At Aztec, our goal is to add privacy to Ethereum.
In the current public blockchain paradigm, users and entities unknowingly broadcast data in the public, compromising privacy and security to get trustlessness.
Not only are unencrypted blockchains inherently privacy-exposing, they require significant redundancy to compute and verify the legitimacy of transactions.
Implementing scalable encryption in a public blockchain paradigm requires cutting-edge math and engineering. Thankfully, our team of scientists and engineers invented Plonk, the industry-standard zkSNARK, and Noir, the universal language of zero knowledge.
Now, we’re building a first of its kind Layer 2 with private smart contracts. This requires new cryptographic primitives, a zero-knowledge DSL for writing contracts, a privacy-friendly execution environment, a carefully designed set of circuits that prove the validity of the chain to L1, a decentralized block-building and proving mechanism, and a top-tier user and developer experience. And it’s now time to bring it to market.
We’ve raised $125 million from industry-leading investors including a16z crypto, Paradigm, Variant, Consensys, and a_capital, and we’re growing quickly.
About the role:
We are looking for a People leader to step into a critical role at Aztec Labs, taking ownership of an already established global People function. You’ll be joining a team of 80 people across 14 countries and will be responsible for driving our next phase of people and culture development as we continue to grow and decentralise. This is a high-impact opportunity to shape our evolving operating model, enhance the employee experience, and strengthen the practices, processes, systems, and programs that enable our team to thrive and deliver on our exciting mission.
What you’ll do:
- Own and deliver the company-wide People strategy, reporting directly to the COO.
- Lead the People team of three, providing coaching, development, and clear accountability to drive high performance.
- Operate at both strategic and hands-on levels, shaping long-term priorities while ensuring strong execution of day-to-day People operations.
- Provide leadership across all core areas of the People function including: talent acquisition, total rewards, people operations, performance and talent management, learning and development, DEI, internal communications, and employee engagement.
- Act as a trusted advisor to the senior leadership team, guiding decision-making, organisational design, and communication strategies that support scale.
- Offer expert counsel to managers on employee relations and performance matters, ensuring fair, consistent, and values-aligned outcomes.
- Partner closely with Finance on headcount forecasting, workforce planning, compensation governance, and mobility to align with company strategy.
- Collaborate with Legal to ensure compliance with global employment laws, strong risk mitigation, and robust governance and policy frameworks.
- Drive the optimisation of People systems, workflows, and data capabilities to enable accuracy, efficiency, and actionable insights.
- Work cross-functionally to foster a cohesive global culture and design initiatives that enhance engagement, development, and wellbeing.
- Strengthen Aztec Labs’ employer brand ensuring we continue to attract exceptional talent.
- Lead the design and rollout of new People programs and processes, using strong change management principles to ensure adoption and impact.
Who you are:
- An experienced People leader who has operated at Head of People level (or equivalent) within a high-growth technology environment.
- Strong track record scaling People functions across distributed and international teams.
- Confident switching between strategic thinking and hands-on execution, with a willingness to dive into the detail.
- A values-driven leader known for integrity, fairness, and building trust at all levels.
- Highly collaborative with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and work cross-functionally, particularly with Finance and Legal.
- Skilled in cultivating a healthy, high-performance culture across diverse, multicultural teams.
- Comfortable navigating ambiguity with sound judgment, clear prioritisation, and a proactive approach.
- Data-driven, organised, and detail-oriented, with strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.
Bonus experience
- Operating within decentralised or hybrid organisational models.
- Experience with Web3 or blockchain technology.
- Leading teams through rapid growth, restructures, or organisational transformation.
- Strong knowledge of employment practices across multiple global jurisdictions.
- Flexible, remote-first culture with HQ in London.
- Competitive salary + equity/token options.
- 25 days annual leave + bank holidays.
- Health, dental, and retirement benefits (based on location).
- Regular offsites for team collaboration and bonding.
- Conference and learning budget for continual professional development.
- A chance to work on truly cutting-edge zero-knowledge infrastructure with some of the best minds in the field.
Aztec Labs is an equal opportunity employer and we value creativity, diversity, and intellectual curiosity. If you're passionate about leveraging your creative talents to make a real-world impact, and if you want to be part of a team that's shaping the future of digital privacy, then we would love to hear from you.
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