Director, People Operations

Snorkel AI•New York City, NY

About The Position

At Snorkel, we believe meaningful AI doesn’t start with the model, it starts with the data. We’re on a mission to help enterprises transform expert knowledge into specialized AI at scale. The AI landscape has gone through incredible changes between 2015, when Snorkel started as a research project in the Stanford AI Lab, to the generative AI breakthroughs of today. But one thing has remained constant: the data you use to build AI is the key to achieving differentiation, high performance, and production-ready systems. We work with some of the world’s largest organizations to empower scientists, engineers, financial experts, product creators, journalists, and more to build custom AI with their data faster than ever before. Excited to help us redefine how AI is built? Apply to be the newest Snorkeler! This year marks a period of significant growth and transformation for Snorkel. As demand for high-quality AI data accelerates, we are scaling both our internal organization and our contributor network at pace. We’re looking for a Senior Director of People Operations to build and scale the operational foundation that supports both. This is a high-impact leadership role responsible for designing and running world-class people systems across a hybrid workforce: employees and a large, distributed expert network. This role will own the core People Operations function, partnering closely with our People Programs & Partners leader (who owns all People Programs [including Total Rewards], HRBP and Workplace functions) to deliver a cohesive, high-quality employee and contributor experience.

Requirements

8–12+ years in People Operations, HR Operations, or equivalent roles, including leadership experience managing second line
Proven track record building and scaling People infrastructure in high-growth environments
Experience supporting complex workforce models (e.g., contractors, marketplaces, gig networks, or global workforces)
Strong operational mindset - looking for a systems thinker who drives efficiency and scalability
Deep knowledge of HR systems, compliance, and employment frameworks
Experience partnering cross-functionally with Legal, Finance, and technical teams
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and building from 0→1 and 1→n
High ownership, high standards, low ego

Nice To Haves

Experience in AI, marketplace, or data platform companies
Familiarity with managing large-scale contributor or contractor ecosystems (similar to models used by companies like Scale AI and Mercor)
Experience leveraging automation or AI tools in People Operations

Responsibilities

Own and scale end-to-end People Operations across Snorkel, including:
HR systems, data, and infrastructure
Employee lifecycle operations (onboarding → offboarding)
Compliance, policies, and risk management
Immigration
People analytics and reporting
Build and operationalize People infrastructure to support rapid company growth
Partner with the Head of EC Experience, Product and Engineering to ensure scalable systems for managing managing a large, distributed network of 1099 and temporary W-2 expert contributors (10,000s of workers) who support Snorkel’s data-as-a-service product, including:
Onboarding and activation flows
Engagement and retention mechanisms
Quality and performance tracking in partnership with Operations
Directly support cross-border compliance frameworks in coordination with Legal, Finance, Ops and People teams, as well as EoR and AoR partner management and ongoing relationship oversight
Partner closely with Legal, Finance, and Operations on workforce models, classification, and compliance
Improve efficiency and experience through automation, tooling, and AI-driven workflows
Establish strong operational rigor: documentation, SLAs, and service delivery standards
Lead, hire, and develop a high-performing People Operations team to support both sides of the business