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Salary: USD 350,000 - 450,000 / annual
Periodic Labs is an AI and physical sciences company building state-of-the-art models to accelerate breakthroughs across materials, energy, and beyond. The company is backed by world-class investors and growing rapidly.
As Head of People, you will run the full people function and partner directly with the leadership team to build the organization that will define the next era of AI-driven scientific discovery. This is not a traditional HR leadership role—the company needs someone who has operated inside engineering-forward organizations, ideally in frontier AI, physical products, semiconductors, or hardware-forward startups, with deep understanding of how technical teams operate under pressure.
Key responsibilities include:
- Running all people-related functions: talent acquisition, HR business partnering, onboarding, performance management, compensation, and learning & development
- Leading and scaling talent acquisition, including building the recruiting team, evolving hiring processes, and shaping hiring strategy as the company grows
- Partnering with leadership on organizational design, workforce planning, and growth strategy
- Managing employee relations, handling sensitive situations, investigations, and executive coaching with discretion
- Designing people systems tailored to how scientific and engineering teams actually work
- Creating onboarding programs that integrate new engineers and scientists into Periodic Labs culture
- Shaping organizational scaling in a lab-first environment without losing core strengths
- Using people data and analytics to drive evidence-based decisions on headcount, attrition, engagement, and team effectiveness
You will serve as a trusted advisor to founders and senior leaders, bringing both strategic vision and operational rigor.
REQUIREMENTS:
- 15+ years of HR experience, with meaningful time in a senior people leadership role at a technology, research, or engineering-forward company
- Experience building and leading a talent acquisition function, including hiring and managing recruiters, as the company scales
- Background supporting teams in physical products, semiconductors, manufacturing, or hardware-forward startups, with understanding of operational rhythms and talent profiles
- Experience navigating the intersection of research and engineering cultures, where intellectual rigor, speed, and hands-on problem-solving coexist
- Strong command of the full HR spectrum: performance management, compensation design, employee relations, organizational design, and people operations
- Builder's mindset; comfortable in ambiguous environments where people programs are still being defined
- High EQ and communication skills; ability to build trust quickly with engineers and scientists and navigate difficult conversations with directness and care
- Sound judgment on sensitive matters; ability to handle employee relations and investigations with appropriate seriousness and discretion
- Data fluency; ability to use people analytics to diagnose issues, identify trends, and support decisions with evidence
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
STRONG-TO-HAVE QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience at an AI lab, deep tech company, or research institution with unusually specialized talent profiles
- Familiarity with compensation design for rare technical roles (physicists, materials scientists, ML researchers) where standard benchmarks don't apply
- Experience scaling an HR function through a growth financing event or rapid headcount expansion
- Background in operations, finance, or program management bringing analytical depth to the people function
- Direct experience owning technical hiring strategy, including sourcing for niche scientific or engineering disciplines
