Head of People Operations

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. Own the People Operations function end-to-end, including global payroll, employee lifecycle, Talent Acquisition, IT provisioning and People programs .

Posted 10/6/2026full-timeSydney • AustraliaLead💰 A$160,000 - A$200,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in People Operations, including global payroll, employee lifecycle management, and talent acquisition, while leveraging AI tools and automation to enhance operational efficiency. Proven ability to lead teams, design systems architecture, and implement frameworks that empower managers in high-growth environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

People Operations LeadershipSystems Architecture ThinkingAI Tools ExperienceProject ManagementAutomation Development

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Global Payroll ManagementEmployee Lifecycle ManagementTalent AcquisitionAutomation DevelopmentFramework WritingData Flow DesignPerformance ManagementEngagement MeasurementCompliance ManagementProcess Transformation

Soft Skills

Ability To Thrive With AmbiguityLeadershipCommunication

Tools & Technologies

RipplingRemoteAshbySlackJiraConfluenceZapierAirtableClaudeClaude Code

Industry Keywords

High-Growth Scale-UpPeople ProgramsOperating ModelWorkforce PlanningSuccession Readiness

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the People Operations function end-to-end, including global payroll, employee lifecycle, Talent Acquisition, IT provisioning and People programs
Lead and develop a team comprising a Senior Talent Acquisition Manager and a People Operations Manager
Architect the next version of People Operations for the AI era
Design People Operations architecture, systems, tools, data flows and automation priorities
Build AI agents and automations for People Operations processes
Create frameworks and playbooks enabling managers to run people processes independently
Own career paths, levels, promotion policy, compensation principles, learning and development, performance, engagement and promotion cycles
Own people data, engagement measurement and leadership reporting
Set the function's operating model, workforce plan, standards, SLAs and KPIs
Maintain payroll, recruitment operations and compliance during the rebuild
Map manual administration and prioritize automation
Design how Rippling, Remote and Ashby work together
Run the function's weekly cadence
Handle complex employee relations and global compliance cases with Legal
Own calibration, promotion and exit decisions across the function
Partner with the CEO, Finance, Legal and department leaders on people priorities, payroll, headcount planning, compensation, levelling, org design and hiring
Ensure payroll runs close on time, reconcile and receive Finance sign-off
Establish process ownership, written next steps, succession readiness and measurable outcomes

Requirements

What you’ll need

Operations or leadership experience, ideally through a comparable growth-stage transition
Experience leading People Operations through a high-growth, high-change period, ideally involving systems or process transformation at a 100 to 300 person scale-up
Systems architecture thinking: designing how several platforms and their data work together so a process runs without manual admin
Hands-on experience building automations or AI agents yourself
Experience writing frameworks or playbooks that managers ran themselves
Ability to thrive with ambiguity
Essential AI tools experience
Experience with project management and communication tools such as Slack, Jira and Confluence
Willingness to work from the Sydney office at least 2 days per week
Full permanent work rights
Nice to have: Series B or growth-stage scale-up experience
Bonus tools: Zapier, Airtable or similar no-code automation; Rippling or comparable HRIS and global payroll platform; Remote or comparable employer of record platform; Ashby or comparable ATS; AI coding tools such as Claude and Claude Code

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equity
20 days annual leave
Sick leave
Carer's leave
Compassionate leave
16 weeks primary carer parental leave
6 weeks secondary carer parental leave
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Learning and development budget
Home office setup
Weekly catered lunches
Work-from-anywhere weeks
Flex days
Full transparency including visible levels, career frameworks and pay ranges