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Director, People Operations (R5390)

Shield AI· People Experience
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Hybrid (San Mateo, CA and Seattle, WA), Hybrid (San Diego, Dallas, Seattle, San Mateo)$170k - $300kFull Time EmployeePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Director of People Operations to lead and evolve the People Operations function, enabling scalable, AI-enabled processes across the employee lifecycle and partnering with HR, Payroll, Finance, IT, Legal, and business leaders.

Responsibilities

  • Define and execute a unified People Operations vision, operating model, and multi-year roadmap spanning candidate interviewing, hiring, employee onboarding and employee lifecycle operations.
  • Lead day-to-day operations, ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery across the employee lifecycle.
  • Lead and scale a rapidly growing People Operations function through direct leadership, with full accountability for team performance, service quality, and outcomes across the candidate and employee lifecycle.
  • Establish team structure, capacity planning, KPIs, and operating rhythms to support hiring velocity, onboarding effectiveness, and ongoing operational excellence.
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to executives on workforce operations, hiring experience, service delivery, and AI enablement.
  • Transform People Operations into a self-service-first, AI-enabled support model.
  • Design and implement service delivery architecture, including automation, case management, and digital support channels to support rapid company scaling and global expansion.
  • Lead enterprise knowledge management to enable self-service and improve consistency and AI effectiveness.
  • Own and drive service performance, including SLAs, response times, quality, and employee satisfaction.
  • Establish governance for AI-enabled execution and support, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and appropriate escalation.
  • Continuously improve services through analytics, feedback, and process optimization.
  • Select and manage external vendors and platforms specific People Operations.
  • Own end-to-end workforce lifecycle processes, from interview coordination and candidate logistics through onboarding, employee changes, and offboarding.
  • Ensure seamless handoffs between recruiting and employee operations to deliver a cohesive, high-quality experience.
  • Lead process redesign initiatives to improve hiring efficiency, onboarding speed, service quality, and risk reduction.
  • Establish policies, documentation, controls, and service standards.
  • Drive automation strategies to reduce manual effort and improve quality.
  • Ensure operational continuity and audit readiness.
  • Lead change management and adoption for new processes, tools and capabilities.
  • Ensure accuracy, security, and integrity of employee data and workforce transactions.
  • Establish governance, audit, and validation practices to reduce risk.
  • Partner with HRIS, Payroll, Legal, and Finance to maintain compliance and alignment with internal controls.
  • Drive enterprise accountability for data quality across People systems.
  • Partner with HRIS, IT, Talent Acquisition, and Digital teams to define and execute the People Operations technology roadmap.
  • Support adoption and optimization of platforms such as UKG, Jira Service Management, Ashby, and automation tools.
  • Translate business needs across the People Operations function into scalable systems and workflows.
  • Establish related service metrics, dashboards, and reporting frameworks.
  • Monitor SLAs, KPIs, and operational health indicators.
  • Use data to identify trends, inefficiencies, and opportunities for automation.
  • Drive continuous improvement and data-informed decision-making.
  • Measure service effectiveness, employee experience, and AI performance.
  • Evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, and evolving best practices to continuously modernize and scale People Operations.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field.
  • 15+ years of progressive HR or People Operations experience in complex or high-growth environments.
  • 7+ years leading People Operations or HR Shared Services teams.
  • Experience designing and scaling shared services and service delivery models.
  • Proven track record of operational transformation, including automation and AI-enabled solutions.
  • Strong expertise in employee lifecycle operations, compliance, and data governance.
  • Experience partnering with HRIS and enterprise technology teams.
  • Demonstrated success with KPIs, SLAs, and operational reporting.
  • Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Skills

Required:People Operations leadershipOperational transformationHRIS & enterprise tech partnerships

Benefits

  • Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
  • Temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)
  • Salary compensation influenced by skill set, level of experience, licenses/certifications, and location, with background and reference checks may apply
Last updated Oct 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Shield AI

Autonomy for the world.

Our mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems.

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