Intern, People Team Strategic Projects

Planet•San Francisco, CA

3d•$35 - $60•Hybrid

About The Position

Planet is at an inflection point. As we scale, the People Team is building the foundational talent infrastructure that will define how we hire, develop, promote, and lead for years to come. One of the most important pieces of that foundation is a structured Leadership Competency Framework — a shared definition of what leadership excellence looks like at Planet that will inform how we assess talent across the entire employee lifecycle. As a People Team Strategic Intern, you will play a central role in bringing this framework to life. Your project will involve conducting external market research on how leading technology and aerospace companies define leadership competencies, gathering internal perspectives from cross-functional stakeholders, and synthesizing your findings into a recommendation that the People Team can use to finalize a core set of Planet-specific competencies. You will be doing real research that feeds directly into a strategic initiative the Executive Leadership Team has prioritized for the fiscal year. Your work will help shape the behavioral standards that inform promotion calibrations, performance evaluations, interview rubrics, and development planning across the company. You will report to a member of the People Leadership Team and partner with People Business Partners, the Talent Acquisition team, and the Learning & Development function — all of whom will eventually integrate the competency framework into their respective processes. This role is based in San Francisco. This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our San Francisco office 3 days per week.

Requirements

Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human Resources, Organizational Psychology, Business Administration, or a related field.
Solid research and analytical skills — you can gather information from multiple sources, identify patterns, and synthesize findings into clear, structured recommendations.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills — you will create deliverables that need to be polished enough to present to senior leaders.
Intellectual curiosity about how organizations define and develop leadership — you are genuinely interested in what makes leaders effective and how companies build cultures of accountability and high performance.
Comfort working independently on a multi-week research project while managing your own timeline and deliverables.
Experience with Google Workspace or Microsoft Office for research documentation, analysis, and presentation creation.
Experience leveraging AI-powered tools for research and analysis - you can utilize generative AI to rapidly synthesize market data, identify key patterns, and draft comprehensive, structured reports.

Nice To Haves

Coursework or project experience in organizational development, talent management, competency modeling, or industrial-organizational psychology.
Previous internship or work experience in an HR, People Operations, or organizational development function.
Familiarity with competency frameworks such as Lominger, DDI, or Korn Ferry leadership models — even from an academic context.
Experience conducting qualitative research such as stakeholder interviews, focus groups, or survey design and analysis.
Interest in the aerospace, technology, or climate sectors and an understanding of how mission-driven companies approach leadership development.

Responsibilities

Conduct external market research on leadership competency frameworks used by comparable technology, aerospace, and scaling public companies — identifying common themes, best practices, and models that could inform Planet’s approach.
Gather internal perspectives by interviewing or surveying cross-functional stakeholders and leaders to understand what leadership behaviors Planet values most and where the current gaps in consistency are.
Synthesize research findings into a structured recommendation that proposes a core set of Planet-specific leadership competencies, including behavioral indicators and potential applications across the talent lifecycle.
Support the People Team in preparing materials for leadership alignment workshops where the competency framework will be reviewed, pressure-tested, and finalized with executive stakeholders.
Research how other organizations have integrated competency frameworks into their talent processes — including hiring, performance management, promotion calibration, and development planning — and document integration recommendations for Planet.
Create clear, presentation-ready deliverables that communicate your research and recommendations to both the People Team and senior leadership audiences.
Contribute to the broader People Team’s strategic initiatives by participating in team meetings, learning about Planet’s people strategy, and gaining exposure to how HR operates at a scaling public company.