VP of People (Remote, US)

About Maze Maze is the user research platform that helps companies build the right products faster by making user insights available at the speed of product development. In most companies, research demand far exceeds supply. Time, cost, and lack of access to expertise hold teams back. In today’s AI-powered world, anyone can build a product fast. The real challenge? Deeply understanding user needs and building the right product. That’s where Maze comes in. We believe companies shouldn’t have to choose between building fast and building right. Maze makes research accessible, intuitive, and fast so product teams can put user insights at the center of every decision. Our platform enables researchers, designers, and product managers to quickly recruit participants, run studies autonomously, and surface insights that actually drive product decisions. Our AI capabilities automate the busywork and add depth and direction to the insights themselves. That’s why Maze was recently named the #1 user research platform in UX Tools’ Design Tools Survey—and why we’re scaling fast across industries like B2B SaaS, e-Commerce, Financial Services, Retail, and Automotive, supporting world class customers such as Uber, Amazon, Atlassian, Anthropic & more. Maze is a Series B company backed by top-tier investors (Felicis, Emergence & Amplify). We operate a global remote workforce driven by our core values. The Opportunity Maze is looking for a VP of People to lead our global People function and serve as a strategic partner to our CEO and executive team. We’re at an exciting point in our journey. We’ve built a strong foundation of People programs and practices, and we’re entering a new chapter as we continue to grow our core business while building new opportunities in AI-powered research. This is an opportunity to shape how we operate, lead, and grow through that evolution. You’ll help us make thoughtful decisions about our organization, develop strong leaders, attract and retain great talent, and build a culture where people can do their best work. We’re looking for someone who understands that a great People function is both a strategic business partner and an operationally excellent team . You’ll be equally comfortable advising the CEO on organizational strategy, coaching a manager through a difficult conversation, and rolling up your sleeves to solve a problem. About the Role Reporting directly to our CEO, you’ll be a member of Maze’s executive team and lead a small, experienced People team spanning Talent Acquisition and People Operations. You’ll inherit a team that has built a strong operational foundation and takes real ownership of its work. Your role is to invest in their growth, empower them to lead in their areas of expertise, and create opportunities for them to expand their impact as the business evolves. Your scope will cover the full employee experience, including talent strategy, organizational design, compensation and benefits, performance, leadership development, employee relations, and culture. You’ll also play a broader role in how Maze operates, partnering with executive leaders to strengthen decision-making, organizational alignment, and execution across the business. We’re a globally distributed, remote-first company, so you’ll bring an understanding of what it takes to build connection, accountability, and consistent practices across geographies. What you’ll do Be a strategic partner to the business Partner closely with the CEO and executive team to shape organizational strategy, business priorities, and leadership effectiveness. Guide organizational design, workforce planning, and change management as Maze evolves. Bring sound judgment, business acumen, and a thoughtful perspective to complex people and business decisions. Help strengthen how our executive team operates, makes decisions, and communicates across the company. Bring a global perspective to executive decisions, surfacing the employment, compliance, and cultural implications across the countries where we operate before decisions are made. Lead, develop, and empower the People team Lead and develop a talented People team, building on their strengths and creating meaningful opportunities for growth. Foster a culture of trust, autonomy, and accountability where team members are empowered to own decisions, solve problems, and lead within their areas of expertise. Act as a coach and thought partner, helping the team navigate challenges, build new capabilities, and expand their influence across the business. Set clear priorities and create the space, resources, and support the team needs to do impactful work without unnecessary complexity. Build and develop a high-performing organization Lead our talent strategy, ensuring we’re attracting, hiring, and retaining the people needed to achieve our business goals. Partner with leaders to build strong teams, clarify expectations, and develop managers who bring out the best in their people. Evolve our performance management, career development, and recognition programs to reinforce accountability and meaningful impact. Use engagement data, employee feedback, and business context to identify opportunities to improve the employee experience. Own compensation, benefits, and People operations Navigate complex employee relations and employment matters with sound judgment, empathy, and consistency. Oversee our global total rewards strategy, including compensation, equity, benefits, and pay transparency. Ensure our People operations are efficient, scalable, and compliant across the countries where we operate. Partner closely with Finance on headcount planning, compensation strategy, and responsible investment in our team. Shape our culture through growth and change Help preserve and evolve what makes Maze special as our business strategy and organization change. Build trust through clear communication, transparency, and thoughtful change management. Create meaningful opportunities for connection, recognition, and collaboration across a distributed team. Help leaders translate our values into everyday decisions, behaviors, and ways of working. Build a modern, AI-enabled People function Bring an AI-first mindset to how the People team operates, identifying ways to simplify work, improve decision-making, and increase our impact. Use technology, data, and automation to make People programs more effective and scalable. Champion effective AI use across Maze, helping teams and leaders move beyond basic prompting to workflows and automation that make a real difference in how they work. What success looks like Success in this role means building on an already strong foundation while helping Maze navigate its next stage of growth. In your first year, you’ll have: Established yourself as a trusted thought partner to the CEO and executive team, bringing clarity and sound judgment to important business decisions. Built a strong partnership with the existing People team, helping each person grow in their role, increase their ownership, and feel empowered to make meaningful contributions to the business. Built strong relationships with managers across Maze, becoming a go-to partner who helps them navigate team challenges, difficult