Vice President, People & Talent

Armada • San Francisco, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Armada is hiring a Vice President, People and Talent to own the full People stack and build the infrastructure a globally distributed company needs to scale. This is end-to-end ownership: Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations, and Compliance, with real depth expected in global mobility, entity and employer-of-record management, and compensation design. Roughly two thirds of the role is that operating stack. The remaining third is employee experience and culture: workspace and physical environment strategy, onboarding, and building learning and development programming from the ground up. This is not an execution-only seat. Our executive team expects the People function to carry a point of view on how talent decisions drive the business, and to bring that perspective into leadership conversations rather than waiting to be handed requirements. You will define the strategy and own the execution. You are building, not inheriting. Programs, policies, systems, and team headcount are yours to stand up.

Requirements

• Proven experience running the full People stack end to end: Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations, and Workspaces
• Expertise in global mobility, employer-of-record versus entity management, and compensation design
• Built and scaled a People function through high growth, in the range of 250 to 1,000+ employees, standing up programs, policies, and team headcount from scratch rather than inheriting an established function
• Took a company through IPO or another exit, and can articulate how that outcome shaped your compensation philosophy
• Managed entity setup and employee management across international jurisdictions
• Experience with workspace and physical environment strategy, onboarding, and building learning and development programming
• A track record of staying through the build: you have carried companies across multiple phases of growth to an outcome rather than moving on at each inflection point
• Operates as a business partner to the executive team, with a clear point of view on what the People function is for and the judgment to bring it forward unprompted
• A go-getter with a growth mindset. You're intellectually curious, have strong business acumen, and actively seek opportunities to build relevant skills and knowledge
• A detail-oriented problem-solver. You can independently gather information, solve problems efficiently, and deliver results with a "get-it-done" attitude
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment. You're energized by an entrepreneurial spirit, capable of working quickly, and excited to contribute to a growing company
• A collaborative team player. You focus on business success and are motivated by team accomplishment vs personal agenda
• Highly organized and results-driven. Strong prioritization skills and a dedicated work ethic are essential for you

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting a federal-facing entity, including hiring, badging, and the compliance requirements specific to a cleared workforce
• Hands-on Middle East experience: employer-of-record arrangements versus local entity setup, and managing employees across the UAE, KSA, and Bahrain labor and compliance landscapes

Responsibilities

• Own global recruiting strategy across technical and non-technical functions, and stay close enough to the work to personally run a critical search if needed
• Implement structured hiring processes that raise talent density and hold hiring managers accountable
• Move time-to-hire and quality-of-hire against defined baselines
• Partner with Finance to align headcount planning, workforce modeling, and geographic expansion with budget forecasting
• Own compensation philosophy and band architecture, mapped to Armada levels and defensible against a named benchmarking source
• Own equity strategy at the pre-IPO stage: new hire grants, refresh and evergreen programs, 409A cadence, and the exception process
• Run the annual compensation and merit cycle in partnership with Finance, including geographic differentials across owned entities and employer-of-record markets
• Design and manage global benefits programs and renewals, balancing cost, competitiveness, and local requirements
• Prepare executive compensation recommendations and materials for the CEO, [the Board compensation committee,] and Finance
• Design and scale a People Operations framework that holds global consistency while allowing for local nuance
• Own the compliance posture across every operating jurisdiction, partnering with Legal on employment law, immigration, and risk mitigation
• Oversee payroll operations, vendor management, audit readiness, documentation standards, and internal controls
• Own the People technology stack (HRIS, ATS, payroll, performance, analytics) and the data governance that makes workforce reporting trustworthy
• Own entity strategy: decide where Armada uses an employer of record and where it stands up a local entity, and run the conversion when the answer changes
• Manage employment, labor compliance, and employee relations across international jurisdictions
• Own global mobility, relocation, and immigration programs in partnership with Legal
• Define workspace and physical environment strategy across offices, remote environments, and field deployments
• Own onboarding end to end, so a new hire in any location starts productive and stays connected
• Partner with Finance and Operations on real estate strategy, cost management, and vendor selection
• Set standards for workplace experience, safety, and compliance across all locations
• Build learning and development programming from the ground up, starting with what the business needs most rather than a catalog
• Partner with the executive team on organizational design, leveling frameworks, and job architecture
• Implement performance management that gives managers a clear, usable standard rather than a process to survive
• Build manager capability through explicit leadership expectations, development, and coaching

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and equity
• Medical, dental, and vision (subsidized cost)
• Health savings accounts (HSA), flexible spending accounts (FSA), and dependent care FSAs (DCFSA)
• Retirement plan options, including 401(k) and Roth 401(k)
• Unlimited paid time off (PTO)
• 14 paid company holidays per year

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed