Head of People

Salient; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Generous 401(k)

Catered lunches

In-office SF collaboration

Job summary

Salient in San Francisco is seeking its first dedicated Head of People to scale the team from about 50 to 100+ employees. You will build foundational HR processes and grow culture, performance, and compensation frameworks, partnering with leadership on talent decisions.

You will report to the CEO and collaborate with the leadership team to design organizational design, recruitment, and HR programs that support rapid growth while ensuring regulatory compliance across locations.

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years in People/HR roles at high-growth startups, with at least 2 years in leadership
• Experience scaling people functions at early-stage companies (50-200 employees)
• Track record designing and implementing people processes (performance management, compensation, onboarding, career frameworks)
• Business partner mindset – advise leadership on strategic decisions, not just HR tasks
• Strong coaching skills – develop managers and navigate people challenges
• Comfort with ambiguity – build infra without perfect clarity
• Excellent judgment on sensitive employee matters

Responsibilities

• Build and own our people strategy - performance management, compensation, employee development, and culture
• Partner with leadership on organizational design, headcount planning, and talent decisions
• Evolve HR infrastructure - refine policies, ensure compliance, optimize benefits programs
• Design and implement performance management frameworks - goal-setting, reviews, promotion cycles, career development
• Lead compensation strategy - maintain equitable pay bands, manage equity grants, conduct market benchmarking
• Drive culture and engagement initiatives - team events, values definition, employee feedback loops, DEI programs
• Manage employee relations - coach managers on difficult conversations, resolve conflicts, handle sensitive situations
• Build manager enablement programs - training on feedback, performance management, hiring decisions
• Ensure compliance with employment laws and regulations across all locations
• Partner with recruiting lead on hiring strategy and process improvements

Skills

People/HR leadership

Performance management

Compensation design

Employee relations

Culture initiatives

Organizational design

Headcount planning

Talent decisions partner

Tools

HRIS systems

Job description

About Us

Salient builds AI agents for regulated financial services. Our agents automate loan servicing, compliance, collections, recovery, insurance claims, and disputes for banks, captives, and specialty lenders.

We are:

• Backed by a16z and Y Combinator, with $75M raised in Series A funding

• Cash flow positive and profitable, with mid eight figure ARR achieved in under two years

• Already serving more than 20% of the auto lending industry

• Processing millions of real customer calls and transactions every day

• Fully deployed in production with major financial institutions

• Actively expanding into new financial services segments

• Building together in person in San Francisco

We are deeply integrated with our customers, own the full technology stack, and move quickly to bring modern AI into regulated industries where precision, reliability, and performance matter.

Why We're Hiring

We're scaling from 50 to 100+ employees over the next year and need a people leader to take our people function to the next level. We have the basics in place (Rippling, benefits), but we need someone who can build strategic HR infrastructure, shape our culture, and partner with leadership on talent decisions.

The Role

You'll be our first dedicated people leader, evolving our people function from foundational to strategic. You'll own everything from performance management to compensation frameworks, employee relations to culture initiatives. You report to the CEO and partner closely with leadership on all people decisions.

What You'll Do

• Build and own our people strategy - performance management, compensation, employee development, and culture

• Partner with leadership on organizational design, headcount planning, and talent decisions

• Evolve HR infrastructure - refine policies, ensure compliance, optimize benefits programs

• Design and implement performance management frameworks - goal-setting, reviews, promotion cycles, career development

• Lead compensation strategy - maintain equitable pay bands, manage equity grants, conduct market benchmarking

• Drive culture and engagement initiatives - team events, values definition, employee feedback loops, DEI programs

• Manage employee relations - coach managers on difficult conversations, resolve conflicts, handle sensitive situations

• Build manager enablement programs - training on feedback, performance management, hiring decisions

• Ensure compliance with employment laws and regulations across all locations

• Partner with recruiting lead on hiring strategy and process improvements

What We're Looking For

Must-Haves:

• 5-8+ years in People/HR roles at high-growth startups, with at least 2 years in leadership

• Experience scaling people functions at early-stage companies (50-200 employees)

• Track record designing and implementing people processes (performance management, compensation, onboarding, career frameworks)

• Business partner mentality - you advise leadership on strategic decisions, not just execute HR tasks

• Strong coaching skills - you develop managers and help them navigate people challenges

• Comfort with ambiguity - you build infrastructure without waiting for perfect clarity

• Excellent judgment on sensitive employee matters

Nice to Have:

• Experience in fintech, lending, or regulated industries

• Background in AI/ML or technical product companies

• Previous experience scaling a company through hyper-growth (50200+ employees)

• Knowledge of multi-state employment compliance

What Makes This Role Interesting

• Take the people function from foundational to strategic as our first people leader

• Direct partnership with CEO and leadership team on all people decisions

• Shape company culture during critical growth phase

• High impact - your work directly affects every employee and shapes our trajectory

At Salient, we’re building at the edge of AI - fast, focused, and with real ownership. Sprints and major launches move quickly, and we look for people who are energized by that pace. Our team typically works around 60 hours per week, beginning at 8:00 AM, with four days spent collaborating in person at our San Francisco office.

We also offer a benefits package designed to support our full-time employees: medical, dental, and vision coverage, a generous 401(k), and catered lunches.

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