Head of US People Operations & Systems (Service Now)

Head of People Operations, US — New York, NY Compensation: up to $500,000 (base salary + bonus) Working style: fully on-site Contract: Full time About the Role Hawkwood partnering with a leading quantitative hedge fund in their search for a Head of People Operations, US. The U.S. is the firm's largest market, and this role owns the employee lifecycle end-to-end alongside direct ownership of the HR systems and tooling stack -ServiceNow in particular. Reporting to the VP of Global People Operations and leading a team of three full-time employees and five contractors, the role is responsible for running a high-quality operational function today while re-architecting it for the scale the business is growing into. The ideal candidate brings deep People Operations expertise, a strong systems and automation mindset, and the credibility to operate both strategically and hands-on in a fast-paced, ultra high-performing environment. What the Role Will Do Own the U.S. employee lifecycle end-to-end with the support of the accompanying team — onboarding, changes, transfers, leaves, offboarding — with a focus on accuracy, speed, and employee experience Lead, develop, and scale a team of full-time employees and contractors delivering People Operations services to the U.S. population Assume direct ownership of the HR systems and tooling stack, including ServiceNow, and drive its roadmap, configuration, and adoption Oversee the design and deployment of automated People Operations workflows, including AI-driven and agentic automation, to remove manual effort and increase throughput Partner with the VP of Global People Operations to ensure U.S. processes align with the global operating model while meeting local requirements Establish and enforce SLAs, tiered service delivery, and case management standards; use data to manage performance and identify failure points Ensure compliance with applicable U.S. federal, state, and local employment regulations, and maintain audit readiness Track metrics, prepare reporting, and identify opportunities for process improvement, automation, and cost efficiency Partner closely with HR Business Partners, Recruiting, Payroll, Benefits, Legal, and Technology on cross-functional initiatives Candidate Requirements Significant experience leading a People Operations function and team, including managing senior individual contributors Hands-on experience with ServiceNow in a; candidates without ServiceNow experience will not be considered Demonstrated track record of delivering technology-led transformation within People Operations — systems implementation, workflow automation, or service delivery redesign Strong working knowledge of U.S. employment regulations as they apply to People Operations processes Excellent communication, organization, and project management skills Ability to manage sensitive information with discretion and professionalism Ability to work on-site five days per week in Manhattan Preferred Requirements Experience deploying AI-driven or agentic workflows within an HR context Experience in a high-performance, high-expectation environment such as financial services, trading, quantitative investing, or respected technology company Experience supporting a rapidly scaling organization through significant headcount growth Familiarity with HR case management, knowledge management, and reporting tooling #J-18808-Ljbffr Hawkwood