from a lean team toward a larger workforce.

The role combines organizational psychology, behavioral science, people systems, and business strategy to improve performance at both individual and company level.

You will work directly with executive leadership and have significant influence over how teams communicate, collaborate, develop, and measure success.

A core focus will be building an AI-enabled, high-leverage operating environment where capability and output matter more than headcount.

You will diagnose organizational challenges, design practical interventions, and establish measurable standards for individual and managerial effectiveness.

This is an ideal opportunity for a hands-on People leader who thrives in high-growth environments and enjoys building systems from the ground up.

Accountabilities

• Own organizational design and health, continuously evaluating structures, leadership layers, responsibilities, incentives, and team effectiveness to ensure the organization remains aligned with business strategy.
• Diagnose organizational challenges and determine whether root causes stem from talent, management, structure, incentives, communication, culture, or other factors, then recommend targeted interventions.
• Lead the overall talent strategy, including recruiting, executive and critical-position hiring, high-potential identification, succession planning, retention, and management of chronic underperformance.
• Build People systems and practices that prioritize capability and impact per employee rather than headcount growth.
• Define standards for individual effectiveness across areas such as organization, focus, prioritization, decision-making, communication, problem-solving, feedback, presentation, and synthesis.
• Design and implement practical training and coaching programs that measurably improve individual and team performance.
• Establish communication systems and norms that improve feedback, information flow, meeting effectiveness, transparency, collaboration, and constructive challenge.
• Partner with Program Management to translate company priorities, vision, and OKRs into effective planning and execution practices throughout the organization.
• Design modern performance-management and feedback systems based on continuous feedback, observable behaviors, measurable inputs and outputs, and ongoing development rather than traditional annual reviews or stack rankings.
• Own manager effectiveness, including manager development, delegation standards, 1:1 quality, coaching practices, and evaluation of whether managers are making their teams more effective.
• Lead compensation and incentive architecture, including salary bands, benchmarking, bonuses, gain-share structures, promotion criteria, performance-based compensation, internal equity, and incentive alignment.
• Manage the employee lifecycle from onboarding through departure, including career development, stay interviews, internal mobility, succession planning, offboarding, and early-career talent programs.
• Shape the employer brand and candidate experience to attract mission-driven, high-performing talent.
• Build effective systems for a distributed workforce, balancing remote employees with an office-based population and ensuring strong collaboration and communication.
• Lead and develop a lean People team while identifying future hiring needs and maintaining a high bar for People function efficiency.

Requirements

• 8+ years of progressive People or HR leadership experience, including at least 3 years at Director, Head of People, or comparable leadership level.
• Demonstrated experience designing or redesigning organizational structures and org charts in response to evolving business strategies.
• Proven track record building People systems from the ground up in startup, scale-up, or high-growth environments.
• Experience designing and implementing training or coaching programs that produced measurable improvements in individual and team effectiveness.
• Demonstrated experience creating and launching manager-development programs rather than relying solely on standalone training sessions.
• Strong ability to diagnose organizational dysfunction, identify root causes, and implement effective, practical interventions.
• Strong analytical capabilities and the ability to translate people and organizational data into actionable business decisions.
• Executive presence and confidence working directly with senior leadership, including the ability to provide candid, constructive guidance.
• Active proficiency with AI tools and a thoughtful perspective on how AI can transform People practices and organizational effectiveness, supported by concrete examples.
• Strong understanding of human psychology, behavioral dynamics, organizational systems, and performance management.
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Psychology, or a related field.
• Master's or doctoral training in Organizational Psychology, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, behavioral science, or a related discipline is preferred.
• Experience designing compensation programs involving gain share, outcome-based incentives, or similar performance-linked structures is a plus.
• Experience establishing communication norms, cultural principles, or operating practices that measurably changed organizational behavior is preferred.
• Experience operating effectively within distributed or remote organizations is highly valuable.
• Builder mentality, strong judgment, resilience, intellectual curiosity, and a willingness to challenge conventional HR practices.

Benefits

• Base salary of $175,000-$225,000 per year, depending on experience.
• Gain-share opportunities tied to demonstrated, repeatable value creation, with the potential for total compensation to significantly exceed base salary.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Fully remote work environment within the United States.
• Significant autonomy and direct partnership with executive leadership.
• Opportunity to build and shape People and organizational systems during a period of substantial growth.
• Mission-driven, high-performance environment focused on maximizing individual and organizational impact.