SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Vaulted is a carbon removal and waste management company that safely injects organic waste deep underground to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere. The company has 70+ employees across Houston, San Francisco, and Kansas, recently signed a major offtake agreement with Microsoft, and is expanding rapidly.
You will be Vaulted's first permanent Head of People, reporting directly to the CEO and sitting on the leadership team. This is a strategic role to build and scale the people function as the company grows from Series A through Series B and beyond.
Key responsibilities span five areas:
**People Strategy & Culture**: Partner with the CEO to define and operationalize a holistic people philosophy aligned with company mission and values. Serve as a trusted strategic advisor on organizational design, talent, and culture. Own the evolution of company culture, develop people metrics and dashboards to track organizational health, and prepare monthly/quarterly people analysis for leadership and the board.
**Organizational Development & Workforce Planning**: Conduct ongoing organizational assessments to ensure right talent in right roles. Partner with functional leaders on team structure, leveling frameworks, career pathways, and individual development plans. Lead organizational design and change management initiatives, including restructures and new-site stand-ups. Facilitate leadership effectiveness assessments.
**Talent Management & HR Business Partnership**: Serve as strategic HR partner to people managers on team composition, succession planning, and critical talent decisions. Provide direct coaching to leadership and managers. Evaluate and improve performance management frameworks. Manage talent acquisition strategy. Build learning and development programs focused on manager and leader effectiveness. Develop succession plans for key roles.
**Total Rewards, HR Operations & Compliance**: Enhance total rewards philosophy including compensation, bonus design, equity, and benefits. Own core HR systems and infrastructure. Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment law across all operating locations. Evaluate and strengthen people metrics. Manage HR vendor and PEO relationships. Partner with Finance on HR budgeting.
**Employee Relations & Field Operations**: Own sensitive employee relations matters including investigations, performance issues, and terminations. Partner closely with Operations to support field teams across current and future sites. Build people practices tailored to an hourly, multi-site, industrial workforce, including handling on-site incidents. Partner with Operations and EHS/Safety on workforce safety programs and incident response. Champion fair, consistent treatment and career pathways across the full organization.
You will also hire and lead a small people team, managing the transition from fractional HR to a permanent function.
**Requirements**
Required:
- 10+ years of progressive People/HR leadership experience, including senior leadership at a venture-backed, high-growth company
- Demonstrated success building and scaling a people function through a company's high-growth period
- Direct experience operating in a founder- or CEO-led organization, serving as a close partner and advisor
- Experience supporting an hourly, industrial, or multi-site field workforce in addition to corporate or technical employee populations, with comfort handling operating-site employee relations
- Strong working knowledge of U.S. employment law, with hands-on experience managing complex employee relations matters and terminations
- Demonstrated coaching skills with a track record of coaching managers and employees
- High emotional intelligence and sound judgment under pressure
- Strong business acumen and ownership mindset, with comfort in ambiguous, low-structure, fast-paced environments
- Proven ability to lead organizational change and manage resistance
- Experience building or overseeing core HR infrastructure (compensation, benefits, HRIS, compliance programs)
- Experience presenting people data and analysis to executive leadership and board/investor reporting
- Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills
Preferred:
- Formal coaching certification (ICF or equivalent)
- SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent HR certification
- Experience with HRIS upgrades
- Experience with workers' compensation, OSHA, or EHS partnership in industrial, manufacturing, or energy environment
- Multi-state employment law experience
- Experience supporting international workforce expansion
- Experience as a company's first or founding people leader
- Experience supporting M&A diligence or integration from people/HR perspective
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Organizational Psychology, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
