HR & People Operations Lead

ABOUT AIRBOUND Our mission is to make a world where everyone has access to delivery. Where goods move as freely as information moves today. This is possible. Today the cost of moving on a scooter is ₹2/km. That’s the cost of moving a 150kg mass from point A to B. We’re bringing that mass down to less than 5kgs, concurrently bringing the cost down to 10 paise/km. This is how we make deliveries a reality. This is how we create a world where we’re doing billions of deliveries per day. The tech is not there. The current cost of drone delivery is ₹100/km. We need to completely redefine the way things are done here. We’re building the world’s most efficient aircraft from the ground-up, and scaling that up to beyond anything the aerospace sector has ever seen. This cannot be an iterative process. We have to tear down all conventions and build everything up from scratch. To do this, we need nothing less than the best engineers. The ones who care about building something fundamentally different, who are deeply curious about understanding the fundamentals of everything they’re working on, who are dreamers that believe in the impossible. ABOUT THE ROLE The HR & People Operations Lead owns the entire people function at Airbound and the team that runs it. You will lead and grow two people, our Talent Acquisition Manager and our HR Business Partner, and you are accountable for everything they deliver: how we hire, how people ramp, how they're led and rewarded, and how the whole organization scales. This is a leadership role. You set the people strategy, build the systems, own the budget and headcount plan, and are the senior escalation point for both recruiting and people-partnering. You will work directly with the founders and leadership to build an organization that can go from 150 people to many times that without losing the speed and ownership that make us work. Hands-on where it counts: as an early team, you will roll up your sleeves wherever your two reports need backup, but your primary job is to lead the function, not to run the desk. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Lead, coach, and grow the people team, setting their goals and holding the bar on execution - Own the overall people strategy and translate the company's scaling plan into a hiring, org, and culture roadmap - Be accountable for outcomes across both functions: hiring velocity and quality from TA, and performance, retention, and employee relations from the HRBP - Own workforce and headcount planning with the leadership team, and manage the people budget - Own campus recruiting as a strategic talent channel: set the target-school and early-career strategy, build the university and placement-cell partnerships that feed the pipeline, and hold TA accountable for internship-to-full-time conversion and new-grad quality - Build and own the people operating system (policies, compensation frameworks, compliance, and HR data) so the function runs cleanly as the team scales across locations - Set the standard for culture and act as a trusted advisor to leadership on sensitive and high-stakes people decisions - Keep a real pulse on the whole organization's health and act early, before small problems become big ones - Step in hands-on wherever the team needs support, especially while the function is still being built QUALIFICATIONS MUST-HAVE - 8+ years in HR, people operations, or talent, including experience leading and developing a people team, ideally in fast-paced engineering-first hardware or manufacturing environments - Track record owning a people function end to end, across both talent acquisition and HR/people operations, not just one side - Experience building and scaling HR and recruiting systems from scratch, not just running ones that already exist - Sharp judgment: you flag hiring risks, team gaps, and critical people issues in real time, before they become problems - Strong people leadership: you set direction, coach your team, and handle sensitive employee relations with fairness and discretion - Highly disciplined and process-driven, with a bias toward clean documentation and tight operational control - Excellent communication, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills - Comfortable with Google Suite, Notion, and other collaboration tools GOOD TO HAVE - Previous experience building and leading a people function from nothing at an early-stage startup - Understanding of the hardware, manufacturing, or aerospace talent landscape and what it takes to hire, grow, and retain that talent Work location: Hoskote, Bangalore (Headquarters) WHAT WE OFFER - Comprehensive health insurance to keep you and your loved ones covered - Relocation assistance and a daily travel stipend to ease your commute - Advanced salary credit to support you when you need it “A driven, passionate team where you’ll have room to grow and thrive - this is more than just a job, it’s a rare opportunity to build something meaningful from the ground up” WORK SCHEDULE: - In-office role, working alternate Saturdays. READY TO TAKE OFF? Scam Notice: Beware of impersonators collecting fees for interviews & jobs at Airbound (Opendrone Private Limited) Please do not make any payments and report any such incidents to us at contact@airbound.com .