Head of People

Openrouter

Openrouter

People & HR

United States · Remote

Posted on Apr 17, 2026

Location

Remote (US)

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Remote

Department

Finance & Operations

What you’ll do

  • This is not a traditional HR role. It is a builder-operator role focused on talent, systems, and scaling

  • Build and own the recruiting engine as Head of Recruiting

  • Hire and manage a team of IC recruiters

  • Hire from ~50 → 200+ employees without lowering the talent bar

  • Own core people operations: Onboarding and Offboarding, Benefits, Payroll

  • Design and implement compensation, leveling, and career ladder frameworks

  • Establish lightweight, high-signal performance management systems

  • Build talent development systems including career paths, leveling, and internal mobility

  • Define and reinforce company values through hiring and performance decisions

  • Partner with founders and leadership on org design and hiring strategy

About you

  • Have scaled a company from ~50 to 150–300 employees

  • Experience in a technical company (AI, infrastructure, devtools, or engineering-heavy org)

  • Have personally built:

    • Recruiting function

    • Compensation and leveling frameworks

    • Performance management systems

  • Can operate as both Head of People and Head of Recruiting

  • Strong talent judgment and ability to close senior candidates

  • Experience overseeing technical hiring

  • Comfortable operating in ambiguity and moving quickly

  • Will push back on leadership when needed

  • High agency, low ego, strong commercial mindset

  • You’ve operated with full ownership, not as a support function

Bonus points

  • Experience competing for top-tier AI or engineering talent

  • Prior Head of People or strong #2 stepping into the role

  • Experience working closely with founders and technical leadership

  • Experience building people systems through rapid scaling (50 → 150+)

  • Experience integrating teams from acquisitions