Head of People

About the role

As part of the first 100 employees at Albedo, you will have a significant impact on the company’s trajectory towards proliferating Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). You will be responsible for building the systems, processes, and leadership capability that allow Albedo to grow without losing its unique culture and capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end employee experience, including onboarding, offboarding, benefits administration, payroll coordination, HRIS administration, and employee support
• Ensure compliance with employment laws and HR best practices across hiring, documentation, leave administration, employee relations, worker classification, and performance management
• Serve as a trusted advisor to employees, managers, and leadership on people-related matters, providing coaching, guidance, and support through both everyday challenges and complex situations
• Partner with managers and leadership to strengthen management capability across the organization and drive a high-performance culture
• Lead performance management, compensation philosophy, salary banding, benchmarking, and total rewards programs
• Own employee relations matters, including investigations, conflict resolution, performance concerns, and disciplinary processes
• Partner closely with Finance, Legal, and company leadership on payroll, benefits, headcount planning, reporting, and organizational design
• Plan and execute company events, offsites, and employee experience programs that strengthen culture and reinforce company values
• Track and report key people metrics, identify organizational risks and opportunities, and use data to inform leadership decisions
• Support recruiting on an as-needed basis for critical roles, while partnering with the recruiting team that owns hiring execution day-to-day

Requirements

• 7+ years of progressive HR/People experience, including prior ownership of a broad people function; prior Head of People or equivalent title at a company of similar scale strongly preferred
• Experience building and scaling people infrastructure at a startup, ideally between 50–200 employees, where you had to create structure without losing speed
• Deep knowledge of HR compliance, employment law, and best practices — including leave administration, worker classification, multi-state compliance, and employee relations — with the judgment to navigate gray areas
• Hands-on experience with HRIS platforms (Rippling preferred), payroll administration, and benefits management
• Experience designing and running performance management cycles, compensation benchmarking, and engagement and culture initiatives
• Strong track record partnering directly with founders and senior leadership — comfortable influencing up and pushing back with data when needed
• Exceptional written and verbal communication — you set the tone for how Albedo communicates with its people
• Startup experience at the 50–200 person stage; comfort operating with ambiguity, wearing multiple hats, and building process where none exists

Qualifications

• Prior experience in aerospace, defense, hard tech, or another technical environment is a plus
• Comfort leveraging modern AI-assisted tools to create leverage and operate efficiently

Skills

• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent problem-solving abilities
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

Benefits

• Employee friendly equity compensation
• 4% direct matching 401k
• Health Insurance: 100% employee coverage & 75% dependent coverage
• Parental leave and childcare coverage
• Flexible vacation and sick time from day one
• 12 company holidays
• $100 monthly wellness benefit
• Relocation package if not based in Denver

Pay

$160,300 - $187,388 per year

Schedule

Full-time