Head of People

About Usul

Usul is building the "Amazon for Government", a world where any company can sell to any government in a few clicks on their computer. Anything from national security tech, space stations, energy infrastructure, healthcare and more.

Our AI platform helps companies identify, pursue, and win the government opportunities they're most likely to convert and makes it dramatically easier for governments to buy from the private sector.

In 1 year we've grown to $5M+ ARR securing Fortune 500 government contractors, the U.S. government and NATO as customers. We're now entering the next phase of growth to capture the entire U.S. market and expand to over 60+ allied nations.

About the role

We're building a small, elite team with high standards and low ego. We care about doing whatever it takes, getting better at the craft every week, and being genuinely fun to work with. We're the youngest team in our world by far. We're in our 20s running around defense conferences in Usul t-shirts, surrounded by 40 to 60 year olds in suits and military uniforms. People see us as the ambitious AI builders bringing real Silicon Valley energy and modern technology to one of the most traditional industries on earth.

As our Head of People you will be the architect of the team that takes Usul to IPO. You'll build the systems, culture, and hiring machines that ensure we always have the right people in the right seats as we scale globally.

What you will be doing:

• Own the full talent lifecycle end-to-end: sourcing, pipeline building, interviewing, offers, and closing exceptional candidates across technical and non-technical roles

• Build and run Usul's recruiting infrastructure from the ground up: ATS, sourcing workflows, candidate tracking, and interview process design that lets us move fast without dropping standards

• Partner directly with founders and hiring managers to deeply understand each role, then go find the people who can actually do the job, not just the ones who look good on paper

• Design and run a structured, high-signal interview process across the company so every hire is intentional and every candidate gets a great experience

• Own employee onboarding and ops: from day one logistics to 90-day ramp plans that get people up to speed and bought in fast

• Build out the HR foundation: comp frameworks, performance review cadences, benefits, policies, and the compliance backbone that lets a fast-moving startup operate cleanly

• Be the cultural connective tissue: the person who keeps the team tight, surfaces problems early, and makes Usul a place people are proud to work and excited to recruit their friends to

• Vibe-code internal tools and automations to eliminate manual recruiting and HR work so you can focus on what actually moves the needle

What we're looking for:

• 3-5 years in recruiting, people ops, or HR at an early-stage startup: you've built from scratch, not just maintained what was already there

• Hands-on sourcer who has personally found and closed hard-to-hire candidates: you've done the work yourself, not just managed an agency

• Strong instincts for culture fit and high-performance hiring without sacrificing speed

• Operator mentality: you build systems, templates, and processes so the machine runs even when you're not watching

• Comfortable building HR and people ops infrastructure from policy to payroll without a team underneath you yet

• High EQ and genuinely great with people: candidates and employees alike trust you and want to talk to you

• Bias to action, thrives in ambiguity, and genuinely excited about national security and defense tech

About the interview

1. Intro Call (15 min)

2. Founder Culture Call (15-30 min), in person if you're in SF!

3. People & Recruiting Technical (45 min)

4. 2-3 day Work Trial

5. Offer!