VP, People

Are you an innovative and strategic leader who has guided People teams to empower and support employees across a business to meet their full potential? Are you passionate about pushing the boundaries of what it means to be people-first in pursuit of aligned company growth? We’re looking for a VP, People to join us at Thinkific.

In this role you will act as a strategic partner to the business leading our People strategy in pursuit of building a high-performing and engaged team that drives company growth. You will enable Thinkific to scale productivity and morale in the face of ever-growing complexity. The VP, People will lead the People team through delivering an incredible end-to-end journey for our Thinkers: from employer branding and talent acquisition through to people business partnerships and talent development. Reporting to the President, you’ll play a critical role in advising our executive and senior leadership team on People initiatives and needs.

Travel may be involved depending on the location in Canada of the successful candidate. The successful candidate will work in a hybrid model, with a combination of in-office at Thinkific’s Vancouver HQ and flexible location work.

Your goal will be to propel our team of Thinkers to new heights in terms of both their career growth and their impact on our company. Here’s how you’ll accomplish this:

• Utilize your people-first approach to build and execute a People Strategy that aligns with Thinkific’s mission, strategy, and core values
• Lead the company in building a high-performing, engaged team by setting and achieving ambitious goals our team can execute effectively and that impact business performance, while ensuring the team is engaged and living Thinkific’s core values
• Partner with our Senior Leadership Team to ensure buy-in and alignment on People Strategy and initiatives
• Provide strategy and oversight while guiding the People Team to partner with our leaders on areas such as Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, Learning & Development, Onboarding, Career Growth, Engagement, Organizational Development, Total Rewards, Immigration, Offboarding, and HR Compliance
• Serve as a leader of culture and engagement across the company showcasing strong communication and change management
• Support the creation and expansion of our people programs, including but not limited to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, learning and development, and compensation and benefits
• Own People team success metrics such as Goal Attainment, percentage of team members meeting and exceeding expectations, employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), regrettable employee churn, and speed to correct hire, as well as oversee budgets and communications (up and down) for the People team

The person we have in mind likely:

• Has 10+ years of experience in People/Human Resources focused roles, with at least 5 years at the leadership level
• Is known as a trusted leader and advisor who possesses strong business acumen with a track record of strategic planning to support People teams and company-wide goals
• Is an excellent communicator and strong storyteller who is compelling while speaking to complex ideas and visions with different audiences. They orchestrate shared values across various stakeholder groups and they’re known as a culture carrier who reinforces and connects the culture and shared values across the candidate and employee lifecycles.
• Prioritize business needs and employee needs through a balance of empathy and kindness for the team while driving business results
• Is able to dig into spreadsheets to pull insights to make data-informed decisions
• Can strategize and build People programs and processes to positively impact retention and engagement metrics, supported by strong communications and change management plans to support what they build
• Can align company and People strategy to build a customized plan for Thinkific and does not default to best practices or what they have done in the past
• Has integrity. They possess strong moral values and are able to speak hard truths
• Loves to learn and grow. They’ve found (and keep looking for) ways to level up their skills in this field, whether that’s through formal education, gaining professional experience, or maybe even building their own business

These things would also be nice, but we think you could learn them on the job:

• A coach approach to leadership: they help others to build up their problem-solving toolkits and work to build thoughtful leaders
• Experience leading diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging programs
  
• A background in successful project management
• Knowledge of SaaS metrics and KPIs, and an understanding of how to support teams in pursuit of these goals
• Experience with Topgrading Interviews, ideally leading Topgrading interviews at multiple levels

This is just our initial idea of who we’re looking for! At Thinkific, we know that people have unique career journeys. If your experience is close to what we’ve described but you feel that you might be missing a few of the requirements, please still apply! We’re also committed to providing a comfortable and accessible interview process for every candidate. If there are any accommodations our team can make throughout our hiring process (big or small), please let us know.