Head of People Operations & Planning

At Vanta

At Vanta, our mission is to help businesses earn and prove trust. We believe that security should be monitored and verified continuously, and we empower companies to practice better security and prove it with ease. Vanta has a kind and talented team, and while some have prior security experience, many have been successful at Vanta without it.

As Head of People Operations and Planning at Vanta, you will lead our core People Operations function and help us scale them from several hundred to several thousand Vanta’ns; and also take the lead on our broader plans and strategic priorities as a People Team, organizing and rallying the various parts of the People Team to work together on larger cross-team projects.

The mission of Vanta’s People Team is to enable all Vanta’ns, worldwide, to do the best work of their careers. Vanta’s People Team accomplishes this mission by being relentlessly focused on our business and driving business outcomes - and doing so in a data-driven and business-minded way. All of our People Team functions are efficiently staffed and high performing, earning tremendous trust in our business; and most of our People Team teammates are embedded with the Vanta departments that they support, to drive better alignment and help those teams achieve their business outcomes.

Our Head of People Operations will be highly analytical, thoughtful, business-oriented, humble, and low ego, and will have a playbook (that can be modified to be “Vanta-specific”) on how to scale People Operations to provide top notch service to every Vanta’n, worldwide.

What you’ll do:

• Lead our People Operations function, which includes all people processes, policies, compliance, and, critically, the core systems around which all People processes are built

• Build People Operations to be focused on efficiency, using cutting edge technologies (and AI) to fully automate any People process that is amenable to automation

• Partner closely with senior People leadership to build efficient, scalable, best-in-class systems and processes that support Vanta’s growth

• Drive long-term strategic improvements in People Operations systems and processes by anticipating future scaling challenges before they arise and building proactively, not reactively

• Provide ongoing coaching, mentorship, and support to our People Operations Team while continuously hiring and developing A+ talent to scale the function

• Act as “glue” between all functions on the People Team, leading planning processes and dealing with strategic projects that don’t neatly sit in any particular People function

• Deliver meaningful, up-to-date benchmarking of best practices across all People Team functions, while thoughtfully challenging traditional HR playbooks and rethinking approaches from the ground up in alignment with Vanta’s principles, action orientation, and operational rigor

What we’re looking for:

• 10+ years of relevant experience, ideally in People Operations, with significant experience operating at scale (1,000-5,000+ headcount), some experience in all normal People Operations areas (e.g., compliance, mobility, policies, systems, processes), and a meaningful stint at a public company or company going through public company preparation sufficient to understand the backend processes and systems required to support a public company People function

• Impeccable people management skills - every person you’ve ever managed should respect you as a leader, coach, and mentor

• A strong analytical mind, and the skill to develop a point of view on any problem quickly and without personal bias, with an affinity for automation over throwing humans at problems

• A data-first orientation in all problem solving

• High resilience and calm, balanced with a high bias toward delivering strong outcomes quickly over delivering perfect outcomes slowly

• Open to using AI to amplify their skills and strengthen their work - demonstrating curiosity, a willingness to learn, and sound judgment in applying AI responsibly to improve efficiency and impact

What you can expect as a Vanta'n:

• Industry-competitive salary and equity

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, with 100% of employee-only benefit premiums covered for most medical plans

• 16 weeks fully-paid Parental Leave for all new parents

• Health & wellness stipend

• Remote workspace, internet, and cellphone stipend

• Commuter benefits for team members who report to the SF and NYC office

• Family planning benefits

• Matching 401(k) contribution with immediate vesting

• Flexible PTO policy, plus 80 hours of Sick Time