Director of HR

Ready to build the people function for two great organizations?

OXD is a design and technology consultancy, and Thought Farmer is a software company that helps organizations share knowledge and build culture, and. While we’re two separate companies based in Vancouver, we have a shared history and we operate as sister companies, sharing leadership, culture, and a long common history.

We’re at an inflection point and we’re looking for a Director of HR who wants to shape what comes next. As our first dedicated HR leader at this level, you’ll have a rare opportunity to help define our “people infrastructure”: designing compensation frameworks, creating career pathways, and establishing the performance culture that will carry Thought Farmer and OXD through our next stage of growth.

But this isn’t just a builder role, you’ll also be a steady coach to managers and leaders across both organizations, helping them navigate the hard conversations and grow into the leaders our people deserve. Reporting directly to the President and working alongside leadership teams across both organizations, your work will have an immediate, visible impact on how we grow, and how we take care of our people while we do it.

If you’re energized by the idea of leaving your mark on an organization, rather than inheriting someone else’s playbook, this is that role.

You’re a pragmatic builder. You know the difference between a process that creates clarity and one that creates paperwork, and you design accordingly. You’re comfortable walking into ambiguity, assessing what’s actually broken, and making decisions that stick. You don’t need a mandate to act; you earn trust with leaders and then move.

You’ll be embedded across the leadership teams for Thought Farmer and OXD, developing relationships across two organizations while maintaining consistency in how people processes work. You have one direct report, our People Operations Manager, and you’ll be their coach and advocate from day one.

• Design, implement and maintain a company-wide compensation and total rewards framework, including salary bands, benefits, review cycles, and clear criteria that employees and managers understand and trust
• Develop career ladders and progression frameworks that give employees a clear picture of how they grow
• Build a consistent performance and feedback system that raises the frequency and quality of feedback across both organizations
• Lead talent acquisition and workforce planning, ensuring we’re hiring ahead of need and building pipelines that reflect our growth trajectory
• Coach and develop managers in feedback delivery, compensation conversations, and conflict resolution
• Own HR compliance across both organizations: employment legislation, policy handbooks, and the processes that keep us audit-ready
• Develop programs that strengthen employee engagement, recognition, and culture across both organizations
• Establish clear HR ownership of core people processes, reducing ambiguity across both organizations
• Partner with the President and team leads to align on people priorities and drive cross-functional adoption

• You know what it takes to design a compensation framework or performance process from scratch and get people to actually use it
• You can tell when a process is too heavy and you’ll cut it before it creates friction
• You take ownership of outcomes and hold yourself accountable to them
• You’re comfortable with difficult conversations such as compensation fairness, performance accountability, and manager gaps.
• You’re effective with senior leaders. You can influence without authority and challenge without alienating.

• You have 8+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 3 years in a senior or leadership role
• You’ve designed and implemented compensation frameworks, including salary banding and review processes
• You have direct experience building or significantly improving performance management systems
• You’ve coached managers to be more effective in feedback, compensation conversations, and conflict resolution
• You’ve worked cross-functionally with senior leadership to…