Job description

ABOUT DISTYL AI Distyl is an applied AI technology company partnering with the world’s most ambitious institutions to rearchitect critical operations for the frontier of AI. Our customers include the largest companies in telecom, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, consumer goods, and global social organizations. We research and deploy technologies that power AI-native operations — both for our partners and for Distyl itself. Our work spans research into self-constructing systems, the development of the most reliable execution of AI systems, and products that transform mission-critical workflows. As a result, Distyl's technologies affect some of the world's largest operations — from hundreds of millions of consumer interactions to tens of millions of supply chain transactions and millions of patient journeys. Distyl is backed by leading investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Coatue, DST Global, and the board-members of 20+ F500s. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR You will be Distyl's first HR Business Partner reporting directly to the Head of People. You will help define what business partnering looks like here, and get to build out our core capabilities in this function. Your client group includes engineers, researchers, AI strategists, growth, and the leaders who run those teams. Most of the people you support build and ship technical systems for a living so having a passion for technology and its possibilities is critical. A typical day might be to coach people through the moments that matter, diagnosing organizational issues and building solutions to them, researching compensation on a novel role, or facilitating a manager skill building session. This is a true opportunity to put your fingerprints on how we scale our People function. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Partner with managers and leaders: Be the first call for managers across the company on team performance, structure, hiring plans, and the conversations they are putting off. You will listen, offer coaching, back it with evidence, and help the business move forward with your guidance - Coach: Coach managers and ICs through growth, feedback, and transitions. Make the people who lead teams here measurably better at it, and our teams stronger as a result - Apply frameworks inside teams: Help to define evidence backed frameworks that allow Distyl to scale and that our systems are designed fairly and thoughtfully - Advise on compensation: Be fluent in our bands and philosophy so you can guide managers on offers, promotions, and merit decisions - Lead team-level org design and change: When a team restructures, a leader changes, or scope shifts, you run the change: the design, the sequencing, the comms, and the follow-through - Read the system: Use engagement data, attrition signals, and what you hear in 1:1s to tell the leadership team what is actually happening in the org before it shows up as a problem - Work AI-native: Use AI tools daily in your own work, from documentation to analysis to prep and create repeatable systems with it WHO YOU ARE - At least 5 to 8 years in HR with a background in business partnering: You have been an embedded partner to a leadership team, coached employees and managers through difficult moments, and navigated complex employee relations issues and organizational changes with sound judgment and discretion - Direct, kind, low ego: You give feedback thoughtfully, care about your work and others around you, and focus more on outcomes than credit - Tech or AI background, strongly preferred: You have supported engineers, researchers, or technical leaders at a technology company and earned their trust. You understand how technical teams work, what they respect, and what makes them tune out. Experience inside an AI or applied-AI company is a plus - Coaching that holds up: You coach managers rather than solve their problems for them, and you can point to leaders who improved because of you - Comp literacy: You can read a band, explain a leveling decision, and hold the line on an off-cycle request and when an exception might be warranted - Org design and change management in practice: You have run at least one team-level restructure or leader transition from design through comms and follow-through. You know the difference between an org chart and an org - Systems thinker: You understand the system before you design the intervention. You separate symptoms from causes and resist the quick fix - Builder's instinct: You have operated without a playbook and then written one. You are comfortable being first. Experience in a high growth startup environment is preferred WHAT WE OFFER - The base salary range for this role is $180,000-$220,000, depending on experience, location, and level. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for meaningful equity, along with a comprehensive benefits package - 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents - Flexible time off - Retirement and financial planning benefits, including access to pre-tax HSA, FSA, and commuter accounts, 401(k), and financial coaching resources - Comprehensive wellness benefits, including physical fitness, mental well-being, and fertility and family-building benefits through Carrot - Complimentary in-office lunches and snacks provided - Access to state-of-the-art AI models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and real-world business problems - Ownership of high-impact projects across top enterprises - A mission-driven, fast-moving culture that values curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence Distyl has offices in San Francisco and New York. This role follows a hybrid collaboration model with 3+ days per week (Tuesday–Thursday) in‑office. #LI-Hybrid We believe diverse perspectives make our work stronger and more impactful. We are an equal opportunity employer and evaluate all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

Requirements

Must-haves

You will be Distyl's first HR Business Partner reporting directly to the Head of People. You will help define what business partnering looks like here, and get to build out our core capabilities in this function.
Coach: Coach managers and ICs through growth, feedback, and transitions. Make the people who lead teams here measurably better at it, and our teams stronger as a result
Apply frameworks inside teams: Help to define evidence backed frameworks that allow Distyl to scale and that our systems are designed fairly and thoughtfully
Advise on compensation: Be fluent in our bands and philosophy so you can guide managers on offers, promotions, and merit decisions
Lead team-level org design and change: When a team restructures, a leader changes, or scope shifts, you run the change: the design, the sequencing, the comms, and the follow-through
Read the system: Use engagement data, attrition signals, and what you hear in 1:1s to tell the leadership team what is actually happening in the org before it shows up as a problem
Work AI-native: Use AI tools daily in your own work, from documentation to analysis to prep and create repeatable systems with it
Direct, kind, low ego: You give feedback thoughtfully, care about your work and others around you, and focus more on outcomes than credit
Coaching that holds up: You coach managers rather than solve their problems for them, and you can point to leaders who improved because of you
Comp literacy: You can read a band, explain a leveling decision, and hold the line on an off-cycle request and when an exception might be warranted
Org design and change management in practice: You have run at least one team-level restructure or leader transition from design through comms and follow-through. You know the difference between an org chart and an org
Systems thinker: You understand the system before you design the intervention. You separate symptoms from causes and resist the quick fix

Nice-to-haves

Builder's instinct: You have operated without a playbook and then written one. You are comfortable being first. Experience in a high growth startup environment is preferred

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

Platform: ashby
Effort: quick

Benefits

Benefits detected in the listing.

Dental

Vision

401(K)

Pto

Wellness