Head of People and Global HR Operations

Head of People

Location: Remote

Scope: Global (U.S., Mexico, Colombia; expanding)

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

About the Organization

We are a fast-growing, international nonprofit organization operating at the intersection of mission, performance, and scale. With teams across the United States, Mexico, and Colombia—and ambitious growth plans ahead—we are building the infrastructure required to support a high-performing, globally distributed workforce.

This is a period of transformation for the organization, moving from a legacy nonprofit operating model to a more disciplined, performance-driven, and scalable approach. People operations is central to that transformation.

The Opportunity

The Head of People will own and strengthen the operational foundation of HR across the organization. This is a senior, hands-on role focused on HR operations, compliance, compensation, payroll, benefits, and systems—ensuring the “machine” works, scales, and anticipates risk rather than reacting to it.

This role partners closely with executive leadership and works alongside a separate senior leader focused on talent development, culture, and learning. In the short term, both roles report directly to the CEO.

This is not a generalist or “duct-tape HR” role. We are seeking a highly process-oriented, systems-minded HR leader who brings rigor, clarity, and confidence to a complex, global environment.

Key Responsibilities

HR Operations & Global Compliance

• Own global HR operations across multiple countries, with primary focus on the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia
• Ensure compliance with local labor laws, payroll regulations, benefits administration, and workers’ compensation
• Partner with Employers of Record (EORs), local counsel, and external advisors to maintain consistent compliance and service levels across geographies
• Design and manage onboarding and offboarding processes in both at-will and non-at-will employment environments
• Proactively identify and mitigate legal, compliance, and workforce risks

Compensation, Benefits & Payroll

• Own payroll strategy and execution; ensure accurate and timely pay for all employees
• Lead global compensation benchmarking and market analysis
• Assess and address pay equity, transparency, and bias across regions and demographics
• Evaluate and optimize benefits programs to remain competitive and values-aligned

Systems, Processes & Infrastructure

• Establish and maintain the HRIS as the single source of truth for employee data
• Ensure accurate tracking of roles, compensation, reporting lines, and job descriptions
• Audit, update, and formalize HR policies and the employee handbook
• Build scalable HR processes to support performance management, recruiting, and workforce planning

People Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and rebuild the HR operations team (2–3 direct reports initially)
• Assess current capabilities and re-platform the function with high-performing talent as needed
• Partner with regional HR leaders to align local and global operations over time

Recruiting & Workforce Planning (Secondary Focus)

• Support the development of a more efficient, cost-effective internal recruiting engine
• Improve systems for candidate pipelines, job postings, and hiring workflows
• Enable high-volume hiring during a significant growth year while maintaining rigor and equity

Ideal Candidate Profile

Experience

• 7–15 years of progressive HR experience
• Bilingual (Spanish)
• Experience supporting organizations of ~100+ employees
• Background in consulting, professional services, law firms, tech staffing, or similarly fast-paced, project-based environments preferred
• Demonstrated experience with onboarding/offboarding, layoffs, conditional hires, and funding-dependent roles
• International HR experience strongly preferred

Skills & Capabilities

• Highly detail-oriented; strong with systems, spreadsheets, and process design
• Comfortable making clear, sometimes difficult decisions with professionalism and empathy
• Strong understanding of global labor law differences and compliance risk
• Proficiency in Spanish strongly preferred; Portuguese is a plus
• Confident self-starter with minimal need for supervision

Personal Attributes

• Able to context-switch between fast-moving, direct executive environments and relationship-driven, high-context regional teams
• High emotional intelligence with a thick skin
• Calm, steady, and pragmatic during periods of change
• Strong values around equity, inclusion, transparency, and ethical employment practices