People & Talent Lead

Atomic Object•Ann Arbor, MI

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Atomic is growing a diverse and inclusive team of curious, creative people who love creating great software for our clients. Since 2001, Atomic Object has designed and developed software products for web, mobile, desktop, IoT and connected devices. We’re an employee-owned company with 140+ Atoms in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Chicago and Raleigh. We have a flat organization and practice open-books management. At Atomic, you can stay close to the craft for your entire career while owning part of the company and its profits. POSITION Clients hire Atomic for our teams. How we hire, welcome, coach, and support the people on those teams shapes everything we deliver. As People & Talent Lead (PTL) for our Ann Arbor office, you’ll own that work locally. You’ll be the person every Atom knows, trusts, and turns to. Right now, our Ann Arbor Managing Partners do this work on top of sales and client relationships. This role gives people and culture in Ann Arbor a dedicated owner. Atomic designs its organizational structure at the company level, in collaboration with Managing Partners and company leaders. The People & Talent Lead brings it to life in the Ann Arbor office, focusing on presence, relationships, and delivery. The Lead is someone local that every Atom can build a relationship with. This is an organizational-development role, not a traditional HR role. The PTL develops and curates talent at the business unit level. Compliance, payroll, and benefits remain part of corporate operations. That leaves your time for the work that helps people grow: coaching, feedback, onboarding, hiring, and building strong consultants. You’ll join the Ann Arbor office leadership team. Your peers there are our Practice Leads, who guide growth within disciplines like design and development; our Accelerator Manager, who leads our early-career program; and our business development lead. The Managing Partners still make the final call on hiring, compensation, performance and terminations. You'll be their trusted advisor, bringing valuable first-hand information to inform their decisions. You'll thrive here if watching people grow gives you energy. Earning trust across an office of designers, developers, and consultants should come naturally to you, and you should enjoy doing the work as much as designing it. You’ll be at the center of an employee-owned company’s culture and see up close how an open-books software consultancy runs.

Requirements

10+ years in talent development, organizational development, or learning and development, with hands-on experience running programs like these.
Hands-on organizational development experience, such as building or running programs for career growth, feedback, or culture, beyond traditional HR experience.
Experience with hiring processes, interviewer calibration, and performance improvement plans.
Experience leading a team.
Professional services or consulting background strongly preferred; familiarity with software development a plus.

Nice To Haves

People trust you with sensitive topics because you handle them with integrity and discretion.
You lead through influence.
Most of the people you’ll guide don’t report to you, so success comes from trust and partnership, not authority.
Builds rapport with Atoms at every level and never undermines the Managing Partners.
Has difficult conversations with empathy and directness.
Finds real satisfaction from seeing others grow.
Strong work ethic; able to get up after being knocked down.
Wants to do the work, not just design it.
Prioritizes well and balances many initiatives at once.
Excellent writer, presenter, and listener.
Uses data to measure and improve talent initiatives.
Anticipates future needs; knows when to preserve options and when to act.

Responsibilities

Support the CDMs (Career Development Managers) by coaching and developing them on facilitating career conversations, giving feedback, and managing difficult conversations.
Run the local CDM program, including its meeting cadence, quarterly and annual planning cycles, and participation tracking.
Serve as a thought partner to CDMs and the Accelerator Manager on individual Atoms, maintaining context to offer quick, useful points of view.
Own the current office feedback program, ensuring every Atom completes a feedback sync with project team leaders at least quarterly.
Teach new Atoms Atomic’s approach to generative feedback, which is feedback meant to help people grow, and ensure no one falls through the cracks.
Own organizational onboarding for every new Atom in Ann Arbor and be their go-to person as they get settled.
Partner with Practice Leads on discipline-specific onboarding and with project teams on getting new Atoms up to speed on client work.
Run the Ann Arbor office’s day-to-day hiring process with Atomic’s internal recruiting team, ensuring a great candidate experience.
Keep the office’s interviewers calibrated and coach new interviewers.
Provide Managing Partners and Practice Leads with the information needed for hire/no-hire decisions.
Work with Practice Leads to strengthen consulting skills across the office, focusing on delivering great work, communicating with clients, and using sound professional judgment.
Measure the effectiveness of consulting-craft development programs.
Coordinate the logistics and cadence of the office’s performance reviews.
Serve as the escalation point between project teams and the Managing Partners for performance concerns.
Support performance improvement plans and the Atoms on them, providing framework and rigor while Managing Partners hold authority.
Stay informed of talent across the office to keep Managing Partners informed for sound compensation and performance decisions.
Act on the office’s engagement-survey results.