People Operations Director

• We’re looking for a strategic, experienced Director of People Operations to lead and scale our People Operations function as we continue our rapid growth.
• This role owns the strategy, systems, and policy foundation behind onboarding, HR technology, benefits, employee relations, and our internal HR knowledge base — and leads the Generalist Manager and Senior Generalist roles who own day-to-day execution across the business
• You’ll be accountable for how People Operations shows up as a support function across CHAOS: the quality and consistency of the work, how easy it is for employees and managers to get what they need, the policies that govern how we operate, and the efficiency of the systems and processes behind it all.
• This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to build the systems and standards that let a growing HR team scale without losing quality
• Lead, hire, develop, and manage the People Operations team, including the Generalists and Operators
• Own the People Operations policy library end to end: identify where policy is needed, oversee and draft it, and shepherd it through Legal and Compliance review, rollout, and revision
• Own the HR systems and vendor roadmap (Rippling, Sparrow, Culture Amp, Confluence, JIRA, and future tools), including vendor selection, contract negotiation/renewal, and integrations
• Design and continuously improve how the business engages with People Operations — intake processes, response-time standards, and self-service resources like Confluence — so HR is easy to work with at every level
• Own benefits program design and broker/vendor strategy, in partnership with Finance and leadership
• Own & oversight of performance and compensation cycle process design, timelines, tooling
• Own the compliance training curriculum and audit standards, in partnership with Legal and InfoSec
• Build a culture of quality and consistency across the team through documentation standards and feedback loops
• Identify and prioritize opportunities to automate and streamline HR processes — onboarding, offboarding, leaves, and benefits administration and scale with the company
• Own People Operations reporting and metrics in partnership with Data & Insights teams. Translate team-level data into insights and recommendations for senior leadership
• Represent People Operations in cross-functional planning with Legal, Finance, IT, and Security
• Work full-time onsite out of our office in Los Angeles (Hawthorne), California

Benefits

• Generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance + (coming soon!) annual bonuses
• Free daily lunch, ‘No meeting Fridays’, unlimited PTO (for exempt employees), casual dress code
• Life, FSA, HSA, 401k (+ Company match), and more
• Medical, dental and vision benefits will be 100% paid for by the company- Must be a U.S. Citizen. This position requires access to information and systems subject to U.S. export control and government contract regulations (e.g., ITAR/EAR), which are restricted to U.S. Citizens by law
• Proven ability to hire, develop, and manage HR generalist/business partner teams
• Track record leading complex employee relations investigations, restructurings, or reductions in force at an executive-stakeholder level
• 10+ years of progressive HR experience, including 3+ years directly managing HR generalists, ideally in a high-growth or startup setting
• Strong analytical skills; comfortable owning HR metrics and reporting to leadership
• Experience owning HRIS strategy and vendor management (Rippling or comparable platforms)
• Demonstrated experience owning HR policy development end to end, including partnership with Legal/Compliance
• Experience designing or scaling an HR service-delivery model — intake processes, SLAs, self-service resources — in a growing organization
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
• Deep knowledge of U.S. employment law (especially California; multi-state required)
• Strong executive presence; able to advise senior leadership and the executive team on sensitive, high-stakes matters
• SPHR or SHRM-SCP certification
• Experience in defense, aerospace, or another regulated, security-conscious industry
• Experience building a People Operations function from the ground up inside a scaling startup
• Experience governing Confluence or a similar knowledge-management system at scale
• Experience partnering with Legal/InfoSec on compliance training program design