Director, People

The Nuclear Company•Washington, DC

23h•$178,000 - $204,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Nuclear Company is a rapidly expanding AI tech-enabled startup in the nuclear and energy sector, focused on a fleet-scale strategy for developing next-generation nuclear reactors. They aim to accelerate the deployment of safe, reliable, and affordable nuclear energy through their "design-once, build-many" approach. The company emphasizes an AI-first culture, expecting all employees to utilize AI, technology, and their proprietary Nuclear Operating System (NOS) to enhance their work's quality, speed, and impact. They encourage continuous identification of automation opportunities, workflow improvements, and contributions to NOS's evolution as a scaling capability. The Nuclear Company seeks individuals driven by purpose, comfortable with ambiguity, and excited by innovation. Their team is characterized by intellectual curiosity, high agency, a receptiveness to feedback, a commitment to continuous learning, and high standards. Core values include Transparency, Responsibility, Unity, Scrappiness, and Tenacity, which guide their hiring, collaboration, and decision-making processes. TRUST is fundamental to their safety culture, promoting intellectual honesty, accountability, and open communication, while their values push team members towards urgency, humility, resilience, and dedication to the mission.

Requirements

7+ years of progressive HR experience, including generalist/business partner work and HR systems ownership
Demonstrated experience managing or implementing HR technology (e.g., Workday, ADP, BambooHR, Greenhouse, or similar)
Direct experience with, or strong point of view on, applying AI/automation to HR operations
Excellent judgment handling confidential and sensitive employee matters
Strong stakeholder management skills — comfortable being the HR face for both an office and specific customer groups
Experience managing people and/or non-human resources (workflows, vendors, or agents) toward measurable outcomes

Nice To Haves

SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent certification a plus

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary HR point of contact for the DC office and assigned internal customer groups
Advise managers and leaders on performance management, employee relations, organizational design, and talent planning
Interpret and apply company policy consistently; manage sensitive employee relations matters with sound judgment and appropriate confidentiality
Drive engagement, retention, and culture initiatives specific to the DC office
Partner with Talent Acquisition and Legal on cross-functional initiatives affecting your client groups
Own the HR technology stack end-to-end: HRIS, ATS, payroll integration, LMS, and any people-analytics tooling
Set the roadmap for HR systems, evaluate and select new tools, and manage vendor relationships and contracts
Ensure data integrity, system security, and compliance across all HR platforms
Partner with IT/Security on access controls, integrations, and data governance
Develop and own the strategy for how AI agents supplement HR work — identifying which tasks are appropriate to delegate to agents versus which require human judgment
Design the operating model for AI agents as part of the org structure, including scope of authority, escalation paths, and performance oversight
Act as the accountable human owner for AI agent(s) reporting into this role: setting objectives, reviewing output quality, and course-correcting behavior
Establish guardrails for data privacy, bias mitigation, and compliance in any AI-supported HR process
Build change management plans to help the broader team adopt AI-supported workflows with confidence rather than anxiety
Continuously evaluate new AI tools/agents and make build-vs-buy-vs-expand recommendations