# Director, People

**Company:** [Formation Bio](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/formation-bio)
**Location:** New York, NY, Boston, MA
**Role:** People Ops
**Salary:** $178k – $232k/yr
**Experience:** 8+ years
**Skills:** people operations, AI Automation, compensation strategy, benefits strategy, Performance Management, hr compliance, people systems, cross-functional partnership, Vendor Management, Change Management
**Posted:** 2026-07-27

> Director, People responsible for driving AI-native People Operations, designing/scaling performance/compensation/benefits programs, and serving as strategic business partner to leaders. Requires 8+ years in HR/People leadership with proven AI/automation experience, strong operations background, and ability to operate strategically with high autonomy in a high-growth biotech environment.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

### People Operations Excellence
- Drive AI-native operations across the People Team, identifying opportunities to leverage technology and fundamentally redesign workflows while maintaining the human elements of our work.
- Ensure operational excellence and compliance and continuously evolve our people processes as the business scales.
- Lead complex, cross-functional processes and partner with internal stakeholders including Legal, Finance, Tech Ops, and Quality Assurance to deliver business outcomes.
- Serve as the escalation point for complex people operations, benefits, and compensation matters.
- Manage external vendor relationships and consultant partnerships while continuously evaluating opportunities to improve quality, cost, and effectiveness.

### Program Design & Strategic Execution
- Elevate and own our performance, promotion, and compensation review programs to ensure quality, consistency, and scalability as we grow.
- Own our 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.
- Anticipate future people program needs based on business priorities and organizational growth.

### People Business Partnership
- Serve as a strategic People partner for designated leaders and functions.
- Develop a deep understanding of the business and build trusted relationships with leaders to anticipate business needs, identify organizational risks, and develop solutions.
- Coach managers through complex people situations while balancing employee experience, business outcomes, and long-term organizational health.

## Requirements
- 8+ years of experience in people operations, people business partnering, total rewards, and/or HR leadership roles.
- Proven track record leveraging AI and automation to improve people operations with concrete results and a clear vision for an AI-native People Team.
- Strong operational background owning people systems, benefits, compliance, and building scalable people operations infrastructure.
- Experience designing and scaling people programs while balancing quality, consistency, and operational efficiency; successfully led change by building alignment.
- Ability to make independent, complex decisions with strong judgment, company-wide perspective, and anticipation of long-term implications.
- Strong ownership mentality and high accountability; proactively identify opportunities and drive work to completion.
- People management experience developing and elevating individuals and teams, setting a high bar for performance, and focusing on career development.
- Strong cross-functional partnership skills building trusted relationships with leaders, internal teams, and external vendors.
- Comfortable working in fast-paced, high-growth environments; thrive in ambiguity and shift between strategic thinking and hands-on execution.
- Compensation expertise is a plus (designed compensation frameworks, conducted market analyses, thought strategically about equity and total rewards).
- Experience in biotech, pharma, or other technical or regulated industries is a plus but not required.

## Compensation & Benefits
**Total Compensation Range:** $177,500 - $232,000

Individual compensation is determined by several factors, including role scope, geographic location, and skills & experience. In addition to base salary, we offer equity, comprehensive benefits, and generous perks.

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