Founding People Operations Lead

Quiet Capital; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity ownership in Mach9

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

401k

Unlimited PTO and 8 paid holidays

Lunch and snacks

Cursor/ChatGPT/Claude credits

Monthly team offsites

Job summary

Mach9, a civil-engineering AI CAD software company, is seeking a Founding People Operations Lead to own the employee experience from offer to offboarding. With ~30 employees now and growth to ~75, you will shape onboarding, compensation, benefits, governance, and external vendor relationships, reporting to the Head of Business Operations and Finance.

You will build scalable People systems, partner with recruiting, and create a productive culture that moves quickly while maintaining strong

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience across People Operations, HR, talent, or related function in high-growth startups.
• Strong knowledge of onboarding, compensation, benefits, employee relations, performance management, immigration, and HR operations.
• Excellent judgment and practical approach to HR; know what is truly required vs. convention.
• Bias toward simple, useful systems over bureaucracy; avoid unnecessary policies.
• Ability to build trust, maintain confidentiality, and advise managers and executives.
• Interest in helping managers become better leaders and building aPeople function that strengthens the company.
• Owning the People function is not 9-to-5; you step in when the team or company needs it.

Responsibilities

• Build the People systems and infrastructure to scale from 30 to 75+ employees and beyond.
• Own compensation, offer letters, onboarding, benefits administration, governance, and external vendors.
• Collaborate with the Founding Recruiting Lead to create a magical candidate experience.
• Own employee experience programs, rituals, feedback, and internal communications.
• Partner with managers to develop leaders, address performance, and handle difficult conversations.
• Manage employee relations and HR issues with sound judgment and discretion.
• Own immigration strategy and execution with outside counsel and partners.
• Oversee offboarding, terminations, and the end-to-employment experience.

Skills

People Operations

HR operations

Onboarding

Compensation

Benefits administration

Immigration

Employee relations

Job description

About Mach9

Every road, fiber route, transmission line, and data center starts with a survey. A surveyor measures the world, then turns those measurements into the CAD blueprint engineers build from. Mach9 makes AI CAD software for civil engineering that helps surveyors create the blueprint drawing in a fraction of the time.

The fact is simple: infrastructure software hasn't had a major breakthrough since the 1980s. Critical infrastructure projects are still being designed through decades-old software and disconnected workflows. Mach9 is betting AI-assisted drafting and surveying workflows are the missing link towards making infrastructure projects progress at the speed and scale the world needs.

Mach9 is backed by Quiet Capital, Y Combinator, Overmatch Ventures, Kyle Vogt (founder of Cruise), Amar Hanspal (former CEO of Autodesk), Scott Belsky (CPO of Adobe), Gokul Rajaram (former executive at DoorDash), and more.

About the Position

Mach9 is looking for a Founding People Operations Lead to own the employee experience from the moment someone accepts a job offer through their last day.

We are approximately 30 people today and expect to grow to roughly 75 employees over the next 18 months. This role will be central to how we hire, develop, support, and retain an exceptional team while preserving the culture and pace that make Mach9 successful.

We believe traditional HR often creates bureaucracy and slows companies down. We want someone who believes a great People function does the opposite: helps the company move faster, communicate clearly, make better decisions, and build an exceptional, productive place to work. You should know when structure adds value, when it does not, and how to build just enough process to make the company better without getting in the way.

Mach9's team is smart, driven, ambitious, and committed to building a category-defining company. People work hard, take ownership, and do what is necessary to succeed.

This is a 100% in-office position with no hybrid option. You will report to the Head of Business Operations and Finance and work closely with the CEO and managers across the company.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Build the People systems and infrastructure needed to support Mach9 as it grows from approximately 30 to 75 employees and beyond.

• Own compensation, offer letters, employee onboarding, benefits administration, corporate governance, and the selection and management of external People-related vendors.

• Partner closely with our Founding Recruiting Lead to create a magical candidate and new employee experience.

• Own Mach9's employee experience, including the programs, rituals, feedback systems, and internal communication that shape how people work and develop.

• Serve as a trusted partner to managers, helping them become better leaders, develop their teams, handle difficult conversations, and address performance issues.

• Own employee relations and HR issues across the company, bringing sound judgment, consistency, discretion, and clear communication to sensitive situations.

• Own immigration strategy and execution, working with outside counsel and partners to support current and prospective employees.

• Manage employee offboarding, terminations, separations, and the employee experience through the end of employment.

About You

You may not have led a People function before. What matters is that you have worked closely with an exceptional leader, learned how a great People function operates, and are ready to own one yourself.

You should have:

• 5+ years of relevant experience across People Operations, HR, talent, or a closely-related function within a high-growth startup or similarly fast-paced company.

• A strong working knowledge of onboarding, compensation, benefits, employee relations, performance management, immigration, and HR operations.

• Excellent judgment and a practical approach to HR. You know the rules, understand why they exist, and can distinguish between what is truly required and what is simply convention.

• A bias toward simple, useful systems over bureaucracy. You are skeptical of policies, meetings, and processes that exist mainly because “that’s how HR does it.”

• The confidence and interpersonal judgment to build trust, maintain confidentiality, and give managers and executives direct advice—even when the conversation is difficult.

• A genuine interest in helping managers become better managers, employees do their best work, and building a People function that strengthens the company rather than policing it.

• You understand that owning the People function isn't a 9-to-5 responsibility. If the team or company needs something, you take care of it—regardless of the hour.

Compensation & Benefits

Mach9 offers a competitive compensation package that includes:

• Competitive salary: $130k to $180k, based on experience

• Equity ownership in Mach9

• 100% employee coverage for medical, dental, and vision

• 401k

• Unlimited PTO and 8 paid holidays

• Daily office lunch and snacks

• Unlimited Cursor, ChatGPT, and Claude credits

• Monthly team offsites: Go-karting, Topgolf, etc.