Founding HR Leader

Periodic Labs; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

Periodic Labs is seeking a Founding HR Lead in Menlo Park to guide the full spectrum of HR functions. This pivotal role involves working closely with leadership to shape the organization's growth during an era of AI-driven innovation. Ideal candidates will possess over 12 years of HR experience in technical environments, showcasing strong strategic vision and operational capabilities. The annual compensation for this position ranges from $250,000 to $350,000, and visa sponsorship is available.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of HR experience with senior leadership role in a tech-focused environment.
• Experience in engineering or research-driven industries.
• Ability to navigate complex organizational dynamics and build effective people systems.

Responsibilities

• Run all HR functionalities including compensation, onboarding, and performance management.
• Partner with leadership on growth strategy as the company expands.
• Design employee programs that align with technical work culture.

Skills

HR experience

Understanding of engineering cultures

Data fluency

High EQ

Strong communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience

Job description

About Periodic Labs

The most important scientific discoveries of our time won’t happen in a traditional lab. We’re an AI and physical sciences company building state‑of‑the‑art models to accelerate breakthroughs across materials, energy, and beyond. Backed by world‑class investors and growing rapidly, we operate at the pace the frontier requires. Our team brings deep expertise, genuine ownership, and an insatiable drive to push the boundaries of what’s scientifically possible.

About the Role

Periodic Labs is growing fast — and we’re building the people infrastructure to match. As our Founding HR Lead, you’ll run the full people function and partner directly with the leadership team to build the organization that will define the next era of AI‑driven scientific discovery. You’ll design the systems, help uphold the culture, and lead the team that makes Periodic Labs a place where exceptional people do the best work of their lives.

This isn’t a traditional HR leadership role. We need someone who has operated inside engineering‑forward organizations — ideally in frontier AI, physical products, semiconductors, or hardware‑forward startups — and who deeply understands how technical teams operate under pressure. You’ll be a trusted advisor to founders and senior leaders, bringing both strategic vision and operational rigor.

What You’ll Do

• Run all things people related — spanning HR business partnering, onboarding, performance, compensation, learning and development.

• Partner directly with the leadership team on organizational design, workforce planning, and growth strategy as the company grows through its next phase

• Lead employee relations work with professionalism and sound judgment — handling sensitive situations, investigations, and executive coaching with discretion and care

• Design the people systems that help our scientific and engineering teams grow, get recognized, and get paid fairly — built for how technical people actually work, not borrowed from a playbook.

• Design onboarding programs that integrate new engineers and scientists quickly into the Periodic Labs culture and way of working

• Shape how we scale as an organization — this isn't a traditional hierarchy‑building exercise, it's figuring out how a lab‑first company adds people and structure without losing what makes it work.

• Use people data and analytics to surface insights and drive evidence‑based decisions on headcount, attrition, engagement, and team effectiveness

You Will Thrive in This Role If You Have

• 12+ years of HR experience, with meaningful time in a senior people leadership role at a technology, research, or engineering‑forward company

• A background supporting teams in physical products, semiconductors, manufacturing, or hardware‑forward startups — you understand the operational rhythms and talent profiles of these environments

• Experience navigating the intersection of research and engineering cultures, where intellectual rigor, speed, and hands‑on problem‑solving coexist

• Strong command of the full HR spectrum — performance management, compensation design, employee relations, organizational design, and people operations

• A builder’s mindset: you’re comfortable in ambiguous environments where people programs are still being defined and you’ll often have to create the playbook from scratch

• High EQ and communication skills — you build trust quickly with engineers and scientists, and you know how to navigate difficult conversations with directness and care

• Sound judgment on sensitive matters — you handle employee relations and investigations with appropriate seriousness and discretion

• Data fluency: you use people analytics to diagnose issues, identify trends, and support decisions with evidence

Especially Strong Candidates May Also Have

• Experience at an AI lab, deep tech company, or research institution where the talent profile is unusually specialized

• Familiarity with compensation design for rare technical roles — physicists, materials scientists, ML researchers — where standard benchmarks don’t apply

• Experience scaling an HR function through a growth financing event or rapid headcount expansion

• A background in operations, finance, or program management that brings additional analytical depth to the people function

• Experience partnering with recruiting on technical hiring strategy, including sourcing for niche scientific or engineering disciplines

Mechanics

• Minimum education: bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and training or experience

• Location: Our lab is located in Menlo Park and we prefer folks to be located in Menlo Park or San Francisco but can be flexible based on role

• Compensation: The annual compensation range for this role - $250,000-$350,000

• Visa sponsorship: Yes, we sponsor visas and will do everything we can to assist in this process with our legal support.

We’re building a team of the world’s best — the scientists, engineers, and problem‑solvers who don’t just follow the frontier, they define it. If you’re driven to bring AI to life in the physical world and make discoveries that have never been made before, you belong here.