Director, People Operations & Total Rewards

People Operations Excellence

• Drive AI-native operations across the people function - identifying opportunities to leverage technology while maintaining the human elements of our work
• Ensure compliance and evolve our people processes to ensure they are fit for purpose as the business scales
• Lead cross-functional processes and partner with internal stakeholders including Legal, Finance, Tech Ops, and Quality Assurance
• Serve as escalation point for complex operational issues, benefits decisions, and compensation situations
• Manage external vendor relationships and consultant partnerships

Total Rewards Strategy & Execution

• Own compensation strategy and execution for Formation's unique business model, including framework design, market positioning, and equity programs
• Lead benefits strategy, vendor selection, and plan design; ensuring our total rewards package is competitive and supports our culture and business needs
• Own cyclical compensation reviews end-to-end
• Partner on complex offer negotiations and provide market intelligence and competitive positioning recommendations

Program Design & Strategic Execution

• Elevate and own our annual performance, promotion and compensation review process to ensure quality, consistency, and scalability as we grow
• Partner with Director, People Business Partner on program execution and continuous improvement
• Anticipate program needs based on business growth and evolution

About You

• 8+ years of experience in people operations, total rewards, and/or HR leadership roles
• Deep compensation expertise - you've designed frameworks, led market analysis, structured equity programs, and can think strategically about total rewards in complex or unique business models
• Proven track record implementing AI and automation - you have concrete results in people operations, not just enthusiasm, and a strong vision for where an AI-native function can go
• Strong operational background - you've owned people systems, benefits, compliance, and built scalable people operations infrastructure
• Experience designing and scaling talent management programs - you know how to balance quality with operational efficiency
• Ability to make independent, complex decisions - you evaluate tradeoffs with a company-wide perspective and anticipate long-term implications
• Strong ownership mentality and high accountability - you take full responsibility for outcomes and drive work to completion
• People management experience - you've developed and elevated individuals and teams, and care deeply about career development
• Strong cross-functional partnership skills - you build excellent relationships with internal teams and external vendors
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, high-growth environments - you can be both strategic and hands-on
• Experience in biotech, pharma, or other technical/regulated industries is a plus but not required