Head of People

Persons in these roles are expected to work from our offices in Seattle. On-site requirements vary based on position and team.

About the role

Ai2 is looking for an experienced, operationally-minded Head of People to lead our People Operations function. You bring rigor and follow-through to everything you own, and you know how to build systems that hold up as an organization scales. You're as comfortable in the details as you are in setting direction for your team, and you're credible with technical audiences.

This role sits within Ai2's Operations team reporting to the Head of Operations & Finance and supports the entire company. People Operations leads the strategy, systems, and programs that support Ai2’s team and shape how we work together, with ownership across total rewards, recruiting, HR business partnership, and people operations management. Our stakeholders span the whole org, and our research and engineering teams in particular depend on us to understand their world and move at their pace.

2026 is a year of real change for the team: new compliance requirements, new processes, and a leadership transition we're helping the org navigate. It's a good time to join if you want to build things that last rather than just keep the lights on.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of seven across total rewards, recruiting, and HR business partnership, setting priorities and building their capacity to own their functions independently.
• Set annual strategy and goals for People Operations, and track progress against them.
• Partner with research and engineering leadership to make sure People programs fit how technical teams actually work.
• Own org-wide people programs, including performance management, employee relations, and engagement.
• Partner with leadership on organizational design and workforce planning.
• Ensure compliance with employment law and manage risk across the employee lifecycle.
• Identify where People processes are undocumented or inconsistent, and build the systems to fix that.
• Own budget and resourcing decisions for the People function.
• Partner with Finance and Legal on compliance and infrastructure needs as Ai2's funding model evolves.
• Support executive transitions, including search processes and onboarding planning.
• Own Ai2's hiring execution, from defining open roles to onboarding new team members.
• Look for opportunities to bring automation and AI tools into People workflows where they'll meaningfully reduce manual work.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree and 15+ years of progressive HR experience.
• 5+ years managing managers or senior individual contributors (3+ direct reports).
• Experience working closely with technical teams.
• Functional depth across compensation and benefits, recruiting, and HR business partnership.
• Experience with employee relations, performance management, and organizational design.
• Experience building and documenting HR processes and systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to work across Legal, Finance, and executive leadership.
• Experience leading a team through organizational change.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience partnering with AI research teams.
• Experience at a research institute, nonprofit, or grant-funded organization.
• Experience applying AI tools to HR workflows.
• SHRM/SPHR or PHR certification.
• Experience at a company scaling through a leadership transition.

Skills

• HR Expertise: Deep, functional knowledge across the full scope of People work, including total rewards, recruiting, and HR business partnership.
• Technical Fluency: Experience working with engineering and/or research organizations, and an understanding of what it takes to support technical and research-driven teams well.
• Operational Rigor: A track record of building and documenting processes that reduce ambiguity and hold up under scrutiny.
• People Leadership: Experience developing managers and senior individual contributors, and giving them the context to make good decisions without you in the room.
• Clear, Direct Communication: You communicate plainly and welcome direct feedback in return.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Ability to work closely with Finance, Legal, and executive leadership to align People programs with broader company needs.
• Data-Informed Judgment: You use data to check your assumptions and make the case for your recommendations.

About Ai2

Ai2 is a Seattle-based nonprofit AI research institute known for open, high-impact research and engineering. Our mission is building breakthrough AI to solve the world’s biggest problems. We develop foundational AI research and innovation to deliver real-world impact through large-scale open models, data, robotics, conservation, and beyond.

We are a learning organization – because everything Ai2 does is ground-breaking, we are learning every day. Similarly, through weekly Ai2 Academy lectures, a wide variety of world-class AI experts as guest speakers, and our commitment to your personal on-going education, Ai2 is a place where you will have opportunities to continue learning alongside your coworkers.

We value diversity - We seek to hire, support, and promote people from all genders, ethnicities, and all levels of experience regardless of age. We particularly encourage applications from women, non-binary individuals, people of color, members of the LGBTQA+ community, and people with disabilities of any kind.

We value inclusion - We understand the value that people's individual experiences and perspectives can bring to an organization, and we are building a culture in which all voices are heard, respected and considered.

We emphasize a healthy work/life balance – we believe our team members are happiest and most productive when their work/life balance is optimized. While we value powerful research results which drive our mission forward, we also value dinner with family, weekend time, and vacation time. We offer generous paid vacation and sick leave as well as family leave.

We are collaborative and transparent – we consider ourselves a team, all moving with a common purpose. We are quick to cheer our successes, and even quicker to share and jointly problem solve our failures.

We are in Seattle – and our office is on the water! We have mountains, we have lakes, we have four seasons, we bike to work, we have a vibrant theater scene, and we have so much else. We even have kayaks for you to paddle right outside our front door. We welcome interest from applicants from outside of the United States.

We are friendly– chances are you will like every one of the 200+ (and growing) people who work here. We do.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• The ability to observe details at close range.
• Can work under deadlines.

Pay

Our base salary range is $172,080 - $258,120, and in addition we have generous bonus plans to provide a competitive compensation package.

Benefits

• Team members and their families are covered by medical, dental, vision, and an employee assistance program.
• Team members are able to enroll in our health savings account plan, our healthcare reimbursement arrangement plan, and our health care and dependent care flexible spending account plans.
• Team members are able to enroll in our company’s 401k plan.
• Team members will receive $125 per month to assist with commuting or internet expenses and will also receive $200 per month for fitness and wellbeing expenses.
• Team members will receive up to ten sick days per year, up to seven personal days per year, up to 20 vacation days per year, and twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Team members will be able to receive annual bonuses and can participate in the long-term incentive plan.