Our client is a global commercial aircraft leasing company, serving airlines across the world. While the company is approximately 15 years old, the evolution of HR as a true leadership function is just three years underway—and is now ready for its next chapter. They are seeking a Head of People to join the leadership team and partner directly with the CEO and senior leaders to shape the people strategy of a growing, global, highly sophisticated organization of 100.
The Opportunity
The Head of People will lead the global people function and serve as a trusted enterprise advisor to the CEO, COO, CFO, General Counsel, and broader leadership team. Headquartered in San Francisco this role carries significant influence and visibility. The Head of HR is both a designer and a doer, supported by a global team of three.
You will inherit a strong foundation—and be expected to elevate, modernize, and scale the people function to match the complexity, ambition, and global footprint of the business.
This role requires:
- Executive presence and gravitas
- Comfort initiating and leading change
- The ability to influence, including leaders senior to the role
- Strong business and financial acumen alongside deep HR expertise
- A global mindset with pragmatic execution
Key Priorities & Impact
Enterprise Partnership & Leadership
- Act as a strategic advisor to the CEO and executive team on organizational design, leadership capability, talent strategy, and culture
- Engage early in business decisions—not as a validator, but as a shaper
- Build trusted partnerships with Finance and Legal around risk, governance, and workforce strategy
People Strategy & Infrastructure
- Lead all pillars of the people function globally, including Talent, HR Business Partnering, Total Rewards, HR Operations, Compliance, and Organizational Development
- Evaluate and optimize compensation strategy and systems in close partnership with the CFO
- Assess and evolve HR systems and infrastructure (HRIS, performance management, talent tools) to support a more complex organization
Leadership & Culture
- Design and launch a leadership development strategy, with particular interest in best-in-class approaches such as those developed by the Center for Creative Leadership
- Build leadership capability in an organization where many senior leaders have grown into leadership roles entirely within
- Strengthen and articulate a cohesive culture across geographies, balancing consistency with local nuance
Global, White-Glove People Experience
- Build a highly responsive, accurate, and white-glove people function
- Ensure leaders and employees experience HR as strategic, commercially grounded, and trusted
- Lead a global HR team with clarity, coaching, and accountability
What We’re Looking For
The successful candidate will bring:
- 15+ years of progressive HR experience, including senior executive leadership
- Demonstrated success partnering directly with CEOs and C-suite leaders
- Strong business and financial acumen in a global environment
- Proven ability to initiate, lead, and sustain change
- Executive presence and confidence to influence experienced, high-performing leaders
- Experience evolving HR from strong execution to enterprise-level impact
- A leadership style that balances decisiveness, empathy, and sound judgment
- Experience in global, regulated, capital-intensive, or professional services environments is strongly preferred
Location & Travel
- San Francisco–based (hybrid)
- Quarterly travel to international offices, including Dublin and Singapore
If you are a senior HR leader who thrives in complex environments, brings true executive presence, and is energized by building what comes next—not just maintaining what exists—this role offers a rare opportunity to shape the future of a global organization.
Annual Compensation: $225k - $290K, plus bonus