Director of People Operations

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As Tava grows from ~100 to 200+ employees, the quality of our people decisions will increasingly determine our success. We’re hiring a Director of People Operations to be our first full-time People leader and to build a People operating model that scales with the company’s growth.

What You’ll Do Lead and Build the People Function

• Own the People function end-to-end, designing a lean operating model that scales with the business without unnecessary complexity or headcount.
• Own and continuously improve the People tech stack and workflows (HRIS/ATS and related tools) to keep operations clean, reliable, and low-friction.
• Set clear priorities and strong defaults that guide day‑to‑day people decisions and reduce ambiguity for managers and leaders.

Raise the Bar for Talent

• Own and continuously improve how we attract, identify, and hire high‑quality talent.
• Partner with hiring managers to define what “great” looks like for roles and translate that into clear hiring criteria that improves decision discipline.
• Use new‑hire performance and hiring manager feedback to refine and improve hiring quality over time.

Drive Employee Performance and Growth

• Ensure strong onboarding that accelerates productivity, reduces early attrition, and clearly communicates expectations, culture, and how employees succeed at Tava.
• Own the performance management approach, including review cycles and ongoing feedback, ensuring issues are surfaced and addressed early.
• Create the systems, standards, and cultural expectations that support timely, pragmatic decisions on underperformance, including managing people out when appropriate.
• Enable managers to retain and develop top performers by providing clear frameworks for growth, promotion criteria, and leveling.

Enable Stronger Managers

• Equip managers to lead effectively by setting clear expectations, giving direct feedback, and building the skills and frameworks needed to coach, mentor, and develop their teams.
• Design and deliver targeted manager training focused on hiring, feedback, performance management, and difficult conversations.
• Coach managers through performance issues and conflict, helping them thoughtfully navigate sensitive situations, while ensuring people‑related risk is identified early and handled pragmatically, consistently, and with clean documentation.

Strengthen Culture, Recognition, and Connection

• Reinforce company values, including through clear expectations, consistent decisions, and what is celebrated and rewarded.
• Ensure company events, off‑sites, and team activities are well‑executed and reinforce connection and performance.
• Establish meaningful recognition and appreciation practices, and ensure key milestones are acknowledged and celebrated, so people feel seen, valued, and proud of their contributions.

Partner on People Decisions Across the Business

• Work directly with the executive team and functional leaders on hiring plans, headcount trade‑offs, performance decisions, and org design.
• Partner closely with Finance on compensation, benefits, and workforce planning.
• Partner closely with Legal to ensure the company operates in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and to proactively identify and mitigate people‑related risk.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience leading and scaling People Operations in a startup or high‑growth environment, partnering with executives on high‑stakes decisions and trade‑offs.
• Entrepreneurial, proactive, and pragmatic, with a willingness to both chart strategy and roll up your sleeves to deliver results.
• Strong business judgment; metrics‑oriented and hypothesis‑driven, with a focus on outcomes over activity.
• Direct, thoughtful communicator, capable of challenging leaders with a clear, data‑informed business case.
• Highly organized, data‑ and process‑driven, and comfortable building structure in an ambiguous, resource‑limited environment.
• Strong interpersonal skills; proven ability to navigate organizational dynamics with judgment and discretion—understanding incentives, aligning stakeholders, and coaching managers and employees to do the same.

Why You’ll…