Head of People
Epoch AI is growing from around 30 to around 70 people over the next 6–8 months, across multiple countries and employment arrangements. We are creating a new leadership role to own everything people- and events-related through this growth and beyond. About the role
The Head of People oversees three functions: Recruiting, HR, and Events. The role reports to the COO and manages a team of five to start: two operations associates/recruiters, a talent scout, an events lead, and a people operations associate.
This is a building role. Much of the infrastructure you’ll oversee needs to be scaled for an organization twice our current size. People and process management will be your primary responsibility, but during crunch time you’ll need to direct work such as personally running key hiring rounds. The primary responsibilities for this role are managing and guiding the team, scaling the hiring and people systems, overseeing the events calendar, contributing to strategy, and making sure staff are well supported.
This role is fully remote, with the option to work from our Berkeley, California office if you are based in the Bay Area, but we require at least 4 hours of overlap with PST working times. We invite anyone who is interested to apply, regardless of background, experience, or credentials. Please do not include a cover letter, photograph, or headshot of yourself, or any personal information that is not relevant to the role for which you're applying (including marital status, age, identity traits, etc.).
Key Responsibilities
Recruiting
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Own the hiring system. Improve how the hiring processes work: oversee retrospectives after each round, address recurring mistakes, restructure or close rounds that aren't converging, and flag when our compensation structure isn't competitive.
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Support headcount planning with the COO. Help turn the org’s growth plan into a hiring plan: which roles open when, in what order, what each round realistically takes. Flag early when the plan and reality diverge, for example when a round is going to slip a quarter and dependent hires need resequencing.
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Own the candidate experience. Set the standard for how Epoch presents itself to the talent market — job descriptions, careers page, outreach, rejections — and ensure every candidate, hired or not, leaves with a positive impression of Epoch.
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Own the hiring manager experience. Make it easy, quick, and frictionless for researchers, engineers, and other senior staff to launch and run hiring rounds. Protect their time.
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Report on the funnel. Own the metrics that tell us whether hiring is working — time-to-hire, source-of-hire, offer-accept rate — and translate them into action, surfacing negative results early, like when hires from a round keep leaving and the role needs a different JD.
HR and staff support
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Be a trusted advisor to leadership. Advise on org design, leveling, and sensitive personnel decisions, handled with discretion and empathy.
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Help our talent develop once they're inside. Work with the COO and managers on how we develop people after they join: performance review cycles, manager support and materials, and whatever staff need to keep growing at Epoch.
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Own the onboarding system. Spot weaknesses, drive improvements, and anticipate what onboarding needs to look like at twice our size.
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Own benefits, payroll, and our HR providers. Make sure staff concerns are resolved quickly, and own the provider strategy: what we use, on what terms, and when to switch.
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Own compliance, contracts, and visas. Own employment compliance across the jurisdictions where we employ staff, review contract templates and terms, and take the visa sponsorship escalations, flagging risk decisions to the COO.
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Own the handbook and internal policies. Set the standard for what makes the handbook useful to staff, and own the policies in it.
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Shape organizational culture as we scale. Steward the practices, rituals, and fe