Head of People

Vaulted is a waste management company that removes carbon. We take organic waste that can pollute our environment above ground and safely inject it ultra deep underground—permanently removing carbon from the atmosphere while protecting local land, air, and water. Vaulted is based in Houston, San Francisco, and Kansas. With a growing team of 70+ people across the country, Vaulted signed the second largest carbon removal offtake ever with Microsoft in July 2025 and is rapidly expanding to new sites. Vaulted's proprietary technology builds on decades of expertise to deliver safe, durable carbon and waste management solutions now, at scale. POSITION SUMMARY Vaulted Deep is hiring a strategic, business-minded people leader to build and lead its people function as the company scales from Series A through Series B and beyond. Reporting directly to the CEO and sitting on the leadership team, the Head of People will shape Vaulted Deep's culture and talent strategy, serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team, and build a people function spanning the full employee lifecycle. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to define what a high-performing people function looks like for a fast-growing, multi-site organization. People Strategy, Culture & Executive Partnership • Partner with the CEO to define and operationalize a holistic people philosophy, translating company mission, vision, and values into tangible people strategy, programs, and day-to-day practices. • Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to the CEO and executive team on organizational design, talent, and culture, bringing independent judgment and sound business instincts to key decisions. • Own the ongoing evolution of company culture. Develop people metrics and dashboards to make organizational health measurable and track progress. • Prepare people-related materials and analysis on a monthly and quarterly basis for the leadership team and board. • Organizational Development & Workforce Planning • Conduct ongoing organizational assessments to confirm the company has the right talent in the right roles, partnering with leaders to identify and close capability gaps. • Partner with functional leaders to evaluate team structure, levels, and headcount needs over a multi-year horizon, accounting for planned expansion into additional operating sites. • Evaluate and manage leveling frameworks, career pathways, and individual development plans (IDPs) that support internal mobility and promotion readiness. • Lead organizational design and change management initiatives — including restructures and new-site stand-ups — proactively anticipating and managing sources of resistance. • Facilitate periodic leadership team effectiveness assessments, engaging external executive coaching or assessment resources where appropriate. Talent Management & HR Business Partnership • Serve as strategic HR business partner to people managers, advising on team composition, succession planning, and critical talent decisions. • Provide direct, hands-on coaching to leadership team members and people managers • Evaluate and improve performance management frameworks, including goal-setting, feedback, and calibration practices appropriate in a fast-growing organization. • Manage and inform talent acquisition strategy, partnering with hiring managers to maintain a consistent, high-quality hiring process across roles. • Build learning and development programs, with a focus on enabling manager and leader effectiveness. • Develop succession plans and leadership pipelines for key roles across the organization. Total Rewards, HR Operations & Compliance • Enhance Vaulted Deep's total rewards philosophy, including compensation structure, bonus design, equity guidelines, and benefits programs • Own core HR systems and infrastructure, ensuring accurate records and efficient, scalable processes. • Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment law across all current and future operating locations, including wage-and-hour, leave, and recordkeeping requirements. • Evaluate and strengthen people metrics and dashboards (e.g., turnover, time-to-fill, engagement, pay equity) to inform strategy and support board and investor reporting. • Manage HR vendor, broker, and PEO relationships, evaluating and negotiating contracts • Partner with Finance on HR budget planning and ongoing management. Employee Relations & Field Operations Partnership • Own sensitive and complex employee relations matters, including investigations, performance issues, and terminations, applying sound judgment and current employment law knowledge. • Partner closely with Operations leadership to ensure field teams across current and future operating sites are supported, engaged, and positioned to succeed. • Build people practices, policies, and employee relations capability tailored to an hourly, multi-site, industrial workforce, including experienced handling of on-site incidents (e.g., safety violations, substance-related issues, workplace conflict). • Partner with Operations and EHS/Safety functions on workforce-related safety programs, workers' compensation administration, and incident response processes. • Champion fair, consistent treatment and meaningful career pathways for all employees, ensuring people investment extends equitably across the full organization. Team Leadership • Hire, onboard, and lead a small people team, with scope designed to complement this role's strengths (e.g., HR operations, compliance, or total rewards ownership). • Manage the transition from the company's current fractional-led HR function to a permanent people function, determining what is brought in-house versus outsourced. QUALIFICATIONS Required • 10+ years of progressive People/HR leadership experience, including senior leadership experience at a venture-backed, high-growth company. • Demonstrated success building and scaling a people function through a company’s high growth period • Direct experience operating in a founder- or CEO-led organization, serving as a close partner and advisor to that leader. • Experience supporting an hourly, industrial, or multi-site field workforce in addition to corporate or technical employee populations, with comfort handling the realities of operating-site employee relations. • Strong working knowledge of U.S. employment law, with hands-on experience managing complex employee relations matters and terminations. • Demonstrated coaching skills, with a track record of coaching managers and employees. • High emotional intelligence and sound judgment under pressure. • Strong business acumen and an ownership mindset, with comfort operating in ambiguous, low-structure, fast-paced environments. • Proven ability to lead organizational change and manage resistance to change. • Experience building or overseeing core HR infrastructure, including compensation, benefits, HRIS, and compliance programs, whether personally or through a team. • Experience presenting people data and analysis to executive leadership, with comfort supporting board or investor reporting. • Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills. Preferred • Formal coaching certification (e.g., ICF or equivalent). • SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent HR certification. • Experience with HRIS upgrades. • Experience with workers' compensation, OSHA, or EHS partnership in an industrial, manufacturing, or energy environment. • Multi-state employment law experience • Experience supporting international workforce expansion. • Experience as a company's first or founding people leader, building a function from limited existing structure. • Experience supporting M&A diligence or integration from a people/HR perspective. • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Organizational Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. WHAT YOU'LL GAIN Vaulted offers comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance for our team members, putting safety, well-being, and health above all. • A flexible workplace, with hybrid work options plus generous paid time off, paid leave options, and 13 company holidays to ensure our Vaulters have ample opportunity to rest and recharge. • Employer-sponsored 401(k) plans with matching contributions, along with opportunities for career growth both within the company and beyond. WHO WE ARE We're Vaulters — a team building the infrastructure to solve a problem that's been ignored for too long. Here's how we work. HOW WE WORK • Safety comes first. We protect our people, communities, and environment above all else. We preserve a culture of care that puts our team's safety and well-being first. Everyone gets home safe; everyone deserves a safe home. • We seek & speak the truth. Every person has the power and obligation to speak up, free from fear of repercussion. We are transparent in what we do and what we think. Anchored in a culture of kindness and respect, we do this in the spirit of making ourselves and our work better. • We believe there's no time to waste. In the fight against climate change, that urgency drives our entrepreneurial spirit and our sense of ownership in building this company. We are self-starters with a bias to action. We do the work to be great. • We do the work to be great. Greatness means combining our intellectual rigor, diverse perspectives and collective innovation to solve the hard problems together - for ourselves and for our industry. JOIN US If this sounds like the kind of work you want to be doing — and the kind of team you want to be doing it with — we'd love to hear from you. Help us build the infrastructure that puts waste to work removing carbon.