People Operations Lead

Hey, we’re team Granola 👋 We’re building an AI notepad that helps teams get to the point faster. We’ve grown from a handful of people to 60 in under a year, we’ve just opened our first US office in San Francisco, and we’re not slowing down. We’re looking for a People Ops Lead to be our first dedicated people hire. You’ll own everything from how we onboard new joiners to how we help people grow and do the best work of their careers. This is a function that doesn’t exist yet at Granola, currently owned by ops, you’ll be improving it at a company that moves fast, ships constantly, and cares deeply about the quality of the team.

We believe in working in person. We don’t do process for process’s sake. If something adds friction without adding value, we cut it. The person we’re looking for understands that instinctively, and knows how to build infrastructure that feels invisible to the people using it.

What you’ll do:

• Own people operations end to end - contracts, visas, payroll, HR systems, onboarding, benefits, compliance, engagement, and everything in between.
• Design simple, scalable processes that work for a 60-person company today and a 120-person company tomorrow - across London and San Francisco.
• Build and automate the operational backbone so the right things happen at the right time without anyone having to chase them.
• Create an onboarding experience that gets every new joiner - in London or SF - productive, confident and connected from day one.
• Build systems that help people do great work - feedback loops, career growth, manager support and the rituals that make teams strong.
• Partner closely with founders and managers to make good decisions quickly on hiring, pay, team structure and the hard conversations that come with scaling.
• Use data and good judgment to spot problems early and continuously improve how Granola hires, supports and grows its team.
• Support the team with the broader operational needs that come up in a fast-growing company - stepping in wherever needed to help Granola run smoothly.

Your background looks something like:

• You have 6-10 years of experience in people ops, CIPD qualification a plus.
• You’ve worked in a fast-growing startup or scaleup environment and understand how companies change as they grow.
• You have built or scaled people processes before - hiring systems, onboarding, performance cycles or people programs.
• You are an operator first. You are comfortable doing the admin, writing the contract, setting up the tool, and sending the comms - not just designing the strategy.
• You know how to use automation and tooling to make processes run without constant manual effort - and you name the tools, not just the concept.
• You have managed the full people ops stack: onboarding, performance, compensation, benefits, compliance, employee relations.
• You have experience operating across multiple geographies - UK and US experience is a strong plus.
• You have worked closely with founders and senior leadership and know how to get decisions made, not just discussed.
• You understand what great startup cultures look like and how to help them scale without becoming corporate.

As a person, you…

• Are a builder, not a maintainer. You are energised by zero to one work and figuring out the playbook as you go.
• Take full ownership. If something isn’t working, you fix it - you don’t wait to be asked.
• Have strong judgment about when to add process and when to stay out of the way.
• Are pragmatic about data - you track the right things, use them to improve, and don’t measure for the sake of measuring.
• Are warm and direct. You can have hard conversations with care and clarity.
• Are excited about AI-native products and curious about how AI tools can make your work faster and better.
• Genuinely believe Granola is building something special - and want to be part of it.

Compensation: Our compensation philosophy is to hire the best people in the market and pay them accordingly with salary, variable, and equity. Lastly, we think amazing talent comes from all kinds of life journeys and experiences.