Director of People Operations & Global Talent

Full-Time IC • Remote • Reports to a Partner

Location: Remote

Hours: Full overlap with U.S. business hours (Eastern/Central). Enterprise-grade internet with verified backup power and connectivity required.

Engagement: Full-time independent contractor. Termination-for-convenience with 30-day notice. Annual performance bonus (paid Q4) tied to scorecard outcomes; health insurance and internet stipends included.

Compensation: Commensurate with location and depth of U.S.-client HR compliance experience.

About the Company

We are a rapidly growing U.S.-based private equity firm operating on a permanent-equity model in the lower middle market. Rather than acquiring businesses to resell them quickly, we buy profitable, founder-owned companies and partner with their teams to grow them for the long term. We consider ourselves an operating company first and an investment company second.

Our portfolio spans six to eight established businesses across skilled-trades and service industries and continues to grow through new acquisitions. People and culture sit at the center of how we build long-term value, and we run on a disciplined operating system with clear goals, scorecards, and weekly accountability.

About the Role

As our portfolio has grown, HR has been handled through a mix of the partners' time and an outside fractional HR firm. This role exists to bring that function fully in-house and build it properly: one leader who owns HR and compliance across the firm and its portfolio companies, and who builds the offshore hiring engine that lets us recruit world-class global talent at a structural cost advantage.

This is a build-from-the-ground-up leadership role and the Partner's right hand on all things people. You will start hands-on and own the function outright, standing up the systems, policies, and hiring processes that do not yet exist. Over time you will hire and lead a team spanning talent acquisition, HR administration, and culture. This role is for someone who has genuinely done U.S.-client HR compliance work — not someone who could learn it.

What Success Looks Like (First 90 Days)

By Day 45 — an approved offshore employment infrastructure recommendation (contractor vs. EOR vs. future local entity), with a standard contractor agreement template and a classification review of existing offshore staff.
By Day 60 — a signed offshore finance/accounting hire, sourced against an approved scorecard and Culture Index threshold.
By Day 90 — the external fractional HR firm transitioned out, with HR coordination brought in-house and a documented escalation playbook in place (working alongside outside counsel and ADP); plus a published offshore talent playbook (salary benchmarks by function and market, sourcing channels, screening process, retention framework).

Key Responsibilities

U.S. HR Compliance Coordination

Coordinate U.S. HR compliance across the firm and its portfolio companies, working alongside outside employment counsel and the firm's PEO (ADP) — taking over the coordinating role currently held by an external fractional HR provider.
Own HR administration and policy: handbooks, SOPs, onboarding and offboarding, and day-to-day HR matters across entities.
Maintain a written escalation playbook and know when to route matters to employment counsel (e.g., protected-class terminations, FMLA/ADA interactions, classification changes, harassment or retaliation matters).
Partner with ADP on payroll execution and with counsel on legal matters, owning the workflow and follow-through without being the legal or payroll owner.

Offshore Talent Acquisition & Hiring Engine

Build and run the offshore hiring engine across finance, operations, and administrative functions.
Own full-cycle recruiting: sourcing, screening, and closing professional-role candidates in offshore markets.
Develop a salary benchmark database and sourcing channel map by function and market.
Adapt a structured, who-based screening process for remote offshore candidates, including U.S.-hours viability and infrastructure verification.

HR Operations, Systems & People Programs

Build and maintain employee handbooks, HR policies, and standard operating procedures for disciplinary action, onboarding, and offboarding across all entities.
Design a retention and benefits framework suited to the firm's contractor model (performance bonuses, stipends, local holiday norms).
Own and expand professional development, personal development, and culture-building programs across the portfolio.
Serve as HR partner to leadership at each portfolio company and support HR integration for newly acquired businesses.

Required Qualifications

Strong U.S.-client HR experience (required). Multiple years supporting U.S. employers at a BPO, Employer of Record, or offshore HR services firm, with real exposure to U.S. compliance matters (payroll, classification, leave, handbooks, terminations). Domestic-only HR experience is not a fit.
Compliance judgment. Understands U.S. HR compliance well enough to coordinate counsel and ADP and to escalate early — recognizes a risky situation before it becomes a claim, and knows what they don't know.
Compliance judgment. Recognizes a risky situation before it becomes a claim and escalates early — knows what they don't know.
Full-cycle offshore recruiting. Has personally sourced, screened, and closed professional-role candidates, and knows real salary bands, counteroffer dynamics, and which employers to recruit from by function.
Near-native English. Written and spoken English on par with a U.S.-born professional — this person drafts policy and speaks with portfolio leaders daily.
Process builder. Documents systems others can run; comfortable operating inside a goals-and-scorecards accountability rhythm.
Data-driven. Backs recommendations with benchmarks and metrics, and can explain the how behind each one.
AI-fluent. Actively uses AI tools in daily work (screening, drafting, research) with specific examples to show.
U.S.-hours ready. Committed to U.S. business hours with fiber internet plus verified backup power and connectivity.

Preferred Qualifications

SHRM-SCP or SHRM-CP certification (or clear readiness to certify).
Experience operating inside EOS or a similar operating system (rocks, scorecards, weekly accountability).
Working knowledge of EOR platforms (Deel, Remote, Multiplier) and offshore classification frameworks.
Background supporting a private equity firm, holding company, or multi-entity organization.

Ideal Candidate Profile

You are:

An owner — you take responsibility for outcomes and move fast without hand-holding.
Rigorous where it counts — you never cut corners on compliance, the one function where a shortcut becomes a lawsuit.
A builder energized by open space rather than intimidated by it.
Credible with executives and decent with everyone — candidates, employees, and vendors are the front door of the employer brand.
Direct and respectful — you raise conflict early and operate with autonomy inside clear goals.
Trustworthy with confidential and sensitive matters, and you do the right thing when no one is watching.

Why Join Us

A rare ground-floor leadership role: build the entire people and talent function, not just fill a seat.
Direct partnership with firm leadership and genuine ownership of how HR takes shape.
A long-term role with a stable, growing organization and clear room to build and lead your own team.

Director of People Operations & Global Talent - 21319