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Job description
Vice President, People & Talent
Build Armada’s global People function to scale for IPO-readiness and hypergrowth
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Compensation: $220,300 - 300,000 USD / year
About The Role
Vice President, People & Talent
Bellevue Office, Sunset Corporate Campus
Armada is the hyperscaler for the edge, delivering modular AI infrastructure from first deployment to AI factory with speed, scale and sovereignty. Named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies and to the CNBC Disruptor 50, Armada's solutions are deployed in over 60 countries globally for organizations ranging from energy to defense.
With nearly $500 million in funding to date, Armada is backed by leading investors including Founders Fund, Lux, BlackRock and Microsoft (M12), alongside strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Dell, Palantir, NVIDIA, SpaceX, and Skydio. We are building the infrastructure layer for sovereign and edge AI - rugged, deployable compute for customers that cannot rely on centralized cloud.
Working at Armada means taking ownership, driving autonomy, and delivering impact. You'll tackle challenges that haven't been solved before and help build something transformative from the ground up. What you do here will not only define your career but help further Armada's mission to bridge the digital divide for customers around the world.
About the Role
Armada is hiring a Vice President, People and Talent to own the full People stack and build the infrastructure a globally distributed company needs to scale. This is end-to-end ownership: Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations, and Compliance, with real depth expected in global mobility, entity and employer-of-record management, and compensation design.
Roughly two thirds of the role is that operating stack. The remaining third is employee experience and culture: workspace and physical environment strategy, onboarding, and building learning and development programming from the ground up.
This is not an execution-only seat. Our executive team expects the People function to carry a point of view on how talent decisions drive the business, and to bring that perspective into leadership conversations rather than waiting to be handed requirements. You will define the strategy and own the execution.
You are building, not inheriting. Programs, policies, systems, and team headcount are yours to stand up.
What You Will Own
Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning
Own global recruiting strategy across technical and non-technical functions, and stay close enough to the work to personally run a critical search if needed
Implement structured hiring processes that raise talent density and hold hiring managers accountable
Move time-to-hire and quality-of-hire against defined baselines
Partner with Finance to align headcount planning, workforce modeling, and geographic expansion with budget forecasting
Total Rewards and Compensation
Own compensation philosophy and band architecture, mapped to Armada levels and defensible against a named benchmarking source
Own equity strategy at the pre-IPO stage: new hire grants, refresh and evergreen programs, 409A cadence, and the exception process
Run the annual compensation and merit cycle in partnership with Finance, including geographic differentials across owned entities and employer-of-record markets
Design and manage global benefits programs and renewals, balancing cost, competitiveness, and local requirements
Prepare executive compensation recommendations and materials for the CEO, the Board compensation committee, and Finance
People Operations, Compliance, and Systems
Design and scale a People Operations framework that holds global consistency while allowing for local nuance
Own the compliance posture across every operating jurisdiction, partnering with Legal on employment law, immigration, and risk mitigation
Oversee payroll operations, vendor management, audit readiness, documentation standards, and internal controls
Own the People technology stack (HRIS, ATS, payroll, performance, analytics) and the data governance that makes workforce reporting trustworthy
International Expansion, Entities, and Mobility
Own entity strategy: decide where Armada uses an employer of record and where it stands up a local entity, and run the conversion when the answer changes
Manage employment, labor compliance, and employee relations across international jurisdictions
Own global mobility, relocation, and immigration programs in partnership with Legal
Employee Experience, Workspaces, and Culture
Define workspace and physical environment strategy across offices, remote environments, and field deployments
Own onboarding end to end, so a new hire in any location starts productive and stays connected
Partner with Finance and Operations on real estate strategy, cost management, and vendor selection
Set standards for workplace experience, safety, and compliance across all locations
Learning, Development, and Manager Capability
Build learning and development programming from the ground up, starting with what the business needs most rather than a catalog
Partner with the executive team on organizational design, leveling frameworks, and job architecture
Implement performance management that gives managers a clear, usable standard rather than a process to survive
Build manager capability through explicit leadership expectations, development, and coaching
What You Will Bring
Proven experience running the full People stack end to end: Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, People Operations, and Workspaces
Expertise in global mobility, employer-of-record versus entity management, and compensation design
Built and scaled a People function through high growth, in the range of 250 to 1,000+ employees, standing up programs, policies, and team headcount from scratch rather than inheriting an established function
Took a company through IPO or another exit, and can articulate how that outcome shaped your compensation philosophy
Managed entity setup and employee management across international jurisdictions
Experience with workspace and physical environment strategy, onboarding, and building learning and development programming
A track record of staying through the build: you have carried companies across multiple phases of growth to an outcome rather than moving on at each inflection point
Operates as a business partner to the executive team, with a clear point of view on what the People function is for and the judgment to bring it forward unprompted
Nice to Have
Experience supporting a federal-facing entity, including hiring, badging, and the compliance requirements specific to a cleared workforce
Hands-on Middle East experience: employer-of-record arrangements versus local entity setup, and managing employees across the UAE, KSA, and Bahrain labor and compliance landscapes
Compensation & Benefits
For U.S. Based candidates: To ensure fairness and transparency, the starting base salary range for this role for candidates in the U.S. are listed, varying based on location experience, skills, and qualifications. In addition to base salary, this role will also be offered equity and subsidized benefits (details available upon request).
Final compensation will be determined by experience, scope, and level, and may vary from the posted range.
Benefits
Competitive base salary and equity
Medical, dental, and vision (subsidized cost)
Health savings accounts (HSA), flexible spending accounts (FSA), and dependent care FSAs (DCFSA)
Retirement plan options, including 401(k) and Roth 401(k)
Unlimited paid time off (PTO)
14 paid company holidays per year
You're a Great Fit if You're
A go-getter with a growth mindset. You're intellectually curious, have strong business acumen, and actively seek opportunities to build relevant skills and knowledge
A detail-oriented problem-solver. You can independently gather information, solve problems efficiently, and deliver results with a 'get-it-done' attitude
Thrive in a fast-paced environment. You're energized by an entrepreneurial spirit, capable of working quickly, and excited to contribute to a growing company
A collaborative team player. You focus on business success and are motivated by team accomplishment vs personal agenda
Highly organized and results-driven. Strong prioritization skills and a dedicated work ethic are essential for you
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Who can apply
Review the original listing for work authorization, qualifications and employer requirements.