Head of People

About Mecka AI

Mecka AI is building the data infrastructure layer for robotics and embodied AI.

We partner with leading AI labs and robotics companies to deliver high-quality, real-world datasets used to train, evaluate, and deploy robotic systems. Our work sits directly between research, data, and real-world execution — where model performance is dictated by data quality.

Our Mission

Robotics will become the largest industry in human history — larger than anything that has come before it. As intelligent machines move into the physical world, they will dramatically expand global GDP, raise the material standard of living for everyone, and ultimately help make humanity a multiplanetary civilization . None of that happens without one thing: enormous amounts of high-quality, real-world data.

Mecka AI builds that foundation. We are the data infrastructure layer for robotics and embodied AI — the substrate that teaches machines to perceive, reason, and act in reality. Get this right, and we accelerate the most important technological transition of our time.

Our Culture

• Excellence as the baseline. We hold an extremely high bar and expect the best work of your career. Mediocrity isn't interesting to us.

• Highly technical. We reason from first principles , not by analogy. The best argument wins — regardless of title or tenure.

• Truth-seeking. We are relentlessly honest with ourselves and each other. We chase reality — measured, not assumed — and kill our own bad ideas fast.

• Maniacal urgency. The work matters and the clock is real. We move fast, ship, measure, and iterate.

• Extreme ownership. You own outcomes end-to-end — no hand-offs, no excuses, no waiting for permission.

• Hardcore. This is a high-intensity environment for people who want to do the defining work of their lives.

The Role

We're hiring a Head of People to build the recruiting and people function that takes Mecka from 50 to 100+ in the next 18 months. This is not a generalist HR seat — it is a builder seat. You'll own the entire talent system: senior hiring, technician and field hiring, cross-geo comp and equity, immigration and entity infrastructure, and the people operations that hold a multi-site company together.

You'll report to leadership and partner directly with the executive team on every senior hire. You will be in the room for every meaningful talent decision the company makes for the next two years.

What You'll Work On

Recruiting Engine

• Build the machine: Build Mecka's recruiting machine from the ground up — sourcing, interviewing, closing, and pipeline analytics across Hardware, Software, and Operations.

• Senior search ownership: Own the senior search slate yourself: VP Engineering, VP Deployments, Head of Data Quality, finance leadership, and other senior hires.

• Team building: Hire and lead the recruiting team — in-house recruiters, sourcers, and coordinators across NY, Toronto, and Shenzhen.

• Search-firm leverage: Stand up the search-firm relationships, contract bands, and exclusivity terms that get top-of-market candidates moving on Mecka's terms.

Compensation, Equity & Leveling

• Leveling framework: Design and maintain Mecka's leveling framework across engineering, hardware, software, robotics, operations, and field teams.

• Cross-geo bands: Own comp bands and equity bands across three geographies — NY, Toronto, Shenzhen — with currency, market, and tax-aware structures.

• Cycles and calibration: Run refresh cycles, promotion calibrations, and equity top-ups as the company scales.

• Finance and legal partnership: Partner with finance and legal on equity pool planning, 409A cadence, and the comp implications of the next round.

Immigration & Global Employment

• Visa strategy: Own visa and immigration strategy: H-1B, O-1, L-1, TN, Canadian work permits, and Shenzhen-side employment compliance.

• Hiring infrastructure: Build the employment-entity, EOR, and contractor infrastructure that lets Mecka hire the best person regardless of geography.

• External partners: Manage outside immigration counsel, employment counsel, and benefits brokers across all three regions.

People Operations & Culture

• People-ops backbone: Stand up the people-ops backbone: onboarding, performance, feedback cycles, manager training, and the systems that hold a fast-scaling company together.

• Employee experience: Own employee experience end-to-end — from offer letter to ramp to retention.

• Culture definition: Define Mecka's culture, in writing and in practice, as we 2x in size. Protect what works. Change what doesn't.

• Manager development: Partner with leaders to grow first-time managers into great ones.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Org design and planning: Be the executive team's partner on org design, headcount planning, and the question of "who do we need to hire next, and at what level."

• Market intelligence: Bring market intelligence on talent — who's hiring, who's leaving, who's available, and what they cost.

• Talent narrative: Own the talent narrative externally: candidate experience, employer brand, and the way Mecka shows up to senior candidates.

Success Milestones

• Within 90 days: You've hired your first recruiter or two, taken ownership of every open senior req, and have a credible scorecard for each.

• Within 6 months: Mecka has closed 4–6 senior hires you personally drove, and the recruiting funnel is producing consistent senior candidates without founder-led sourcing.

• Within 12 months: Headcount has scaled to 90–100+ on plan, with comp bands, equity bands, leveling, and immigration infrastructure in place across NY, Toronto, and Shenzhen.

• Candidate experience: Senior candidates Mecka loses describe the interview experience as the best they've had. Senior candidates Mecka wins describe you as a key reason they joined.

• Hiring quality: The company has not had to fire a senior hire for fit because the screen was wrong.

Who You Are

Required Background:

• Senior talent leadership: 8+ years in talent, recruiting, or people leadership, with at least one tour as the senior-most talent leader at a high-growth company.

• Scaling experience: Direct experience scaling a company through the 50 → 150+ band — you've personally owned the hiring engine across that inflection.

• Senior closing ability: Demonstrated ability to close senior hires (VP, Director, GM level) — not just manage recruiters who close them.

• Cross-geo compensation fluency: Working fluency with cross-geo comp/equity design — you've calibrated bands across at least two of: US, Canada, China, EU.

• Function ownership: Comfortable operating without an HRIS implementation team, a comp consultant, or a Chief People Officer above you. You are the function.

Strong Signals:

• Venture-backed talent build: Built or rebuilt a talent function at a venture-backed company, ideally hardware-adjacent, robotics, AI infrastructure, or technical operations.

• Senior network: Existing rolodex of senior technical, robotics, or enterprise GTM operators you can reach personally.

• Immigration and global employment: Hands-on experience with US immigration filings (H-1B, O-1, L-1) and one of: Canadian work permits, China employment, or EOR structures.

• Founder partnership: Worked closely with founders or CEOs on org design — you've sat in the seat where headcount decisions are made.

• Field workforce experience: Background in field operations, technician hiring, or blue-collar/technical workforce recruiting is a real plus given Mecka's deployment side.

• Builder mentality: A builder, not an administrator. You write the playbook the first time and improve it the third.

• Calm under pressure: Calm under hiring pressure. Mecka's pace is real — you'll get five senior reqs at once and a closing fire on a Friday night, and you'll handle both.

• High standards: Comfortable saying no to a bad hire, even when the hiring manager wants them. Your standard is the company's standard.

• Direct communication: Direct, low-ceremony, no spin. You manage up by being right, not by being polished.

• Genuine interest: Genuinely interested in the work the company does — you ask candidates good questions about robotics, datasets, and deployments because you actually care.

Why Mecka AI?

• Build with autonomy: Build Mecka's people function from a real foundation, with the autonomy to design it your way.

• Executive impact: Sit in the executive room, own the senior hiring system, and hire the team that defines what Mecka becomes across robotics, data, deployments, and the field.

• Company-defining scope: Own the comp, equity, and immigration architecture that will define the company through the next round and beyond, while working across three continents on a company building the data and the robots for the next decade of physical AI.