Vice President, People Operations

Hawke Media•Santa Monica, CA

11d•$155,000 - $175,000

About The Position

Hawke Media is an outsourced CMO and marketing consultancy that provides customized, data-driven marketing strategies and integrated services to help businesses launch, scale, and strengthen their brands. The company values client success, accountability, collaboration, curiosity, and measurable impact. The Vice President, People Operations is the senior People executive for an approximately 150-person organization experiencing significant growth and acquisition activity. This hands-on leadership role advises the executive team and oversees the full employee experience, including People Operations, talent acquisition, employee relations, payroll, benefits, compliance, performance management, compensation, organizational development, and culture. The VP will build scalable people infrastructure and lead the people side of acquisitions, including team integration, job architecture, career paths, compensation frameworks, and organizational design. The VP will lead, mentor, and develop a People team of two HR professionals and one recruiter, balancing executive-level strategy with direct involvement in operational work. The role is based at Hawke Media's Santa Monica, California headquarters. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire; employment visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Requirements

Significant progressive Human Resources or People leadership experience, including serving as the senior People leader for a growing organization.
Demonstrated success advising CEOs, executives, and senior leaders on business, workforce, talent, and organizational matters.
Experience supporting mergers and acquisitions, including due diligence, workforce assessment, integration planning, employee communications, and post-close execution.
Experience developing or implementing job architecture, including job families, levels, titles, competencies, and career paths.
Experience designing compensation structures, salary bands, incentive programs, and pay-governance practices.
Strong organizational-design, workforce-planning, succession-planning, and change-management capabilities.
Experience building and scaling People programs, processes, systems, and teams in a changing environment.
Experience leading, mentoring, and developing HR or People teams, including supporting professional growth, leadership capability, and internal career advancement.
Strong working knowledge of California employment practices and HR compliance.
Experience overseeing payroll, benefits, retirement-plan administration, vendors, and related controls.
Experience handling complex employee relations matters and coaching senior leaders and managers.
Experience overseeing recruiting and talent-management processes.
Strong business and financial acumen and ability to connect People decisions to business outcomes.
Excellent judgment, discretion, communication, and executive presence.
Collaborative and practical leadership style that balances strategic oversight, hands-on support, and empowerment of team members.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience.
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire; employment visa sponsorship is not available.

Nice To Haves

SPHR or SHRM-SCP certification.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior People executive and trusted advisor to executive leadership, managers, and employees.
Develop and execute a People strategy aligned with business objectives, growth plans, and acquisition activity.
Participate in company planning and decision-making, advising on workforce, organizational, and cultural considerations.
Identify and advise leadership on organizational, talent, retention, compliance, and workforce risks.
Prepare executive reporting and recommendations on headcount, organizational health, retention, compensation, talent, and People investments.
Support board or investor discussions on organizational health, leadership, workforce risks, executive compensation, and other People matters as needed.
Develop and manage the People Operations budget with Finance.
Lead the People workstream for acquisitions, including due diligence, workforce assessment, risk identification, integration planning, and post-close execution.
Assess acquisition targets' organizational structures, talent, compensation, benefits, employment practices, policies, and cultures.
Create a repeatable People integration playbook and lead harmonization of acquired employees, including titles, levels, compensation, benefits, policies, systems, reporting structures, and employment practices.
Partner with executives and functional leaders on organizational and talent decisions during integrations.
Develop acquisition-related employee communications, retention, and change-management plans; track milestones, risks, employee sentiment, and retention outcomes.
Partner with executives to design an organizational structure that supports present needs and future growth, advising on leadership layers, spans of control, decision rights, capabilities, and effectiveness.
Develop and maintain company-wide job architecture, including job families, levels, titles, competencies, and consistent job descriptions.
Establish career paths, promotion criteria, internal-mobility practices, and tools to support consistent manager decisions.
Lead succession planning and talent reviews for leadership and other business-critical roles, and address organizational capability gaps.
Develop and maintain the compensation philosophy and strategy, including salary bands, leveling standards, incentive structures, promotion guidelines, and pay governance.
Lead annual compensation planning with Finance and executive leadership, and monitor pay practices for competitiveness, equity, compression, retention risks, and market changes.
Oversee performance management, including goal setting, feedback, reviews, calibration, development planning, and performance improvement.
Lead, coach, and develop a People team of two HR professionals and one recruiter; define the future structure, capabilities, and operating model of the People function.
Oversee the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, development, performance, employee changes, leaves, and offboarding.
Coach executives and managers on leadership, performance, employee relations, organizational effectiveness, and team dynamics.
Establish employee relations and investigation protocols, documentation standards, escalation procedures, and manager guidance.
Develop scalable People policies, programs, processes, and systems that support a consistent employee experience.
Partner with leadership to define and reinforce an inclusive, accountable, positive, and high-performing culture, including cultural integration across acquired and existing teams.
Develop change-management and communication strategies for acquisitions, reorganizations, policy changes, and other significant initiatives.
Oversee employee listening, engagement, recognition, and communication programs; use feedback and workforce data to improve the organization.
Measure culture and engagement initiatives and adjust them to business and employee needs.
Oversee recruiting and lead the company recruiter; partner with leaders to identify capabilities, anticipate hiring needs, and prioritize talent investments.
Establish standards for job scoping, leveling, interviewing, candidate selection, compensation, and offers.
Monitor recruiting effectiveness, including hiring progress, time to fill, quality of hire, candidate experience, and workforce-plan attainment.
Build internal and external talent pipelines for critical and leadership roles and ensure effective, consistent, inclusive, and compliant hiring and onboarding.
Provide executive oversight of payroll, benefits, retirement plans, HR systems, employee records, and People Operations.
Establish controls for accurate, timely, secure, and compliant payroll; oversee employee changes, bonuses, final pay, reconciliation, reporting, and coordination with Finance.
Lead strategic evaluation of benefits programs, renewals, costs, employee impact, and vendor performance; oversee 401(k) administration and compliance with providers and Finance.
Establish scalable People Operations across locations and acquired entities while addressing applicable state and local employment requirements.
Manage and evaluate payroll, benefits, retirement, recruiting, and other People vendors.
Identify and implement opportunities to automate, centralize, or redesign administrative processes.
Oversee independent contractor compliance, including worker classification, agreements, documentation, and related employment practices.
Ensure People systems provide reliable data, effective workflows, strong controls, and an appropriate employee and manager experience.
Maintain People policies and practices consistent with federal, California, and applicable local employment requirements.
Oversee leaves, accommodations, required training, employee records, notices, reporting, investigations, and other compliance requirements.
Partner with outside counsel and advisors on complex employment, acquisition, and organizational matters.
Develop People dashboards and use workforce data to identify trends, anticipate risks, evaluate programs, and inform executive decisions.
Maintain confidentiality, data security, and governance practices for employee information.