Head of People

Ultra; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Ultra is seeking a senior leader to build and own the recruiting engine, people operations, and compensation programs. You will work directly with the CEO and leadership to design scalable systems as Ultra grows across functions and geographies.

You’ll shape culture, establish fair compensation practices, and guide talent decisions for a team spanning ML researchers, robotics engineers, technicians, and corporate staff. This role is on-site in New York City.

Qualifications

• Built or led the People function at a high-growth startup.
• Personally recruited exceptional technical talent.
• Experience supporting organizations with physical operations—hardware, manufacturing, logistics, field service, or similar.
• Deep understanding of compensation, leveling, equity, and performance management in venture-backed companies.
• Experience implementing HR systems, payroll, benefits, and employment infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Build a world-class recruiting function across engineering, research, operations, and go-to-market.
• Create the operating system for our people function, including HRIS, payroll, benefits, onboarding, and compliance.
• Design compensation and career progression, including leveling, salary bands, equity refreshes, promotions, and performance cycles.

Skills

Recruiting

HRIS and Payroll

Compensation design

Culture design

People operations

Job description

About the Role

Ultra is growing from a small team into a powerful organization. Over the next 18 months, we’ll more than double the team, open additional locations, and build the management systems that will support hundreds of employees over time. We’re looking for the person who will build that foundation.

This isn’t a traditional HR leadership role. There isn’t a recruiting organization to inherit, an established People team to manage, or mature systems to optimize. You’ll build the recruiting engine, establish our people operations, design compensation programs, help shape our culture, and advise the founders on some of the hardest organizational decisions we’ll make. You’ll work directly with the CEO and leadership team, and your work will touch every person who joins Ultra.

It’s also a uniquely complex environment. Our workforce spans ML researchers, robotics engineers, field technicians, operators, and corporate staff across multiple states and countries. Some employees are salaried, some are hourly, and some are contractors.

Location: This is a on-site role based in New York City.

What You’ll Do

• Build a world-class recruiting function: Hiring is your highest-leverage responsibility. You’ll own recruiting strategy, process, and execution across engineering, research, operations, and go-to-market.
• Create the operating system for our people function: Implement and own HRIS, payroll, benefits, onboarding, performance reviews, immigration, compliance, and everything else required to support a rapidly growing company.
• Design compensation and career progression: Own leveling, salary bands, equity refreshes, promotions, and performance cycles. Help ensure we can attract exceptional talent while maintaining fairness and discipline as we scale.

Who You Are

• You've gone from 0 to 1, and 1 to 10 before. You know what it’s like to join a company before the playbook exists and create the systems yourself.
• You care deeply about recruiting. You know that great companies are built one exceptional hire at a time, and you’re excited to spend meaningful time on it.
• You have strong judgment. You know when a company needs process and when process gets in the way.
• Most importantly, you’re someone employees trust and can help design and grow our culture.

Experience and Skills

• Built or led the People function at a high-growth startup, ideally scaling from tens to hundreds.
• Personally recruited exceptional technical talent.
• Experience supporting organizations with physical operations—hardware, manufacturing, logistics, field service, or similar.
• Deep understanding of compensation, leveling, equity, and performance management in venture-backed companies.
• Experience implementing HR systems, payroll, benefits, and employment infrastructure.