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AI Infrastructure, Model Serving

People Lead

Palo Alto, CAOnsiteFull TimeLead$200,000–$380,000 /yrPosted 1 month ago

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Required skills

  • HR
  • payroll
  • benefits
  • insurance
  • HRIS
  • Rippling
  • onboarding
  • offboarding
  • employee records
  • company insurance

Nice to have

  • equity management
  • Carta
  • IT training
  • IT background
  • logistics

Role summary

River AI is seeking its first People Lead to establish and manage the company's HR, payroll, benefits, insurance, and operations functions. This role will significantly shape the employee experience, from onboarding to the overall work environment, leveraging AI for operational efficiency. The ideal candidate has 7+ years of HR/People Operations experience at a startup or scale-up, proficiency with HR platforms like Rippling, and a practical, hands-on approach to problem-solving. Experience with equity management, IT, and logistics is preferred. The position requires full-time on-site work in Palo Alto, California.

People Lead

About the role

We are hiring River AI’s first People Lead to own the human resources function and the related systems that keep the company running: HR, payroll, benefits, insurance, and operations. You'll set them up, run them day to day, and keep improving them as we grow.

The role has unusual reach. You will shape nearly everyone's experience here, from a new hire's first day to the environment every employee works in, and you will be trusted with the judgment calls that come with that.

We are a team that is genuinely interested in working smarter. You will have real room to deploy AI to take the repetitive or tedious parts of operations off your plate, so your time goes to meaningful work.

Who we are

At River AI, our mission is to create personal AI owned and shaped by each individual. To achieve this, we are building the full stack required for people and organizations to create AI models of their own—from training infrastructure and open-weight model post-training to personal hardware and next-generation interfaces.

We are scientists, engineers, and builders from the industry’s leading technology companies and AI labs. Our team has experience scaling consumer products to hundreds of millions of users and building the infrastructure behind frontier AI systems.

What you'll do

  • Own HR operations end-to-end: HRIS administration (Rippling), onboarding and offboarding, benefits administration, and employee records.
  • Run payroll operations end-to-end, including benefits–payroll integration; review benefits charges and invoices for accuracy.
  • Own company insurance and benefits programs — health, wellness, and business — sourcing providers and comparing quotes as needs change.
  • Coordinate closely with Legal and IT on compliance activities.
  • Engage and manage the implementation of EORs, contractors, and consultants.
  • Build employee training — including policies and norms for an AI-native workplace (acceptable use, data handling).
  • Handle sensitive employee matters and information with professionalism and sound judgment.
  • Own workspace and commercial real estate: lease administration and negotiations, workspace and equipment setup, utilities, physical security, and vendors for networking, deliveries, and the cafeteria program.
  • Support office events and team meetings.
  • Identify recurring problems, put better processes (and AI tooling) in place, and drive issues to resolution.

    • Skills & QualificationsMinimum Qualifications:

  • You have at least 7 years of experience in HR and have run HR/People operations at a startup or scale-up
  • You know HR platforms like Rippling (required).
  • You handle sensitive situations and information discreetly and build trust across the company.
  • You are genuinely enthusiastic about technology and AI, with a habit of finding tools that make work faster and better.
  • You communicate clearly in writing and in person.
  • You have strong organizational judgment: you can hold many small threads at once and know which one matters most right now.
  • You take a practical, hands-on approach to issues — comfortable troubleshooting on the spot and knowing when to call in a specialist.
  • You are fluent with modern software and AI tooling and are quick to evaluate and adopt new systems.
  • You are able to work full-time on-site to support a fast-growing start-up’s needs.

    • Preferred Qualifications: (We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of these)

  • Familiarity with equity management platforms (e.g. Carta).
  • IT training or background.

    • Logistics & Benefits

  • Location: Palo Alto, California (on-site, Monday-Friday)
  • Compensation: Depending on experience and skills, the expected base pay is $200,000–$380,000 USD per year, plus equity.
  • Benefits: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance; unlimited PTO.
    • Ready to apply?
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