VP of People

Orbital • New York, NY

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Orbital Copilot is an AI assistant for commercial real estate law, aiming to make transactions smarter, faster, and friction-free. The company has raised $60m in Series B funding to accelerate its UK/US expansion. Orbital is looking for individuals who want to reimagine how real estate transactions are done, working fast, collaboratively, and with ownership to make a significant impact. This role is the most senior People role in the company, reporting to the COO and partnering with the CEO. The focus is on building an organization that uses AI deliberately, redesigns work for automation leverage, and equips managers and teams to operate effectively in this environment.

Requirements

• Significant experience leading a People function at a senior level (VP, CPO, or equivalent) with depth across the people discipline.
• Ability to operate beyond the People discipline and influence business decisions.
• Strong commercial instincts; understanding of how businesses make money, impact delivery, growth constraints, and the effect of organizational design.
• Experience scaling a business through the 100-to-250 headcount phase, with judgment for different stages.
• Senior-level fluency with the US market as an employer, including compensation norms, talent dynamics, and regulatory landscape.
• Experience leading a People function across multiple geographies, with judgment for running a distributed team and understanding of differing labor markets, employment frameworks, and cultural norms.
• Ability to translate business context into a people and organizational strategy.
• Ability to challenge existing priorities when business context demands it.
• Experience leading through a People team, setting direction and standards without owning every deliverable.

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience of a Series B to Series C growth journey.
• Built out a People function from an early-stage base, rather than inherited one.
• Familiarity with the Built for People framework or equivalent product-led thinking applied to People.

Responsibilities

• Lead from the business by participating in commercial, product, and strategic conversations, bringing a people leader's perspective to business challenges.
• Form a view on where the company's growth is constrained, where organizational design is helping or hindering, and what the business needs to execute its plan.
• Help the leadership team pressure-test growth plans against organizational readiness, identify bottlenecks in management quality, role clarity, or team structure, and ensure hiring, development, reward, retention, and team structure align with business direction.
• Set the people and organizational priorities based on business context and learnings, ensuring areas like organizational design, performance management, manager capability, onboarding, compensation strategy, benefits, career progression, and people systems address the right business problems.
• Translate current business realities into a sharper People mandate and challenge existing priorities when business context demands it.
• Set the standard for what good management looks like, shape how performance, progression, and recognition are assessed, and hold leadership team peers accountable for management quality.
• Develop the People team by being a consistent presence, investing in their growth, establishing clear ownership, and being accountable for the team's development over time.
• Shape an AI-first, high-leverage People function that combines strategic leadership, people product thinking, manager enablement, and operational backbone.

Benefits

• Competitive starting salary in the range of $220,000-$300,000, depending on experience.
• 401k match and equity options.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents.
• 20 days paid holiday (plus public holidays).
• Generous parental leave policy.
• Professional equipment and personal development budget.
• Training opportunities.
• Pre-tax commuter benefits.

What This Job Offers

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