Head of People

METR; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 224,000 - 261,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision coverage

401(k) match

Unlimited PTO & parental leave

Relocation stipend

Office meals & gym

Wellness stipend

Commuter stipend

Professional development

Home office equipment

Job summary

METR is seeking its first Head of People in Berkeley, CA to shape the people function as the organization scales. You will own compensation, benefits, performance, HR compliance, and staff experience, partnering with leadership and staff to build a strong, fair workplace.

You'll design onboarding, manage HRIS and payroll, oversee benefits, promotion and review processes, and help cultivate a high-trust culture in a growing, mission-driven nonprofit focused on AI safety.

Qualifications

• At least 8 years of experience in HR and People Operations roles.
• Experience navigating California and federal employment laws (benefits compliance, worker classification, leaves).
• Start-up experience or experience in a fast-paced, dynamic org with under 500 employees.

Responsibilities

• Strategize culture and talent retention aligned with METR's goals.
• Organize retreats and coaching to develop managers.
• Maintain HRIS accuracy and payroll compliance.
• Oversee compensation, promotions, and performance reviews.
• Design onboarding processes and handle employee relations.

Skills

HR leadership

Organizational systems

Communication

Attention to detail

Judgement

Job description

About METR

We are a nonprofit research organization that develops scientific methods to assess AI capabilities, risks, and mitigations, with a specific focus on threats related to AI R&D automation and misalignment.

We believe it is robustly good for policymakers and civil society to have a clear understanding of risks from AI systems, and we are extremely excited to build a team of ambitious, excellent people to tackle one of the most important challenges of our time.

About the role
METR is looking to hire its first Head of People to help with METR’s next phase of growth. As Head of People, you’ll own compensation, benefits, performance, HR compliance, and staff experience at METR. We’re looking for a strong operator who can be a trusted voice to both the leadership team and staff members.

Work you’ll own:

• Leading strategy that connects METR’s organizational goals with how we build culture and retain talent.
  • Organize team retreats to build the organization’s culture and align the team around shared goals.
  • Own how METR’s culture and core values carry through organizational growth.
  • Set up management coaching for managers to ensure consistent and strong management across the organization.
  • Run or organize management trainings and new manager orientation.
  • Create processes to facilitate professional development.
• Building processes and systems to support our next phase of growth.
  • Own responsibility for keeping our HRIS, as our accurate source of truth on employee data (e.g., new hires, manager changes, wage rate and variable compensation changes).
  • Manage compliance, including employee files, I-9s, E-Verify, regulatory filings, and trainings required by state law.
  • Process payroll to ensure timely payments to all employees and contractors and compliance with the law.
  • Manage benefits, including healthcare enrollment and educating staff about the benefits; serve as the main point of contact for employee questions regarding benefits.
• Owning our compensation philosophy, promotion framework, and performance review process to ensure they are fair, transparent and clear to the team.
• Designing and executing a streamlined employee onboarding process that gets new hires the tools, information and support they need to ramp up quickly, and that scales as we grow.
• Handling employee relations as a trusted advisor to both employees and managers, resolving conflicts, performance concerns and workplace issues fairly and with discretion.

Type of candidate we are looking for:

• You’re an adaptable, highly organized systems builder who thrives in fast-paced, ambiguous environments (e.g. tech companies/startups).
• You’re a strong communicator, who builds trust with staff through honesty and transparency.
• You have sound judgement when handling sensitive HR-related matters.
• You have strong attention to detail and hold a high bar for quality in everything you deliver.

Minimum Requirements

• At least 8 years of experience in HR and People Operations roles, including experience scaling People Ops function and managing a team.
• Experience navigating California and federal employment laws, such as benefits compliance (including ACA, COBRA, ERISA/401(k), HIPAA, FMLA, and qualifying life events), worker classification, and employee leaves.
• Start-up experience / experience in a fast-paced, dynamic environment in an organization with under 500 employees.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with frontier labs or experience working in the AI safety ecosystem.
• Experience scaling an organization from ~30 to 200+ employees.

$223,606 - $260,937 a year

METR also has a host of benefits:

• Health: Medical, dental and vision coverage with 99% employee premiums paid, plus an employer funded HRA for out-of-pocket health costs
• Life Insurance: Employer-paid basic life insurance at 1x salary
• Retirement: 401(k) with a 100% match up to 8% of salary
• Time-off and leave: Unlimited PTO and 21-week parental leave for new parents
• Relocation support: Stipend for moving to the Bay Area
• The office: Catered lunch and dinner daily; in-office gym and shower
• Additional Stipends:
  • Wellness: for gym memberships, equipment, therapy, medication, and other wellness expenses
  • Commuter: Monthly transit/parking stipend and an annual Uber budget
  • Professional development: for training, courses, conferences, and AI safety education
  • Work equipment: for home office and workstation equipment expenses

Our Culture

METR is a mission-driven organization. We believe our work can meaningfully shape humanity’s future for the better, and we want to be the best people in the world doing this work. We have a tight-knit, collaborative research culture rooted in truth-seeking and integrity. We’re fiercely committed to producing high-quality, trustworthy science. We’re honest and transparent about our results, especially when they may go against the grain. We’ve earned trust as reliable partners who handle confidential information with care. We maintain a low-ego, drama-free environment focused on what matters.

In-person Requirements: Our operations team members are in our office in Berkeley ~4-5 days/week. Please let us know in your application if this is a constraint. If you lack US work authorization and would like to work in-person (strongly preferred), we can likely sponsor a cap-exempt H-1B visa for this role.

We encourage you to apply even if your background may not seem like the perfect fit! We would rather review a larger pool of applications than risk missing out on a promising candidate for the position.