Head of People

San Francisco, CA, United States

Kindred is a members-only home swapping network that unlocks the ability to live a travel-rich lifestyle through the power of community. By exchanging primary residences with trusted peers, renters and owners alike can match with Kindred spirits and explore new destinations without breaking the bank. We are on a mission to build a sharing economy that lives up to the name, and we’ve raised capital from some of the best investors in Silicon Valley to do so, including Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Caffeinated Capital, Elad Gil, and the founders of Opendoor, Figma, ClassPass, Clubhouse, Divvy, Gem, and Homebound. The co-founders are proven leaders from the early team at proptech company Opendoor ($15B+ exit), and have each separately built and scaled products that today do $1B+ annual revenue combined. We’re looking for the world’s top builders, executors, and believers to join us on this ride. You can learn more about us in Forbes and TechCrunch . The Role: Bay Area - Remote Role At Kindred, we strive to build something extraordinary, and that begins with an exceptional team. People Operations are vital in any organization, but at Kindred, it's crucial. Given the nature of our high-trust, deeply human product, the ability to hire the right talent, execute precisely, and operate in alignment with our values holds unique strategic significance. We're seeking an outstanding leader to join our early team, champion our people operations, and shape the team's future. This key hire will report directly to the CEO and establish our People Team functions. Like our other early team members, this role will balance team building and operations, as well as tactics and strategy. We're seeking someone passionate about overseeing all aspects of People, Culture, and Talent, both strategically and hands-on. This role includes gradually building our Business Partner, Talent, Learning & Development (L&D), People Operations, and other People functions. This will involve a combination of agencies, contractors, and full-time employees. Your role will include managing existing processes, creatively reimagining them, and continuously adapting them to meet our evolving needs. We value a data-driven approach, where decisions are informed by insights, but with a continued focus on the human element. What You’ll Own: Executive Coaching & Business Operations: Function as a thought partner, advisor, and coach to Kindred's Executive team, helping them to increase their influence within their teams and accelerate their execution pace for optimal business impact. Work as a strategic partner with the founders and leadership to develop, communicate, operationalize, scale, and implement a comprehensive People strategy. Contribute to organizational design and assist in structuring the organization and its processes to support Kindred's growth. This includes managing both hybrid and remote team members.

People Operations & Strategy: Determine and execute HR initiatives like Total Rewards philosophy and calibration, payroll and benefits management, selection of HR and recruitment software, onboarding and off-boarding procedures, company handbook creation, expense policy formulation, and more. Promote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Belonging by incorporating these practices at every stage of the employee lifecycle.

People Business Partner: Act as an HR business partner to support employees across the organization, monitor employee morale, assist with organizational change management, and partner with managers on challenging people-related issues and decisions. Develop a philosophy for performance feedback and career development programs.

Learning & Development: Develop programs and processes that foster continuous employee growth and performance, including manager training and development programs.

Culture Building & People Programs: Embrace the role of a culture and engagement leader. Ensure the mission, vision, and values are comprehended and adopted throughout the organization to drive high levels of employee engagement and people programs. Partner closely with the founding team as a champion of Kindred's culture, implementing traditions, processes, offsites, and other methods to embody Kindred's values.

Office & Operations: Develop and implement Kindred’s hybrid workplace policies to balance remote flexibility and in-person trust-building. Partner with the CEO and Chief of Staff to establish Kindred’s new headquarters, the “Clubhouse” in San Francisco.

Talent: Be responsible for talent acquisition, which includes proactive sourcing and candidate screening. Our goal is to expand mindfully and intentionally, so we need someone who can ensure a top-tier candidate experience. Take ownership of Kindred's Talent Brand. Develop creative and innovative strategies to attract and retain the best team members at Kindred.

You may be a fit for this role if you: Possess at least 10 years of experience in various roles within the People & Talent functions in a fast-growing technology startup. You should have experience both as an executor and a leader, and be eager to assume both roles again. We require someone with at least 5 years of leadership experience in managing high performing teams. You should have extensive pattern recognition from your experience, as well as the vision and conviction to design the People function from the ground up.

Be a masterful, precise, and tactful communicator. You should be able to promote the Kindred vision, interact professionally with candidates across all levels and functions, and articulate complex information eloquently.

Take ownership and drive initiatives forward autonomously, involving others as needed for input, delegation, or support with key decisions. You should be proficient at providing proactive updates on your work's status, progress, or blockers.

Have high emotional intelligence. You should excel at reading the room, detecting unspoken signals, and adjusting your approach as necessary.

Exhibit a passion for culture and team building. You should enjoy uniting people and be eager to be a cultural leader in an early organization. Prioritizing People, Culture and Talent is crucial to you, and you take pride in matching stellar talent.

Care about the real people behind the jobs, and have the ability to build strong and productive relationships with coworkers and candidates alike. You should be passionate about fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment.

Be a resourceful problem solver who drives outcomes and avoids excuses.

Hold yourself to an extremely high standard of execution, and hold others to that standard as well.

Be able to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and tackle them efficiently in an organized manner. You should be energized by the chance to bring order to the chaos of a fast-growing startup. You don't need others to implement structure for you to be effective – you create your own clarity.

Have expertise in People & Talent systems (e.g., Gusto, TriNet, Rippling, Deel) and recruiting platforms (e.g., Lever, Ashby, Greenhouse), and a strong opinion on which tools to use at different times in our organizational life cycle. We need someone who knows how to evaluate and implement end-to-end People Team tools for seamless data flow.

Possess strong judgment when making difficult tradeoffs, led by values that align with those of Kindred’s founding DNA.

Bonus points if you: Are a Kindred member!

Have successfully scaled an organization: prioritizing, adapting, and building programs - from 50 - 300+ employees. Ideally, you love the 0-1 build but can also help us scale over the years.

First Principles thinker: A systems thinker who asks “why?” until you uncover the fundamental problem that needs solving.

Business-minded, you understand the unique needs of the business and apply innovative approaches.

Highly autonomous, with a curiosity around the product and an owner’s mentality on impacting the business.

Have partnered with TriNet or similar as EoR.

Our Benefits: At Kindred, we know that good things happen when we look out for one another. We offer teammates the following benefits:

Our openings span more than one career level. The starting salary for this role is between $200,000 and $280,000 USD, with some flexibility beyond this for extremely senior candidates. The provided salary depends on many factors, such as work experience, and transferable skills, business needs and impact, and market demands.

A vibrant, inclusive, and highly skilled team that ferociously protects team chemistry.

A culture of championship(vs. just mentorship), feedback, and continual development.

Competitive cash compensation and equity.

Unlimited vacation policy.

Full health benefits.

UNLIMITED free stays at Kindred homes during your time as an employee.

$4,000 annual stipend to use toward personal travel costs related to trips in which you are staying at a Kindred home.

This role is a hybrid role, but we also encourage team members to travel and adventure!

Global WeWork passes so you can work comfortably from wherever you are.

Regular offsites to co-locate with the team.

At Kindred, we believe that bringing together people who have different worldviews, personal circumstances, and experiences improves our customer service, work, environment, and one another. Diverse strengths, abilities, interests, and perspectives power the flow of innovation and creativity, which is vital to our success. We encourage people from all walks of life—all backgrounds, identities, genders, ages, races, religions, abilities, and socioeconomic statuses—to apply.

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