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VP, People & Culture

Alameda, CA

About Us

We are Sila, a next-generation battery materials company. Our mission is to power the world’s transition to clean energy. To create this future, our team is building a better lithium-ion battery from the inside out today. We engineer and manufacture ground-breaking battery materials that significantly increase the energy density of batteries, while reducing their size and weight. The result? Smaller more powerful batteries that can unlock innovation in consumer devices and accelerate the mass adoption of electric cars to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. We're tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time every day, and together we're redefining what's possible. Are you ready to be a part of a team committed to changing the world?

Who You Are

Sila’s Vice President of People & Culture  will be responsible for leading and elevating all aspects of the people function, assessing, upskilling and engaging Sila’s workforce for the future. As a key member of the leadership team, the VP of P&C will offer credible counsel, design and execute business-relevant solutions in all areas related to talent, culture and people performance. 

At this stage of Sila’s evolution, a human capital expert is necessary to drive organizational excellence, particularly in areas of talent (acquisition, assessment, training/upskilling, performance management, development, succession planning, organizational design and engagement). All fundamental aspects of HR administration, including labor and employee relations, compensation, benefits, compliance, facility management and HR systems will also be under the VP of People’s purview. Beyond embedding operationally effective and strategic practices to support continued growth, this executive will play a hands-on role in executing that vision.

True to the company values today, this executive must have high integrity, a confident voice for change and a commitment to test and re-test data, to guide solutions. The VP of P&C will enhance what is unique about Sila Nanotechnologies’ people, culture and purpose and support those with "best fit" processes that can scale. This executive will inspire and develop a proactive and business-focused team.

The successful candidate will lead with a business-first, growth mindset. Beyond HR expertise and exceptional communication skills, this leader will operate fluidly in a low-ego, highly collaborative team-oriented culture. A high level of intellectual curiosity and interpersonal savvy is critical to build buy-in and strong relationships. A connection to Sila’s broader mission is highly valued.

Responsibilities and Duties

  • Partner with the executive leadership team on key initiatives while serving as a trusted advisor and business leader. Serve as a key advisor on strategic organizational design/effectiveness, workforce planning, rewards and all areas related to talent development.
  • Partner with senior leaders on strategic business transactions and deliver practical HR solutions, systems and capabilities that drive business results. Identify challenges and emerging HR issues and proactively provide solutions.
  • Ensure Sila Nanotechnologies’ business, strategy, plans and performance are supported by a strategic and operationally executed HR strategy. Employ HR analytics to generate insight and identify areas of opportunity.
  • Leverage strong operational foresight and the ability to prioritize in a dynamic environment. Execute on a relevant, prioritized agenda tied to business goals.
  • Ensure that talent management and succession planning processes build an exceptional talent pipeline and sustain the company’s growth.
  • Promote increased employee engagement and enable a customer-focused workforce.
  • Provide the intellectual leadership, perspective and experience to encourage creative thinking around talent issues, continuous learning for all employees and activate organizational strengths to recruit, retain and develop talent that can lead Sila Nanotechnologies through the next stage.
  • Be a talent magnet and lead an effective diversity and inclusion strategy. Develop leaders who will generate their own following within the function and the business, internally and externally.
  • Build close, trusting relationships with key internal stakeholders at every level to understand their needs and inform future human capital strategy in business driving long-term change.
  • Provide the strategic vision, tactical execution and leadership necessary to enable and enhance the company’s global operations and growth initiatives globally, leveraging market opportunities by way of innovative and best-in-class talent strategies.
  • Develop and mentor a team of top talent with the technical skills and influencing capability for excellence.
  • Ensure an effective total rewards structure is in place for the organization.
  • Create an environment that continues to foster a deep commitment to company values and uphold a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Executive Leadership & Expectations

  • Complete staffing of Moses Lake Plant and establish aligned policies and cultural norms. 
  • Complete the staffing of the HR team and set a cohesive, collaborative, and high-performance pace for the group. Deliver operational excellence in all key areas of HR. 
  • Turn front line management from a relative weakness to a strength at Sila via training, up-skilling, and up-leveling of talent. 
  • Become a trusted partner for all members of the executive team and key next-level reports. 

Knowledge and Skill Requirements

  • Minimum of 15 years of broad human resources leadership responsibilities as a coach, trusted advisor and strategic partner with senior executives for more than five of those years.
  • Successfully operationalized strategy and offered insights beyond HR. 
  • Exposure to organizations known for dynamic human resources and talent practices is highly preferred. 
  • Pre-IPO, IPO readiness experience is highly preferred. 
  • Operational Excellence: Previously elevated and scaled people programs in an agile, entrepreneurial organization with a sleeves-up, pragmatic approach. 
  • Built in necessary processes and norms to drive high-performance thinking. Possess and model a data-driven, continuous improvement mindset.
  • Experience in industries and organizations of scale, and with manufacturing operations.
  • Successfully navigated change in a similar business, workforce, and labor environment. Proven agility in both large and small scale businesses, effectively applying progressive but relevant, “right sized” people programs and processes. 
  • Familiarity with manufacturing operations is highly desired. Familiarity with technology or advanced materials sectors would be ideal but not required.Talent strategy and culture: Led the enhancement of a strong culture to support business objectives; adjusted existing operations and infrastructure to ensure greater engagement, performance, retention and inclusivity. Demonstrated success in planning for, guiding and quickly implementing strategic and operational change across and down into an organization.
  • Driving Results:Makes process changes to existing ways of working to significantly improve results. Proactively seeks to improve processes, raising quality and productivity through efficiencies or by implementing best-in-class solutions.Enables higher performance by incrementally improving approaches based on calculated risks.
  • Benchmarks performance of business or function against industry best practices.
  • Collaborating and Influencing:Builds partnerships across the enterprise to address organization-wide challenges or opportunities.
  • Creates an environment of shared values where collaboration is expected at all levels.
  • Systematically builds support at multiple levels and across groups to achieve alignment, acknowledging differences in interests.

The starting base pay for this role is between $290,440 and $350,000 at the time of posting. The actual base pay depends on many factors, such as education, experience, and skills. Base pay is only one part of Sila’s competitive Total Rewards package that can include benefits, perks, and equity.  The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. Alameda working hours are a typically Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm.

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Working at Sila

We believe that building a diverse team at Sila helps us amplify our individual talents. We are an equal opportunity employer and committed to creating an inclusive environment where good ideas are free to come from anyone. We are proud to celebrate diversity and all qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, national origin, or any other status protected by law.

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