Lead HR strategy and operations for a rapidly scaling fusion energy company. Build and mentor the HR organization, drive workforce planning, organizational design, leadership development, total rewards, HR systems, compliance, employee relations, and people analytics to support multi-site growth and commercialization.
Xcimer Energy leverages decades of research on Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) combined with groundbreaking new laser architecture. Our mission is to deploy fusion power plants to meet global decarbonization goals as fast as possible. Xcimer has assembled a team of leaders in tough tech, fusion science, and manufacturing with a track record of rapid execution. Supported by leading investors, Xcimer is uniquely positioned to deliver limitless, clean, fusion power to combat climate change. Join us in powering a better world with inertial fusion!
As the Vice President of Human Resources, you will build and lead the People strategy that enables one of the world's most ambitious engineering organizations. You will serve as a trusted executive advisor responsible for developing the organizational capability, leadership systems, culture, and people infrastructure required to scale Xcimer from a rapidly growing deep technology company into the global leader in laser fusion energy.
This role combines strategic vision with operational excellence. You will lead the following aspects of Human Resources: Business Partners, Total Rewards, HR Operations, Learning & Development, Organizational Design, Employee Relations, Compliance, and HR Systems, while partnering closely with executives and leaders in the company to ensure our people strategy accelerates business execution.
We are looking for an exceptional people first HR leader who thrives in high-growth, technically complex environments and is passionate about building organizations capable of solving humanity's hardest engineering challenges.
Responsibilities
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the Executive Leadership Team on organizational strategy, leadership effectiveness, workforce planning, succession planning, and culture.
- Partner with executive leadership to define, articulate, and reinforce the cultural principles and leadership expectations required for Xcimer’s next stage of growth.
- Develop and execute a long-term People strategy that supports Xcimer's rapid growth from R&D through commercialization and multi-site expansion.
- Build, mentor, and lead a world-class Human Resources organization spanning HR Business Partners, Total Rewards, HR Operations, Learning & Development, and Employee Experience.
- Partner with executive leadership on organizational design, executive coaching, leadership development, and succession planning across the company.
- Develop a clear leadership principles framework that drives accountability, collaboration, respectful debate, and decision-making across engineering, scientific, and manufacturing teams.
- Lead all compensation, equity, executive compensation, performance management, promotion, and career development programs while ensuring market competitiveness and internal equity.
- Develop scalable people systems, policies, and operating rhythms that enable high performance while preserving the company's entrepreneurial culture.
- Build cultural “operating mechanisms” including onboarding, feedback systems, recognition programs, manager effectiveness processes, and leadership rituals that create consistency across sites and functions.
- Drive workforce planning that develops and retains exceptional technical and business talent.
- Champion organizational health through employee engagement, leadership effectiveness, performance management, recognition, and continuous feedback programs.
- Monitor cultural health through engagement analytics, manager effectiveness metrics, retention trends, and qualitative insights; proactively identify cultural drift or emerging organizational risks.
- Develop programs that reinforce desired cultural behaviors and address gaps—including manager capability building, leadership development, and cross-team collaboration initiatives.
- Lead complex employee relations matters, investigations, risk management, and employment law compliance while partnering closely with Legal and executive leadership.
- Establish governance mechanisms that reinforce cultural expectations, address misaligned leadership behaviors, and ensure organizational consistency as the company grows and diversifies.
- Oversee HR technology, people analytics, reporting, and workforce insights to enable data-driven decision making across the business.
- Build and scale programs supporting onboarding, leadership development, manager capability, learning, internal mobility, and succession planning.
- Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local employment regulations while establishing best-in-class governance and HR operational excellence.
- Develop annual people budgets, headcount planning models, and organizational investment strategies aligned with company objectives.
- Foster a culture grounded in accountability, respectful debate, operational excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement.
- Serve as a member of the leadership team, contributing to enterprise strategy, organizational scaling, capital planning, and company performance.
- Serve as a visible leader and culture champion across the organization while reinforcing Xcimer's mission and values. ‘
- Develop organizational strategies supporting geographic expansion.
Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Psychology, or a related field; Master's degree or MBA preferred.
- Experience: 15+ years of progressive Human Resources leadership experience, including executive-level leadership in high-growth technology, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, energy, defense, or similarly complex engineering organizations.
- Demonstrated experience scaling organizations through periods of rapid growth while building modern HR systems, processes, and leadership capability.
- Proven experience partnering directly with executive leadership teams on organizational strategy and executive decision-making.
- Deep expertise across organizational design, leadership development, employee relations, total rewards, performance management, HR operations, compliance, and workforce planning.
- Experience building and leading high-performing HR teams.
- Demonstrated experience shaping culture through leadership development, organizational design, performance systems, and manager capability building.
- Strong business acumen with the ability to connect people strategy directly to organizational performance and business outcomes.
- Exceptional executive communication, influence, and change management skills with demonstrated success leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives.
- Proven ability to assess cultural health, identify organizational risks, and guide leadership through complex culture-related decisions or interventions.
- Experience leveraging HR technology, analytics, and workforce data to improve organizational effectiveness and business performance.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.
Desired
- Experience supporting organizations that have scaled from fewer than 200 employees to more than 1,000 employees.
- Experience supporting engineering, scientific research, hardware development, manufacturing, or deep-tech organizations.
- Experience designing executive compensation and equity programs for venture-backed companies.
- Experience leading organizations through commercialization, manufacturing scale-up, or international expansion.
- Familiarity with government contracting, export controls, security-cleared workforces, or regulated industries.
- Experience implementing enterprise HRIS, talent management, and people analytics platforms.
- Demonstrated success building high-performance cultures within mission-driven organizations.
- Experience scaling culture through rapid growth, multi-disciplinary technical teams, and multi-site expansion in engineering-centric environments.
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