People Operations Lead

Tribe is building a category-defining AI company. We help enterprises build and deploy production AI systems that deliver real business impact — working with some of the most sophisticated organizations in financial services, healthcare, and beyond. We're an AI-native services company with deep partnerships with leading AI labs, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, giving us rare visibility into the most advanced models and enterprise deployment patterns in the world.

We move fast, we operate with high ownership, and we hold ourselves to an unusually high standard. Our core team is what makes the ambition real. As we scale through this inflection point in AI, we're building the internal infrastructure to match — and that's where you come in.

As People Operations Lead, you own the systems and programs that shape how our team grows, performs, and develops. This is a hands-on, high-impact role for someone who has operated inside a 150–500 person company and knows how to build people programs that are rigorous without being bureaucratic.

You'll be the primary driver of our performance management philosophy — from how we run review cycles to how we develop managers and recognize top performers. This role is equal parts practitioner and thought partner. You'll work closely with leadership to shape how we give feedback, calibrate performance, and make decisions on promotions and bonuses. If you're energized by helping managers become better coaches and building a culture where people genuinely grow, this is the role for you.

Performance management.
Design and run lightweight, effective performance review cycles (mid-year and annual) that are meaningful without being burdensome. Build calibration processes so performance assessments are consistent and fair across teams. Own the promotion and compensation review process end-to-end, including bonus frameworks and criteria. Define what "good" performance looks like at each level, partnering with managers to develop leveling clarity.

Manager development and feedback culture.

Lead 1:1 feedback sessions with managers — helping them give better feedback, have harder conversations, and coach their direct reports more effectively. Build and facilitate manager training programs and toolkits. Partner with leadership to identify high-potential employees and create development plans. Establish a feedback culture through ongoing coaching, not just structured review cycles.

People operations.

Maintain and improve core HR systems and processes as the company scales. Track people data and surface insights — retention, engagement, performance trends — to inform leadership decisions. Serve as a trusted resource for employee relations and performance escalations.

You've owned this before.

You have 7–10 years of People Operations or HR experience, with a meaningful portion in performance management and organizational development. You've operated at a 150–500 person high-growth company in a leading or senior IC capacity — you've built and run these programs, not just supported someone who did.

You are genuinely passionate about manager development.

You've coached managers directly and have real opinions about what makes feedback effective. You know the difference between a feedback culture that exists on paper and one that actually changes how people lead.

You build things people actually use.

Your instinct is toward simplicity. You design review cycles that don't create overhead, promotion processes that managers can explain to their teams, and frameworks that hold up under pressure without requiring a manual.

You operate with high judgment.

You're trusted with sensitive information at all levels of the organization. You know when to escalate, when to hold firm, and when to adapt — and you make those calls without needing to be told.

You are data-informed.

You're comfortable working in HRIS tools, pulling and interpreting people data, and using it to make the case for or against a program. You measure what matters and don't optimize for optics.

You are AI-native.

You use AI tools actively and fluently in your day-to-day work — not as a novelty, but as a core part of how you operate. Whether it's drafting frameworks, analyzing feedback, running research, or accelerating any part of the people ops workflow, you reach for AI first and you know how to get real leverage from it. At Tribe, we expect our team to be building with and through AI, and this role is no exception.

• Experience with compensation banding and total rewards frameworks

• Background at a company that runs a distributed or contractor-heavy team model

Within 90 days:

• You have a clear point of view on where our performance management programs are strong and where they need work

• You've run at least one feedback session with managers and established a rhythm for ongoing coaching

• You've mapped our existing review and promotion processes and identified the biggest gaps to close

Within 6 months:

• A performance review cycle has run on time, with calibration that leadership trusts and employees found meaningful

• A promotion and bonus process is in place that managers can explain clearly to their teams

• Measurable improvement in manager feedback quality, tracked through engagement or direct feedback data

• Manager development touch points are embedded in the rhythm of the business — not a one-time event

• Work at the center of one of the most consequential moments in technology — and help build the internal infrastructure that lets us operate at scale

• Operate alongside world-class engineers, strategists, and practitioners who hold themselves to an unusually high standard

• Direct partnership with leadership — your work will be visible, your impact will be real, and your opinions will shape how we grow

• High-growth environment where ownership is real and the work is never routine