Head Of/director, People Operations

Head Of/Director, People Operations

Axion Ray is looking for a Head of/Director, People Operations to architect and scale the foundational systems, programs, and cultural rituals that will power our next phase of growth. This is a high-impact, strategic individual contributor role working directly with senior leaders across Product, Engineering, GTM, and Operations.

You'll build the people infrastructure from the ground up—designing how we hire, develop, and retain world-class talent as we scale from Series A to B and beyond. From performance frameworks to feedback rituals, you'll help shape the employee experience at Axion Ray and ensure that our culture scales intentionally as our team grows.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with senior leadership to shape org design, performance strategy, talent planning, and engagement as we scale
• Design and implement core programs across performance management, onboarding, leveling, promotions, and internal mobility
• Act as a coach and trusted advisor to people managers, enabling them to lead high-performing, healthy teams
• Reinforce and evolve Axion's values-driven culture through scalable people systems, rituals, and communication
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Recruiting, Finance, and GTM on workforce planning, compensation strategy, and headcount alignment
• Drive employee listening efforts via engagement surveys, stay interviews, and exit feedback—translating insights into action
• Analyze people data to identify risks, spot trends, and guide strategic decision-making
• Create scalable documentation and resources (e.g. toolkits, playbooks) to uplevel people leadership across the organization

Requirements

• Led or co-led at least two performance review cycles end-to-end, including calibration, manager enablement, and promotion decisions
• Designed and launched at least one foundational people program (e.g. leveling framework, compensation banding, onboarding redesign, internal mobility process)
• Advised and coached managers through sensitive employee relations scenarios, including performance conversations, formal warnings, and exits
• Partnered cross-functionally with Recruiting and Finance on headcount planning, compensation reviews, and organizational design decisions
• Built scalable documentation and toolkits (e.g. manager guides, feedback rituals, process playbooks) that supported organizational growth or improved manager effectiveness
• Used engagement or employee listening data (surveys, interviews, exit data) to drive action planning and influence executive decision-making
• Effectively operated in an environment with high ambiguity, often as the first or only embedded People leader within a fast-growing team

Preferred Qualifications

• Played a key role in helping a company scale from ~50 to 150+ employees
• Built or meaningfully shaped a performance, compensation, or promotion framework from scratch
• Experience supporting an engineering or technical org, with insight into the unique challenges and rhythms of technical leadership
• Familiarity with Series A/B startup environments and the constraints, pace, and creativity required to thrive
• Based in NYC or open to working from our Williamsburg HQ at least 3 days/week

What We Offer

• Opportunity to shape the People function and build from 0 to 1 during a pivotal growth stage
• Work with cutting-edge AI technology making a tangible impact in manufacturing
• Collaborative, mission-driven team and supportive executive leadership
• Generous time off
• Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits
• Lunch stipend…and much more!

Ready to shape the future of work at a category-defining AI company? Apply today to help us build the people systems that power the future of quality intelligence.