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Exa is building a search engine for the AI era, having raised $250M in Series C funding (led by a16z) at a $2.2B valuation. The company powers AI agents, Fortune 500s, and AI labs with its Search API, disrupting an industry unchanged since the 1990s. With ~100 employees based largely in San Francisco, Exa is recruiting world-class talent from Harvard, MIT, Meta, Google Research, and the startup ecosystem.
As Head of People, you will own and evolve Exa's people strategy, systems, and programs during a critical growth phase. This is a highly strategic and deeply operational role reporting to the founders and Chief of Staff. You will lead the entire people function across talent acquisition, employee experience, performance management, compensation, benefits, organizational development, and culture.
Key responsibilities include: developing and executing people strategy aligned with company mission and business objectives; leading and scaling the People team across recruiting, onboarding, compensation, benefits, and talent development; serving as strategic advisor on organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, and talent strategy; building people systems, policies, and programs that enable high performance; developing compensation philosophies to attract and retain exceptional talent; creating leadership development and career growth programs; leading employee engagement and culture initiatives; coaching managers on performance and team effectiveness; overseeing employee relations and workplace issue resolution; managing immigration programs and visa sponsorship; driving data-informed decision-making through people analytics; ensuring employment law compliance; and building a high-performing People team.
You combine strong business judgment with exceptional emotional intelligence, balancing rigor, performance, and employee experience. You thrive in fast-moving environments, value direct feedback, and are energized by building systems from the ground up. You understand how to maintain speed, ambition, and culture while scaling a high-performing organization.
