Head of People & Performance

Job Description

Do you want to empower organizations to build smarter compensation strategies while ensuring fair pay for all employees?

Syndio is a Series C technology company leveraging advanced technology and responsible AI to accelerate decision-making, streamline compliance, and democratize insights for consistent, equitable compensation practices at scale. Backed by $83M in investments from Bessemer Venture Partners, Voyager Capital, and Emerson Collective, we are expanding our team and products to help companies align their rewards strategies with their business goals.

Our customers are our greatest asset. Syndio partners with many of the world’s most recognized and respected enterprises, helping them implement leading-edge compensation solutions with expert guidance. We analyze pay for over 10 million employees across dozens of countries, ensuring fair, defensible rewards that drive better business outcomes.

Join us in our mission to help companies make smarter pay decisions they can trust!

About the role

Syndio is in the middle of a meaningful transformation - and we need a people leader who wants to help build what comes next - an AI-native operating model. Not one that reacts to the business, but one that helps shape it.

This role is the strategic head of the People function, reporting directly to the CEO and owning the roadmap that connects culture, performance, and organizational capability to business outcomes. You’ll lead a small, talented team and be a genuine thought partner at the leadership table — someone who brings a clear point of view and moves quickly from strategy to action.

This is a builder’s role. The team is talented and the foundation is solid. What’s needed now is a leader who can elevate the organization beyond transactional work, strengthen leadership effectiveness across the company, and architect the people systems an AI-native business actually requires.

Why this job is exciting

Leadership Effectiveness

• You’ll define what strong leadership looks like at Syndio. Not through training programs alone — through clear behavioral standards, real accountability, and operating norms that actually stick.
• Establish a clear model for who owns culture, performance, and development — and make sure leaders actually own it.

Performance & Organizational Design

• You own the performance architecture, from goal-setting through performance conversations, all the way to how individual work connects to company outcomes..
• Evolve how Syndio defines and measures strong performance for an AI-enabled workplace.
• Lead org design and change management as Syndio’s operating model continues to shift.

Culture & Engagement

• You’ll lead the culture roadmap. Diagnose what’s working, identify what needs to shift, and build what’s missing.
• Design engagement approaches tied to what actually drives retention and performance.
• Build conditions for greater accountability and ownership at every level of the organization.

AI-Native People Strategy

• Champion an AI-native approach to People work — automating the transactional processes, while amplifying human judgment, coaching, and leadership.
• You’ll own the human side of AI transformation: job design, reskilling, performance evolution, and change enablement.
• Partner with the CEO and senior leadership to translate business strategy into people strategy at the speed the company requires.

Talent, Rewards & Operations

• Oversee talent acquisition strategy to attract and close candidates who thrive in transformation environments.
• You own compensation philosophy and total rewards. Competitive, equitable, and aligned to how Syndio actually values contribution.
• Ensure People operations are scalable, automated where appropriate, and not consuming strategic capacity.

About you

• Senior HR leadership in technology companies, through meaningful periods of transformation or scaling.
• A track record of building strategic People functions — not primarily compliance or administrative infrastructure.
• Experience defining leadership standards and building accountability into culture, not just managing development programs.
• Demonstrated work in performance, engagement, and culture with measurable outcomes.
• Comfort as a CEO-level thought partner — you bring a point of view and know how to influence without authority.
• You’ve applied AI to People workflows, org design, or workforce strategy in a practical way
• You’re a systems thinker who sees the whole before redesigning any part — and a builder who’s energized by creating what doesn’t exist yet.
• You communicate with clarity and directness. You turn complexity into action, not more process.

Why you’ll love it here:

• 💰 Competitive Compensation. For this role our salary is targeted at $200,000 -$275,000 per year. Final offer amounts are determined by factors such as experience and expertise. We take a geo neutral approach to compensation within the US, meaning that we pay based on job function and level, not location.
• 🏆  Syndio Equity. So you can share in Syndio’s success.
• 🏝  Flexible Vacation Policy. We encourage our team to recharge when they need to, plus paid sick & safe time, compassion leave, and voting leave.
• Paid parental leave
• 🩺  Medical, Dental, Vision. Syndio pays 90% of employee premiums, and 50% for dependents.
• 🏥  Life Insurance & Disability. Syndio covers the full premium.
• 🏦 401(k). To help you save for your future
• Fully remote model - #LI-Remote

The interview overview

Below you’ll find an outline of the interview plan for our Head of People & Performance position. Please note that this is what we expect the process to look like; we may ask you for supplemental information or require an additional step before making a final decision.

• 30 min interview with a member of our Talent Team
• 45 minute zoom interview with the Hiring Manager
• Three video interviews with several team members (Executive Peers, CEO) - 2 hours
• Final meet & greet with the team - 45 mins

At Syndio, we’re building a diverse team that values candor, curiosity, and community. If you share these values and are interested in joining us, we’d love to talk with you even if you don’t 100% meet the “about you” listed here. We don’t expect anyone to have all the answers, as long as you’re willing to learn and grow with us.

Syndio is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are building an inclusive and collaborative workplace as we grow, and we welcome team members regardless of gender/identity, sexual orientation, race or cultural background, religion, physical disability and age.