conversations, and change. Strengthened our hiring, performance, development, and total rewards programs to retain our people and land the strategic hires that matter most. Helped build a culture where employees understand our direction, feel connected to our mission, and know what’s expected of them. Brought an AI-first approach to the People function, streamlining how we work so the team can spend more time on high-impact work. About you We know great People leaders come from different backgrounds. These are the experiences and qualities we think will help someone thrive in this role, but we encourage you to apply even if you don’t check every box. Experienced People leader. You bring significant experience leading People functions in high-growth, venture-backed environments, ideally within SaaS or technology companies. Business-minded executive partner. You understand how businesses operate, connect People decisions to company outcomes, and can confidently challenge and advise senior leaders. Comfortable with complexity and change. You’ve helped organizations navigate growth, restructuring, or strategic shifts, balancing business needs with care for employees. Strong across the People function. You have meaningful experience in organizational design, talent strategy, total rewards, performance management, and employee relations. Experienced in global, distributed teams. You understand the complexities of supporting employees across countries, particularly the US and UK/Europe, and know how to navigate local employment requirements. A builder and an operator. You can set a long-term strategy while staying close enough to the details to ensure excellent execution. You’re comfortable leading a lean team and know how to prioritize for impact. AI-forward and curious. You actively use AI in your work and are excited about how it can transform the way People teams operate. An exceptional communicator. You bring clarity to complex situations, communicate with warmth and candor, and build trust across all levels of an organization. Bonus points if you have: Experience supporting a company through a significant business model evolution or the launch of a new business line. Experience with modern People technology, including Rippling, Ashby, Oyster, or similar platforms. Experience working directly with a founder or CEO in a fast-moving environment. Experience building with AI, not just using it, including creating your own Claude workflows and automations and connecting AI to the systems your team uses every day. Bonus if you can show us how it’s changed the way you work. Why Maze At Maze, we’re building the future of research and helping companies make better decisions by connecting them more closely with the people they serve. You’ll join a team that values curiosity, transparency, thoughtful experimentation, and meaningful impact. You’ll have a seat at the table, a strong foundation to build from, and the opportunity to influence not just how we support our people, but how Maze operates and grows. If you’re excited about building a modern People function, navigating meaningful business challenges, and helping a talented team do its best work, we’d love to hear from you. Inclusivity and Pay At Maze, we are dedicated to building an equitable, inclusive, and authentic workspace. Unique and diverse perspectives are welcomed, and continuous growth is encouraged. We believe that people are more than their resumes, so if your past experience looks different than the criteria listed, we’d still love to hear from you. We appreciate and celebrate non-traditional life routes and encourage you to apply should you connect with a job description or the Maze culture. Maze values transparency and it enables us to approach compensation equitably across the world. We are informed by data and regularly check our salary ranges (either United States or Rest of World) against other venture backed companies. Additionally, we are proud of our holistic and generous benefits offerings, included in every compensation package. Your salary is dependent upon many factors, including years of experience, expertise, etc. During your first interview, you can expect to have an open conversation with your recruiter regarding your compensation expectations. Why Maze is unique Early-stage startup: You will join an early-stage startup with less than 150 team members. This means you’ll have the unique opportunity to directly impact success and help shape the future of Maze. Market disruption: We believe that the way companies build products is fundamentally broken and the user research market is ripe for disruption. For too long, companies have been forced to choose between rapid development without user insights or investing months into research before bringing products to market. But there’s finally a groundswell building around a path forward that eliminates this compromise - and Maze is leading the charge. Product-market Fit: Maze is used by 100,000+ brands across 4,000 companies, from SMB to enterprises, and in the last fiscal year, we saw 6.5M questions answered, supporting 25K decisions Benefits Health insurance with international coverage, vision, and dental: 100% of the team member premium paid For some locations, coverage options vary, please see our benefits pages for more information Free access to proper mental health care, unlimited virtual therapy sessions (with a human) and 24 ⁄ 7 access to resources Life and Disability Insurance, 100% of the team member premium paid Flexible time off Meaningful equity Company retreats, fully paid for by Maze New MacBook (laptop), paid for by Maze Paid Family leave: 16 weeks for birth or adoptive parents $500/month to be used for dependent health insurance coverage If you don’t have dependents to add to your plan, you will still get access to this money to be used at your discretion to get the benefits that matter to you with our flexible a-maze-ing benefits - gym memberships, co-working spaces, food, travel, whatever! $1,500 remote work setup fund to ensure you can set up a productive work space Flexible work schedule where you manage your own working hours Monthly Bonus.ly points that are awarded to others to recognize teamwork, dedication and helpfulness - points can be cashed out for gift cards and more Virtual social engagements randomly throughout the year SWAG, we have some really cool swag Open, transparent culture that includes virtual: coffee chats, bi-weekly all-hands meetings, and more Check out all of our a-maze-ing benefits here. Outreach Notice We understand you might be excited about the job you’re applying for, we are excited you are interested! However, please refrain from reaching out to our current team members on LinkedIn for referrals. Our policy is that referrals can only be provided by team members who personally know the candidate. With the high volume of interest in our roles, contacting our team members who are not involved in recruitment can be overwhelming. Additionally, please avoid submitting support tickets regarding your application , as our support team is not involved in the hiring process. Rest assured, our recruitment team is diligently reviewing all applications and will reach out directly if there is a match.