Senior People Partner, Manufacturing

The posting, as Panthalassa wrote it

About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

Our staff have worked at organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Tesla, Apple, Virgin Orbit, Astra, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, New Relic, Bridgewater, Raytheon, Disney Imagineering, and the US Army and Air Force, as well as research universities, startups, and small companies across a range of industries.

About the Job

Our core technology is the node, a device that produces energy in the ocean’s harshest conditions for years at a time without human maintenance or intervention. Building it takes a manufacturing organization growing quickly across three Portland-area worksites. That growth is why this role exists.

As our first People Partner, you will work closely with our Vice President of Manufacturing and leaders across Manufacturing Engineering, Production, and Supply Chain. This is a senior individual contributor role with substantial independence, supporting hourly employees, salaried employees, and contractors across three worksites. You will also help establish how this work is done at Panthalassa with the Vice President of Talent and People Operations.

You will help leaders make better decisions about their teams, build the organization we need, and work through difficult people issues with sound judgment. Your work will move between workforce planning, organizational design, manager coaching, and sensitive employee matters. You will need to learn how manufacturing works while keeping the broader company in view.

Our approach to this work starts with understanding the business and the people doing it. We earn influence through trust, credibility, and useful advice. We expect managers to lead their teams, and we help them get better at it. Policies and processes have a purpose, but they do not replace judgment.

We are looking for someone who is direct, approachable, and steady when things get messy, and who knows when an approach from a past company should be left behind. Someone who can challenge a leader without making it a contest, take a concern seriously without escalating the temperature, and bring a sense of humor without losing sight of the stakes.

Candidates should have strong interpersonal skills and be able to thrive in a creative, scrappy, and collaborative environment in which the best ideas change t
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ilt process.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience supporting manufacturing or another technically complex, shift-based organization, ideally including opening or expanding a worksite.
• Experience in a high-growth startup where you helped build the organization and adapted your approach as it grew.

The above qualifications are desired, not required. We encourage you to apply if you are a strong candidate with only some of the desired skills and experience listed.

Additional Requirements

• Travel to vendors and test sites as needed
• Intermittently able to work longer hours and weekends to support critical needs. While we expect a lot of each other, we also offer a high degree of autonomy and work-life balance, including flexible PTO and flexible working hours.

Compensation and Benefits

If hired for this full-time role, you will receive

• Cash compensation of $150,000 - $195,000
• Equity in the company. We’re all owners and if we’re successful, this equity should be far and away the most valuable component of your compensation.
• A benefits package that helps you take care of yourself and your family, including:
• Flexible paid time off
• Health insurance (the company pays 100% of gold-level PPO plan for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
• Dental insurance (the company pays 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
• Vision insurance (the company pays 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
• Disability insurance (the company pays 100% for a policy to provide long-term financial support if you become disabled)
• Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA
• Relocation assistance to facilitate your move to Portland (if needed).

Location

Our offices, lab, shop, and manufacturing worksites are located in the Greater Portland, Oregon area. This role is expected to work regularly onsite and travel between worksites on a weekly basis.