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Normal Computing is an applied AI company building foundational hardware and software for the semiconductor industry and critical AI infrastructure. The company operates across New York City, Silicon Valley, London, Copenhagen, and Seoul.
We are seeking a founding People Partner to establish and lead the People function at Normal. This is a strategic role that will shape how the company builds and develops its teams as it scales from pre-seed stage.
Key responsibilities include:
- Partner strategically with leadership across research, engineering, hardware, and business teams. Understand business priorities, anticipate people needs, and advise on talent strategy, organizational change, and team capability building.
- Coach and develop managers. Help managers set clear expectations, deliver effective feedback, delegate well, and navigate difficult conversations. Build out leadership development resources and training based on patterns you observe across teams.
- Guide performance and development processes. Support managers through performance reviews, help them assess performance fairly, and turn feedback into actionable development plans.
- Monitor and improve team health. Use employee conversations, pulse surveys, exit data, and people analytics to identify concerns and retention risks early. Facilitate discussions on role clarity and working relationships, and partner with leaders to implement and measure the impact of improvements.
- Handle employee relations and organizational change. Work with managers on performance concerns, employee issues, and conflict with sound judgment and care. Advise leaders on communicating and managing team changes, and escalate complex or high-risk matters appropriately.
You will establish People Partner practices from the ground up, balancing performance and development opportunities with early identification and mitigation of people risks. You'll use insights from your work across teams to shape broader People programs and own specific initiatives.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Experience as a People Partner, HRBP, or comparable role in a tech or hardware company
- Experience across both early-stage startups and larger companies
- Experience building practical People tools or delivering program components
- Experience coaching managers through feedback, performance, and development
- Sound judgment in employee relations, including fact-finding, confidentiality, and knowing when to escalate
- Experience using employee feedback and people data to recommend changes and assess impact
- Clear, candid communication with demonstrated ability to build trust and influence leaders through difficult decisions
- Experience supporting employees and managers across multiple countries with knowledge of when to engage local expertise
BONUS:
- Familiarity with tools such as Rippling, Ashby, Lattice, Deel, Notion, or Slack
- Experience supporting research or hardware teams
- HR or project management certification (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR, PMP)
- Experience with reductions in force, international entity setup, or PEO arrangements
