Director, People Ops

About the role This is Plenful’s first dedicated HR hire. Reporting to the Chief People Officer, you’ll build the employee experience function from the ground up—owning everything from onboarding and performance to total rewards, HR operations, and the internal tools that keep a growing team running well. Your peer is the Head of Talent, who owns recruiting; you own everything that comes after an offer is signed. There’s a lot to build, and you’ll have the autonomy and support to do it right. What you’ll do

• Onboarding & How We Work: Build our onboarding program from scratch—from offer acceptance through the first 90 days—and create the internal infrastructure that makes it stick; update our intranet/tooling, make it the place people actually go to find answers, and keep it useful as we grow; own the systems and docs that help a fast-moving team stay aligned without everything living in someone’s head.
• Performance & Development: Run or evolve our performance review process and career frameworks from scratch; ensure people understand what strong performance looks like in their role, receive useful feedback, and have a clear path forward; support managers—many of whom are leading teams for the first time.
• Employee Relations, HR Operations, Immigration & Compliance: Review the policies we actually need, and keep us compliant as we hire across states; handle the day-to-day operational work—immigration cases, leaves, separations—with care and consistency.
• AI Productivity: As an AI company, we should be using AI better than most—identify the tools that genuinely improve how our team works, roll them out thoughtfully, and drive real productivity; this is hands-on work, not a strategy exercise.
• People Strategy: Work with the CPO to build the HR function from scratch—starting with the policies, systems, and processes that matter most right now; make pragmatic decisions about what we need today versus what can come later.

What we’re looking for

• 8+ years in HR with genuine generalist breadth—you’ve worked across comp, performance, employee relations, and HR operations, not just one area
• This role will need to cover ET/CT time zones for onboarding and approvals availability
• Experience at a fast-growing tech company; you understand the difference between building what a company needs now versus over-engineering for a future state that may never arrive
• A track record of building from scratch—you’ve started with a blank page before and are energized by it, not intimidated
• Sound judgment and a direct communication style—you give clear, actionable guidance rather than heavily caveated answers; you know when process adds value and when it just slows things down
• Some people genuinely want to come to you, build trust quickly across engineers, executives, and new hires, and are seen as a partner rather than a compliance function
• Low ego and high ownership—you don’t need a large team or a polished playbook to do great work, and you’re comfortable making decisions without perfect information
• Genuine care for the people you work with and the mission we’re building toward—you believe how a company treats its employees matters, and you act accordingly

Plenful perks

• Comprehensive Benefits Package: Unlimited PTO, fully covered health insurance (medical, dental, and vision), meal stipend, health & wellness stipend, 401(k) matching, and stock options
• Mission-Driven Team: A team that cares about the problem we’re solving and the people we work alongside
• Real Scope from Day One: You’re building the function, not inheriting it—this role grows as the company grows
• Flexible Hybrid Work Environment: Remote first.  If a candidate is based in the San Francisco Bay Area or NYC, it is expected to be in the office 2 days/week