Head of People - Remote, Global HR and Equity Leader

DFNS; Paris; Remote; EUR 136,000 - 226,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Healthcare

Remote-first

Tech allowance

Job summary

DFNS, a Paris-headquartered company, is seeking a Head of People to build the function from the ground up in a remote-first, globally distributed setup. You will lead hiring, onboarding, compensation design across countries including equity, and end-to-end People operations.

You will ensure legal compliance (France/US), SOC 2 and ISO 27001 readiness, while driving engagement and retention. Fluent English is essential, with French and US law experience highly valued.

Qualifications

• Experience building a People function at a company that grew from tens to hundreds of people across several countries.
• Hands-on full-cycle HR: hiring, onboarding, payroll and benefits administration, performance, offboarding.
• Working knowledge of French and US employment law plus the judgment to know when to call counsel.
• Experience designing compensation and leveling frameworks, including equity.
• Discretion and judgment in employee relations, including the hard conversations.
• Fluent English.

Responsibilities

• Build the hiring engine and processes to fill roles with high-caliber people.
• Design onboarding to onboard new joiners quickly across locations.
• Set up leveling and compensation across countries, including equity.
• Run People operations end to end with Finance and Legal.
• Set up performance and development paths and career progression.
• Own engagement and retention, measure and act on results.
• Maintain employment law compliance and audit readiness (SOC 2/ISO 27001).
• Be the point of contact to resolve issues with judgment and discretion.

Skills

Full cycle HR operations

People function design

French & US employment law

Compensation design

Discretion & judgment

Fluent English

Job description

DFNS, a Paris-headquartered company, is seeking a Head of People to build the function from the ground up in a remote-first, globally distributed setup. You will lead hiring, onboarding, compensation design across countries including equity, and end-to-end People operations.

You will ensure legal compliance (France/US), SOC 2 and ISO 27001 readiness, while driving engagement and retention. Fluent English is essential, with French and US law experience highly valued.