People Lead

Wand • New York, NY

5d • Remote

About The Position

Wand makes gaming magical. Through game customization and guidance, we build tools that helps players have more fun in their favorite games.
Our platform works across thousands of PC games, ensuring that great games are accessible to everyone, regardless of time constraints, skill level, or accessibility needs. We want to build the future of game assistance, and we're hoping you'll join us.
Role Overview
We're looking for an experienced People Lead to own the full people function at Wand. This is a senior, strategic hire who will shape how we build culture, develop our team, and scale the organization as we grow. You're not here to run HR administration. You're here to make Wand a place people are proud to work, perform their best, and want to stay.
You'll own everything from full-cycle recruiting across all roles globally, to benefits administration, performance management, people development, and organizational design. The operational execution is supported by a People / Recruiting Operations Administrator who handles day-to-day admin, system access, and scheduling. Your job is to set the strategy, build the systems, define the culture, and make the calls that matter.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in People Operations, HR, or Talent Acquisition, with at least some time in a senior or lead capacity
• Experience managing or mentoring at least one direct report — you know how to delegate, develop, and hold people accountable
• Proven experience owning full-cycle recruitment across multiple role types and levels — not just coordinating, but building and running the process end-to-end
• Experience hiring across different employment structures: US full-time employees, global contractors, and offshore teams
• Hands-on experience for payroll and employee management
• Hands-on benefits administration experience — you understand what benefits programs look like across different geographies and employment types, and know how to manage vendors, renewals, and employee communications
• Experience with invoice processing and supporting tax-related documentation, filing prep, and coordination with external accountants
• Strong understanding of HR operations fundamentals — employment contracts, compliance, payroll coordination, and employee lifecycle management
• Experience with people development: giving feedback, building frameworks, coaching managers
• Genuine interest in organizational design and building scalable people infrastructure
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple workstreams simultaneously
• High degree of discretion — you will handle confidential compensation, benefits, tax, and personal data
• Self-starter who takes ownership without waiting to be told what to do

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in a fast-growing tech startup or with distributed/remote-first teams
• Familiarity with tools like Gusto, Deel, Applicant Tracking Systems such as Ashby, Linear, Slack, and Google Workspace
• Background in gaming, gaming culture, or tech-adjacent industries
• Experience designing L&D programs or career frameworks from scratch
• Track record of running employee engagement programs with measurable impact
• Experience managing benefits and compliance across US and international geographies simultaneously

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end recruitment for all Wand roles globally—US-based corporate hires (marketing, product, engineering, operations) and offshore contractor roles alike
• Serve as the primary talent gatekeeper across all hiring: conduct initial screens to assess qualifications, cultural fit, and alignment with Wand's values before passing candidates to hiring managers
• Partner closely with hiring managers to understand role requirements, write job descriptions, and build evaluation criteria
• Manage all candidate experience in Ashby—keeping pipelines clean, feedback documented, and communication timely
• Build and maintain talent pipelines for both immediate and future hiring needs
• Track and report on recruitment metrics: time-to-hire, offer acceptance rates, pipeline health, and sourcing channel effectiveness
• Continuously improve how we source, evaluate, and close candidates—including building out a referral program and external sourcing strategies
• Manage and develop one direct report — a People Operations Administrator who handles day-to-day HR admin execution across onboarding, offboarding, system access, and scheduling
• Set clear priorities and delegate effectively, ensuring the team stays unblocked and work gets done to a high standard without your direct involvement in every task
• Coach and develop your direct report, helping them grow in their role and take on increasing ownership over time
• Build a collaborative working relationship that allows you to focus on strategy and judgment calls while they focus on execution
• Own the full employee lifecycle for all team members — you set the process and standards; your direct report handles day-to-day execution
• Oversee US full-time employee operations in Gusto, including payroll, benefits enrollment, tax compliance, and system maintenance
• Oversee international contractor operations in Deel, including contract creation, payment processing, and compliance documentation
• Own invoice review and approval for contractors and vendors; ensure accurate payment and proper documentation
• Lead tax filing coordination — maintain and organize tax-related documentation, work with external accountants and tax advisors, and ensure records are accurate and ready for filing
• Oversee company mail management, including routing, scanning, and actioning physical correspondence
• Ensure employee records, compensation tracking, and access rights logs are kept accurate and up to date
• Oversee the employee referral program and Google Groups / system access management
• Coordinate incentive and bonus payments in collaboration with leadership
• Ensure compliance with applicable labor laws and contractor requirements across all geographies
• Serve as the primary HR point of contact for all team members globally
• Own and manage benefits programs across all employment types—US full-time employees, global contractors, and offshore team members
• Develop a deep understanding of the current benefits landscape for each employee type and geography, and proactively identify gaps or improvements
• Evaluate, negotiate, and manage relationships with benefits providers and vendors
• Ensure all team members clearly understand their benefits and how to use them; create accessible resources and documentation
• Stay current on benefits trends and market benchmarks to keep Wand competitive in attracting and retaining talent
• Manage benefits renewals, open enrollment processes, and ongoing administration
• Own performance management across the company — build the framework, run the cycles, and ensure managers are having the right conversations with their teams
• Partner with leadership to define what good performance looks like at each level, and build the tools to measure and communicate it consistently
• Build and run a structured feedback process that helps people grow — not just annual reviews, but ongoing development conversations
• Identify skill gaps and training needs across teams; develop or source learning resources to close them
• Create clear career pathways and growth frameworks so team members understand how they can develop within Wand
• Coach managers and team leads on how to give effective feedback, handle underperformance, and develop their people
• Support high performers in identifying stretch opportunities and building toward more senior contributions
• Partner with leadership on org design as the team scales—thinking about structure, spans of control, and how to organize for execution
• Maintain and evolve SOPs, onboarding documentation, and guidelines across all domains (QA, Maps, Support, Content) so they stay current and useful
• Identify organizational bottlenecks and work cross-functionally to resolve them before they slow us down
• Build the internal infrastructure (processes, tools, documentation) that allows Wand to scale its team without losing quality or culture
• Drive workforce planning conversations: help leadership think ahead about headcount, roles, and timing
• Own Wand's culture — define what it means in practice, embed it into how we hire, onboard, develop, and recognize people
• Design and run engagement initiatives that make the whole team feel connected to Wand's mission, whether they're in the US or the Philippines
• Plan and execute the annual team offsite, including logistics, agenda design, and all-hands preparation
• Monitor team sentiment across the org and proactively surface issues or themes that need leadership attention before they become problems
• Ensure the offshore team feels as connected to Wand's culture and direction as anyone on the US team

Benefits

• Competitive compensation
• Fully remote work arrangement
• Opportunity to build the people function at a fast-growing, product-led gaming company
• A team of people who genuinely love games and care about the work they do

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed