The role

This is the most senior People role in the company, reporting to our COO (based in the UK) and partnering closely with our CEO (based in New York). Your direct team is our UK-based Principal People Ops Lead, our UK-based People Enablement Partner, and a US-based People Enablement Partner we're currently hiring into the New York office, and you'll shape how it grows from here. Talent Acquisition sits as a separate function and is not part of this remit today.

Your starting point is not a People roadmap handed to you in advance. It is the company strategy, operating model, growth plan, and AI-first ambition, and you'll use that context to set the people agenda.

Orbital is at an inflection point: as the company scales, the challenge is not just adding headcount but building an organization that uses AI deliberately, redesigns work where automation creates leverage, and equips managers and teams to operate effectively in that environment.
What you'll do

Lead from the business.

Your first team is the leadership team. You'll be part of commercial, product, and strategic conversations, bringing a people leader's perspective to business challenges rather than representing the People function in isolation. From there, you'll form your own view on where the company's growth is constrained, where organizational design is helping or hindering, and what the business needs to execute its plan. You'll help the leadership team pressure-test growth plans against organizational readiness, spot where management quality, role clarity, or team structure are becoming bottlenecks, and ensure that how we hire, develop, reward, retain, and structure teams is aligned with where the business is heading.

Set the People agenda from business context.

You won't be given a predefined project list. Instead, you'll assess what you learn from the business and set the people and organizational priorities from there, drawing on the Principal People Ops Lead's strategic insight and operational knowledge from within the function to inform your thinking. That means making sure areas like organizational design, performance management, manager capability, onboarding, compensation strategy, benefits, career progression, and people systems are pointed at the right business problems and prioritized accordingly. A major part of the brief is translating current business realities into a sharper People mandate and challenging existing priorities when the business context demands it.

Strengthen manager capability and performance.

How Orbital defines, enables, and recognizes high performance is one of the biggest opportunities for this role to shape. You'll set the standard for what good management looks like here, shape how performance, progression, and recognition are assessed across the company, and hold your peers on the leadership team accountable for the quality of management on their own teams.

Develop the People team.

You'll be the consistent presence the team anchors around, invest in their growth, develop clear ownership within the function, and be accountable for the team's development over time, not just its immediate output. Over time, you'll shape an AI-first, high-leverage function that combines strategic leadership, people product thinking, manager enablement, and operational backbone.
Requirements
The must-haves

• Significant experience leading a People function at senior level (VP, CPO, or equivalent). You bring real depth across the people discipline. That foundation is essential, but what sets you apart is the ability to operate beyond it.
• A track record of sitting at the leadership table and influencing business decisions, not just delivering a People agenda within one.
• Strong commercial instincts. You understand how businesses make money, what impacts delivery, where growth gets stuck, and how organizational design affects all of it.
• Experience scaling a business through the 100-to-250 headcount phase, with the judgment to know what matters at each stage.
• Senior-level fluency with the US market as an employer, including compensation norms, talent dynamics, and the regulatory landscape that shape how People functions operate at scale.
• Experience leading a People function across multiple geographies, with the judgment to run a distributed team and a clear grasp of how labor markets, employment frameworks, and cultural norms differ between regions.
• The ability to translate business context into a people and organizational strategy, and to challenge existing priorities when the business context demands it.
• Experience leading through a People team, setting direction and standards without owning every deliverable.

And a few nice-to-haves

• Direct experience of a Series B to Series C growth journey.
• Built out a People function from an early-stage base, rather than inherited one.
• Familiarity with the Built for People framework or equivalent product-led thinking applied to People.

Why you'll love it here

• You'll join a startup at an exciting inflection point, with real influence at the leadership table from day one.
• You'll shape the People function rather than inherit one, with room to build it around product thinking and AI leverage.
• You'll tackle the kind of business challenges that make this a genuinely career-defining role.
• You'll be part of a collaborative, highly ambitious and friendly culture where curiosity and innovation are celebrated.

Benefits

• Compensation: We offer a competitive starting salary in the range of $250,000-$300,000, depending on experience. We share salary ranges upfront to build trust, reduce bias, and support an inclusive process, even as we continue developing our internal pay structures.
• We believe in flexibility, but we're also big on in-person collaboration. This role is based in our New York office with minimum two days a week, with additional time in as needed for things like all-hands, interviews, or team sessions. It's about being present when it matters, and balancing autonomy with impact.
• 401k match and equity options in a fast-growing start-up.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents.
• Rest and Recharge: 20 days paid holiday (plus public holidays), so you can rest, recharge, and take care of what matters most to you.
• Generous parental leave policy designed to support all parents and caregivers in balancing family and work life, in addition to any state-mandated paid family leave entitlements.
• Professional equipment and personal development budget along with training opportunities to learn and develop your skills.
• Pre-tax commuter benefits to help you get to and from the office.
• We're in the process of building an inclusive, welcoming culture where everyone feels seen and valued. Expect regular team off-sites, shared lunches, and social events, with something for everyone.

🔒 Security is everyone's responsibility at Orbital. We ask all team members to follow our security policies, complete regular awareness training, and handle sensitive data with care in line with ISO 27001 standards. Spot something unusual? Reporting risks or incidents quickly helps us maintain the strong culture of security and compliance we all depend on.