Head of People

about 1 month ago
Full time role
Hybrid · Remote · Brisbane, CA, US... more

About Us 

All across the world, from the azure pools of Turkey and Oman to the travertine terraces of Yellowstone, our planet quietly pulls carbon dioxide from the air and turns it to stone. For eons, Earth has relied on this process to balance its carbon cycle. What if it could be harnessed? What if we could do it faster, in larger quantities, and at a low enough cost to make it an effective tool in the fight against climate change? 

At Heirloom, we are turning that into reality. We use the natural carbon capture properties of abundant minerals to pull CO2 from the air, and store it permanently underground. We come to work every day to slow climate change, and are united behind a single, common goal - to remove 1 billion tons of CO2 from the sky by 2035, and to not stop before we get there.  

We bring together the precise recipe of science, technology, know-how, and strategy necessary to make low cost, high quality carbon removal a reality. If we’re successful, we will directly mitigate climate change, build a world we can proudly hand over to our children and grandchildren, and catalyze an industry that will rival the largest the world has ever seen. If you want to change the planet, come join us. 

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

As temperatures continue to rise, individuals from marginalized communities will face the harshest impacts of climate change.  We believe wholeheartedly that building a diverse company is critical to Heirloom’s success.  To accomplish this, we’ve put recruiting, hiring and retaining individuals from underrepresented groups at the top of our priority list. 

We encourage you to apply if you identify as Black, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Hispanic or Latino, LGBTQ+ – or with any other underrepresented group – even if you don’t tick all the boxes in the description below. 

Reversing catastrophic climate change is literally the most important mission humanity has ever embarked upon. As a leader in the Climate Tech space, Heirloom is undertaking truly do or die work. If you are an experienced and passionate HR/People Leader looking for the role of a lifetime, you should check us out.

There is simply nothing like an existential challenge to get you out of bed in the morning!

About the Role

As our first senior people leader, you will have the chance for huge impact, as you get to shape the people experience and culture of a company doing work that will literally change the world. 


We move incredibly fast and we will look to you to build a culture that prides itself on evolving structure smoothly without missing a beat on execution and morale. You’ll bring an analytical approach to building our People organization, instilling operational rigor to our workforce strategy, and ensuring that our organizational design allows for clarity, efficiency, and collaboration. Other priorities include designing and driving transparent performance management processes and outcomes that align with our culture and creating a Learning and Development program that provides support for our growing managers and professional growth and development opportunities to everyone at Heirloom. 

The paragraph above represents what we see as the top priorities - just a small subset of the long, varied, and challenging (in a good way!) list of projects for you to dive into. No matter what you’re focusing on, you will be the calm mind to manage the chaos of a lean and incredibly fast moving organization doing something completely novel.

What you will bring

Above all, you are mission-driven and feeling a strong call to join the climate fight. No doubt you have had the top people job at least once in a high growth startup and are very comfortable in fast moving environments, where you’ve learned how to prioritize growth levers and initiatives to support scale.

A strong leader, with a hands-on style, you know when to delegate and when to get involved directly. Your proactive and empathetic communication style enables you to distill and share complex organizational efforts with clarity. And your robust mix of analytical skills, critical thinking, and creative problem solving have been instrumental in building data-driven people programs. 

Your exceptional character, values, and integrity allow you to quickly build rapport, trust, and meaningful relationships. You are well aligned with our principles (below) and are passionate about growing our culture.

Our Principles

Radical Honesty means we are open, transparent, and inclusive in everything we do. We aren't scared to challenge each other, but bring clear motives and our best intentions when we do.

Persistent Optimism means we carry an infinite amount of optimistic energy with us on our journey, constantly chipping away at what may seem insurmountable.

Maximize our learning rate means we're always in discovery mode.  Compounding knowledge is our key to victory - we continuously hone our crafts, seek the fastest paths to new learning, and are quick to absorb new knowledge.

Why you should join Heirloom

  • We are solving the engineering problem of our generation.  Climate change is an existential threat, and we need as many of the world’s motivated minds as possible to help. There is no greater challenge or opportunity than fighting climate change. 

  • We have done this before.  We’re engineers, scientists, and concerned humans from a variety of backgrounds and experiences who are pooling our knowledge and skills to collectively build a more equitable, prosperous future for all.

  • We are a united, resilient, and optimistic bunch.  We are all here for the same reason - to slow climate change. We recognize the magnitude of the challenge ahead of us, and believe we can solve it. We can see a hopeful future where we eventually reverse climate change. It won’t be easy, but we won’t quit.

  • We are backed by the best climate partners in the world.  We’re well funded by investors from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Ahren Innovation Capital, Carbon Direct, Microsoft, Lowercarbon Capital, ARPA-e and the National Science Foundation. Our early customers include Stripe, Shopify, and Klarna, and we’re building durable partnerships that enable us to tackle this decades-long problem.

Perks and Benefits

  • Robust health coverage.  Excellent health, dental and vision insurance covered up to 100% by Heirloom. FSA option.

  • Generous parental leave.  16 weeks paid leave for all Heirloom employees, regardless of primary/secondary caregiver status.

  • Generous stock options.

  • Flexible time off.  Unlimited PTO for exempt (salaried) employees & 120 hours for full time non-exempt (hourly)  employees.

  • 401(k).

  • Stay healthy.  Monthly health and wellness reimbursement.

  • Learn on the job.  Robust annual education and conference budget, including airfare and hotel costs.