[Hiring] Head of People & Organizational Development @SPUN

Role Description

We’re looking for a Head of People & Organizational Development to shape how SPUN works as it grows. This is not a traditional HR role. Day-to-day HR administration will sit with a dedicated Operations Manager. Your focus is the organization itself: how our people collaborate, make decisions, develop, and use the tools available to them to do their best work.

You will work closely with senior leadership across three connected areas:

• Ways of working: Design the structures, rhythms, and practices that keep a distributed, multidisciplinary team aligned and moving quickly.
• Tools and technology: Shape the tools we rely on so they actually serve the work, including AI.
• Culture and leadership: Help our culture scale as new teams and leaders join.

Key Responsibilities

• Organizational Design & Growth:
  • Design and evolve SPUN’s organizational structure as we grow.
  • Partner with senior leadership to anticipate the capabilities SPUN will need.
  • Assess organizational health regularly.
  • Work with the Operations Manager to ensure people policies reflect SPUN’s values.
• Ways of Working:
  • Design operating rhythms, decision-making processes, and planning practices.
  • Strengthen knowledge capture and sharing across the organization.
  • Improve collaboration among scientists, data scientists, policy specialists, and partnership leads.
• Tools & AI Adoption:
  • Shape SPUN’s core tools and their usage.
  • Partner with senior leadership to develop SPUN’s approach to AI.
  • Work with team leads to identify high-value AI use cases.
  • Build AI fluency across the organization.
  • Create ways for teams to share experiments and lessons learned.
• Culture & Connection:
  • Create conditions for a healthy, ambitious, and inclusive culture.
  • Build intentional opportunities for connection across time zones.
  • Design and facilitate retreats, team sessions, and leadership gatherings.
  • Design onboarding that integrates new team members into SPUN’s culture.
  • Develop a thoughtful approach to recognizing achievements.
• Leadership, Performance & Development:
  • Partner with senior leaders and managers to strengthen their leadership abilities.
  • Establish effective practices for feedback, goal-setting, and performance reviews.
  • Develop progression pathways for individual contributors moving into management.
  • Identify opportunities for learning and professional development.

Qualifications

• Organizational builder with 7+ years of experience.
• Strategist who can shape strategy and build processes.
• Deeply curious about people and team dynamics.
• Trusted leadership partner comfortable advising senior leaders.
• Experienced in changing how people work, including AI adoption.
• Excellent communicator across diverse audiences.
• Mission-driven and excited by SPUN’s mission.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a science, research, environmental, or impact-driven organization.
• Experience in a globally distributed organization.
• Experience with multidisciplinary teams spanning various fields.
• Experience building career frameworks or development programs.
• Hands-on experience with AI tools.

Benefits

• Empowering people to do their best work.
• Support for health, well-being, growth, and balance.
• Benefits tailored to local laws for equitable support across the team.