Director, People

About the role

This is a role that requires both strategic thinking and operational depth. You'll need to understand the why behind the people agenda, shape how it gets executed, and manage a team that delivers it. You're not just translating instructions, you're bringing judgment, perspective, and initiative to a broad functional remit that spans the full employee lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Team leadership — directly managing the People Ops Manager and HRBP team.
  • You run 1:1s, set priorities, give real feedback, develop each person's capability, and hold the bar.
• Execution of the people roadmap — You own the plan that gets it done: scoping the work, sequencing it, assigning it, and making sure it ships.
• HRBP function quality — you're responsible for the caliber of partnership the HRBPs deliver to the business. That means coaching them on complex employee situations, reviewing their work, and making sure they're operating as true business partners and not just HR administrators.
• People Ops function oversight — partnering closely with the People Ops Manager to ensure the operational backbone (HRIS, lifecycle, compliance, benefits) is running cleanly and improving over time. You don't run it, but you make sure it's being run well.
• Performance management — owning the execution of performance cycles, calibration support, and the ongoing coaching infrastructure that helps managers have better conversations with their teams.
• Talent development — driving the programs and infrastructure that help Deepgram employees grow: manager training, career frameworks, development programming, and the tools that make growth legible.
• Compliance and policy — making sure the company stays ahead of employment law requirements, policy gaps, and risk exposure across all people practices. This includes funding Due Diligence work and any potential M&As.
• Senior escalation point — complex employee relations situations, sensitive manager conversations, anything that needs more experience or authority than the HRBP level. You handle these directly and with good judgment.
• Cross-functional presence — representing the People function in operational and cross-functional threads that don't need the Head of People in the room. You're a credible, trusted partner to the ELT and business leaders in your own right.
• AI-native execution — actively using AI tools in your own work and driving adoption across your team and the company. You're expected to be raising the ceiling on what a lean people function can produce.

Requirements

8–12 years in People/HR, with direct experience managing HRBPs or People partnersBroad functional depth — you've touched performance, comp, compliance, employee experience, and talent development, not just one slice of the people functionA strong operator and team developer — you get energy from making a team perform, not just doing the work yourselfProven ability to take strategic direction and drive execution through others without losing fidelity to the original intentStrategic thinker who can operate in the details — you bring your own point of view to how the work gets done, not just the ability to follow a planGood judgment on escalation — you know what to handle, what to push back down, and what actually needs to go upActive AI tool user. Not aspirational — tell us what you use and what you've built with itDirect communicator who can represent the People function credibly with managers and ELT members