Head of People & Talent

About Plateful Plateful is a fast-growing DTC kitchen brand building a premium portfolio of cookware and food storage products for customers across the US. We've grown to a team of 60+ people across multiple functions and are continuing to scale. As we enter our next stage of growth, we're looking for a Head of People & Talent who can help strengthen our people function across the organization. Why This Role As we scale from $100M toward $500M by 2029, systems matter more than heroics. This role will help build the people systems, processes, and structure that allow Plateful to scale without losing speed, accountability, or culture. Our recruiting infrastructure is already in place, including Workable and an established hiring process. The opportunity now is to refine, improve, and scale what we've built while expanding the role beyond recruiting into broader HR and people operations. You'll help us build the systems and processes that allow us to attract strong talent, make better hiring decisions, retain high performers, support managers, and build a strong company culture as we continue to grow. This is a hands-on role for someone who can identify what isn't working, improve it, and build better ways of working. The Role As Head of People & Talent, you'll own the full talent and people function across Plateful. You'll work closely with the CEO, department heads, and managers to ensure we hire the right people, support their development, measure performance, and create an environment where strong people can thrive. What You'll Own Talent Acquisition Own and continuously improve Plateful's full-cycle recruiting process across marketing, operations, technology, creative, sales, and other functions. Audit and refine our existing recruiting workflows, interview structures, scorecards, hiring manager briefings, and offer processes. Partner closely with hiring managers to define what great looks like for each role and maintain a high hiring bar. Own sourcing, screening, interviewing, coordination, and closing for key positions. Manage external recruiting partners and agencies when needed. Track hiring performance and continuously improve speed, quality, and candidate experience. Build and eventually manage a small internal recruiting team as hiring volume grows. HR & People Operations Establish and implement HR best practices across the organization. Develop systems that support member retention, engagement, and performance. Establish recurring manager and member check-ins to identify issues early and maintain strong communication. Partner with department heads to develop performance scorecards that provide clear visibility into individual and team performance. Help managers identify performance gaps, recognize strong performers, and address areas for improvement. Develop structured processes for performance reviews, career development, compensation reviews, and member feedback. Partner with managers to address people-related issues and support effective team management. Help create and maintain policies, processes, and documentation as the company continues to scale. Organize initiatives that strengthen team connection, including company events and offsites as the organization grows. Culture & People Development Help shape and protect Plateful's culture as the company grows. Develop strong instincts for identifying people who demonstrate ownership, accountability, and alignment with the company's values. Help managers build teams that are productive, engaged, and capable of operating independently. Create systems that help high performers grow while identifying areas where additional support or improvement is needed. Act as a trusted partner to leadership on people and organizational matters. AI & Process Improvement Be highly comfortable with AI and use AI tools to improve recruiting, HR, communication, documentation, analysis, and day-to-day productivity. Identify opportunities to automate repetitive processes and improve operational efficiency. Continuously evaluate and improve the systems supporting the people function. Bring a modern, AI-native approach to People & Talent. Who We're Looking For You're someone who genuinely enjoys building things. You understand that sustainable growth comes from strong systems, not individual heroics. You see a broken process and want to improve it. You see a great candidate and know how to recognize them. You care about whether people succeed after they are hired, not just whether the offer is signed. You're comfortable working directly with leadership, moving quickly, taking ownership, and figuring things out without needing to be told exactly what to do. Most importantly, you enjoy the challenge of building something great. You're energized by solving problems, improving systems, creating structure, and helping people perform at their best. What We're Looking For 3+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, preferably within a high-growth startup or fast-paced environment. Experience hiring across multiple functions, including marketing, operations, creative, sales, and technical roles. Experience supporting distributed or remote teams. Proven experience building or significantly improving recruiting and HR processes. Strong understanding of member retention, engagement, performance management, and people operations. Strong instinct for culture, ownership, and identifying high-performing talent. Highly proactive, resourceful, and comfortable taking ownership without constant direction. AI-native mindset: actively uses AI tools to improve the way you work and is comfortable finding new ways to leverage AI. Strong communication and interpersonal skills. Highly organized and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment. Comfortable working directly with founders, executives, and hiring managers. Willingness to be hands-on. This is not a role where you'll simply delegate the work to a large HR team. Ability to work CET/EET-aligned hours. Dubai-based candidates are ideal, but remote candidates will also be considered. What This Role Is Not Not a recruiting coordinator role. You will own outcomes, not simply schedule interviews. Not a traditional corporate HR role. We move quickly and expect our people function to move with us. Not a role where you'll simply operate existing processes. We need someone who can audit, improve, and build better systems. Not a highly layered management role. You'll remain hands-on and close to the work. Not limited to recruiting. Talent acquisition is a major component, but the role also owns broader HR, retention, culture, and people development. Base: Highly Competitive Salary / USD per month. Performance Bonus: Additional performance-based compensation tied to successful hiring and long-term retention of key hires. The specific bonus structure will be discussed during the interview process. The Opportunity This is an opportunity to play a meaningful role in shaping how Plateful grows from here. This is a full-time role , working closely with our CEO and department heads, with CET/EET-aligned hours . While Dubai is the ideal location , we are open to considering strong remote candidates who can work effectively within the required time zone. As we scale toward $500M by 2029 , the way we build and support our people will become increasingly important. We're looking for someone who wants to build more than a People function. Someone who can create the systems, processes, and culture that help great people perform, grow, and stay as the organization scales. You'll have the opportunity to work directly with leadership and make a meaningful impact on how we hire, develop, retain, and build the teams that will take Plateful to its next stage.