Director of People at Datavations

About Datavations

Datavations is a leading New York-based data and AI software specializing in the $2.3 trillion dollar building materials industry. Our platform, powered by advanced Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, provides manufacturers with a data-driven approach to better service customers and grow their relationships with key accounts. By simplifying massive datasets into actionable business insight, we help businesses make data-driven decisions to optimize pricing, inventory, and product assortment.

Our values

• We value execution: momentum is everything
• Belief in the power of positivity: we are encouraging and take risks
• Proactive ownership: we are passionate about driving financial value with creative data product
• Foster collaboration: we welcome help and always extend a helping hand, internally and externally

About the role

As a Director of People, you’ll play a critical role in shaping our employee experience, operationalizing HR processes, and ensuring we scale our people infrastructure thoughtfully and compliantly. You’ll own core HR operations and partner and coach cross-functionally with leadership, managers, and employees to create a workplace where people thrive and ensure we are able to attract and retain top talent. Past experience in a SaaS start-up environment is important for us to hit the ground running with this essential role.

Responsibilities & skills

People Operations & HR Infrastructure

• Design and implement scalable HR systems, processes, and policies across the employee lifecycle for efficiency and creating an excellent employee experience (onboarding, offboarding, benefits, etc.)
• Own and optimize our HRIS and related tools (currently we utilize Justworks as our PEO and technology and Greenhouse for our ATS)
• Maintain and analyze HR metrics to guide decisions across talent
• Partner with finance on compensation plans and compensation structures that align to the goals of the business
• Ability to answer benefits questions understanding the plans enough and know where to go for further questions

Employee Experience

• Manage onboarding/offboarding processes to ensure smooth transitions and high engagement and performance
• Develop internal communications, culture initiatives, and connected and collaborative teams
• Ability to recommend actions and insights based on what are top drivers for employees
• Serve as a point of contact for employee questions and issues, helping resolve them thoughtfully
• Support team events to create connections across the team

Manager Coaching & Performance

• Equip managers with tools and support for effective team management
• Partner on performance review cycles, goal setting, and career development planning
• Support ongoing feedback culture and continuous performance enablement

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure company compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations
• Maintain up-to-date documentation on policies, procedures, and employee handbook
• Manage employee records, leave tracking (FMLA, parental, etc.), state based compliance
• Partner with Finance and Legal on payroll, equity, and compliance needs

Performance & Development

• Implementing and leading performance review cycles and feedback framework, ensuring to continue to evolve this process to align to company goals and growing and developing our team. This will include coaching and developing managers through this process to best lead their teams.
• Help implement career development tools, L&D initiatives, and manager enablement programs

Recruitment Leadership

• Lead our recruitment team to enable attracting top technical talent and supporting their strategies and partnership with the team to continue to attract top talent and achieve business goals.
• Lead continued focus on candidate pipeline, employer branding, and the candidate and manager experience.

Experience

• 6+ years of HR/People Ops experience in a startup or SaaS environment is required, preferably where you have worked with a hybrid company
• Experience with HR systems and compliance
• Deep understanding of HR best practices and relevant employment laws (multi-state, if U.S.-based)
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills
• Thrives working in a fast-paced, evolving environment
• Discrete, trustworthy, and able to handle sensitive information with care
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Comfortable being both strategic and hands-on—able to set vision while executing day-to-day. You will be joining as a team of two.
• Experience understanding compensation plans, benefits and compensation market data
• Ability to work hybrid, Tuesday-Thursday in the NYC office.

Preferred Locations: New York (Tuesday-Thursday in the NYC office)

Why Join Datavations

• Impact at Scale: Influence a $2.3 trillion industry by shaping how data science accelerates ROI for major manufacturers.
• Autonomy & Growth: Enjoy the freedom to experiment with new technologies and see your ideas realized in production.
• Collaborative Culture: Work alongside a supportive team that values positivity, proactive ownership, and continuous learning.
• Professional Development: Work with Terraform, OpenTelemetry, GenAI coding tools, and modern observability stacks.About the Role

Compensation

The base salary average range for this role is $140-150k per year, depending on experience, skills, and alignment with the role’s responsibilities. This range reflects our current expectations for a qualified candidate nationally, but we’re open to discussing the compensation range further for exceptional candidates working from our NYC office. Total compensation may also include equity, performance bonuses, and a comprehensive benefits package.

We’re committed to paying competitively and equitably, and we regularly review our compensation structures to ensure they align with the market and support our values