HR Business Partner

About Thinking Machines

The mission of Thinking Machines is to build AI that extends human will and judgment. We are training frontier models with Inkling, developing Tinker to let people make models their own, and crafting interfaces that broaden human‑AI communication. We believe the future worth building is human, and we're hiring people who want to build it.

HR Business Partner

Thinking Machines Lab's mission is to empower humanity through advancing collaborative general intelligence. We're building a future where everyone has access to the knowledge and tools to make AI work for their unique needs and goals.

We are a small team of scientists, engineers, and builders who've created some of the most widely used AI products including ChatGPT, Character.ai, and PyTorch. As we scale our team, some of the hardest challenges we face are about empowering and aligning our people and helping our managers make crucial decisions under uncertainty.

About the Role

The new role of HR Business Partner will combine two tasks: leadership coaching, and people systems design. The two require different skillsets, but a shared vision for managing talent.

You will coach managers at Thinking Machines Lab to be more effective leaders. You will provide strategic support on researcher and engineer performance, team dynamics, and personal growth. You will also build the people infrastructure that will scale this support as the company grows: performance and feedback systems, compensation structures, and career frameworks.

What You’ll Do

• Coach managers by observing how they lead, identifying strengths and blind spots, and working on continuous improvement.

• Advise leadership on organizational decisions: team structure, succession planning, and strategic people choices that shape how we work.

• Design compensation structures that let us compete for the best machine learning talent in the world while staying aligned on values and principles.

• Create career/leveling frameworks that work for a research lab where career advancement often doesn’t mean managing people, contributions such as mentorship and taste are harder to measure, and where senior researchers expect to grow and learn even after a decade in the role.

• Build feedback and evaluation processes that help people improve, not just get measured.

Skills and Qualifications

Minimum qualifications:

• 5+ years experience working as a people leader or HR business partner in a high-growth technical environment.

• Fluency with employment law and best practices in North America.

• Proven track record of developing HR practices and supporting a diverse set of talent.

Preferred qualifications:

We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all preferred qualifications.

• 10+ years experience as a people leader or HR business partner.

• Experience in setting up novel systems that scale in a fast-growing company.

• Coaching experience that showcases a skill set in providing confidential support, motivating improvement, and conflict resolution.

• Track record of supporting a high trust and low ego environment for high caliber talent with strong retention and growth.

Logistics

• Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California.

• Compensation: Depending on background, skills and experience, the expected annual salary range for this position is $225,000 - $275,000 USD.

• Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the visa process together.

• Benefits: Thinking Machines offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support as needed.

• As set forth in Thinking Machines' Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.