Director of Global People Operations & AI

Ethos Life; New York (NY); On-site; USD 190,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Equity for employees

Paid time off & leave programs

Job summary

Ethos Life is seeking a Director of Global People Operations & AI to architect and lead a scalable operating model for People services worldwide. You will design tiered service delivery (self-service, shared services, experts) and drive automation and AI enablement while ensuring compliance and governance across regions.

You will report to the VP, Total Rewards & Operations and build a high-impact team, partnering with HR Technology, IT, Legal, and regional leaders to scale responsibly and

Qualifications

• 10+ years in People/HR Operations, shared services, or people/business operations with leadership experience
• Strong leadership, stakeholder-management, and executive communication skills
• Change-management expertise enabling adoption at scale across a distributed organization
• Solid operating discipline: service-level management, metrics, and cost-to-serve
• Proven track record building or running a People/HR shared services function and tiered service model
• Good judgment handling sensitive, confidential, high-stakes situations
• Experience deploying automation and AI/agentic solutions in operations
• Bachelor’s degree and certifications preferred

Responsibilities

• Define and own the strategy and multi-year roadmap for Global People Operations across regions
• Lead Global People Services with standards, service levels, and coverage
• Set governance for AI and automation including privacy, security, and compliance
• Establish measurement: SLAs, cost-to-serve, cycle time, and employee experience
• Partner with HR Tech, IT, Legal, and finance to align systems and processes
• Own change management and adoption for new processes and automation across regions

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Change management

Operations discipline

Automation & AI governance

Executive communication

Global experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Certifications preferred

Job description

• Ethos is building a People organization that scales through both talent and technology, and this role sets the direction for how we get there
• As Director, Global People Operations & AI, you’ll own how People services are delivered worldwide: the Global People Services team, the operating model that supports every employee, and the automation and enablement strategy for the entire People organization
• You’ll define and stand up a tiered service model that moves work fluidly from self-service, to shared services, to experts, and you’ll set the vision for where AI agents and automation handle repeatable work so our people can focus on judgment, complexity, and experience
• Reporting to the VP, Total Rewards & Operations, you’ll lead a growing team, partner with HR Technology, IT, Legal, and People leaders across regions, and build the governance and controls that let us scale responsibly
• This is a strategic, hands-on leadership role for someone who can design an operating model and then make it real
• Own the strategy and multi-year roadmap for Global People Operations, defining how the People organization delivers services across all regions
• Lead the Global People Services team, setting standards, service levels, quality, and coverage across geographies
• Set the direction for automation and enablement across the global People organization, establishing an operating model where AI agents and automation carry repeatable work and people own judgment and experience
• Design and implement a tiered service model spanning self-service (knowledge, portals, and AI assistants), shared services (People Ops handling routine and mid-complexity cases), and experts (centers of excellence and senior partners for complex work), with clear routing and escalation
• Build the governance framework for AI and automation in People Ops: guardrails, human-in-the-loop controls, privacy, security, auditability, and compliance across jurisdictions
• Define and own the metrics that measure success: service levels, case deflection, cycle time, cost-to-serve, accuracy, and employee experience, reporting outcomes to leadership and using them to prioritize investment
• Lead and coach the People Operations team, including the People Product Managers, building capability in process design, agent oversight, and service delivery
• Partner with HR Technology, IT, Legal, Finance, and People leaders to align global systems, data, and processes, and to advance operations through automation
• Own change management and adoption for new processes, automations, and the tiered service model across regions and cultures
• Ensure global compliance and data governance across the markets where Ethos operates
• Manage vendors, budget, and the tooling roadmap for People Operations and shared services
• Continuously scale and improve the operating model as Ethos grows and enters new markets

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits packages: Awesome medical dental, vision and as applicable insurance coverage and retirement plans (in the US we offer a 401(k) plan).
• Company Equity: We want you to feel and act like an owner.
• Rest, relax & recharge: We encourage our employees to take time off, in addition to our fully paid global company holiday schedule. When you need time away from work, we have paid and flex time options based on your role and location, and additional paid leave programs.
• Generous leave programs: As well as offering a wide array of leave programs, new parents can take leave with 100% wage replacement. Our healthcare plans offer coverage on family planning and fertility.

• 10+ years in People/HR Operations, shared services, or people/business operations, including several years leading teams
• Excellent leadership, stakeholder-management, and executive communication skills
• Change-management expertise, with the ability to drive adoption at scale across a distributed organization
• Strong operating discipline: service-level management, metrics, cost-to-serve, and capacity planning
• Proven experience building or running a People/HR shared services function and a tiered service model (self-service, shared services, experts)
• Sound judgment in handling sensitive, confidential, and high-stakes situations
• Track record setting automation and enablement strategy and deploying AI or agentic solutions in an operations context
• Bachelor’s degree required; relevant certifications preferred
• Experience operating globally across multiple countries, with a working knowledge of regional compliance and data-privacy requirements
• Working understanding of AI governance: privacy, fairness, security, auditability, and human oversight designed-in from the start
• Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway.
• At Ethos we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace