Welcome, hiring manager for Human Made!

You are here because I have applied for the currently open Head of People Operations position. I appreciate you taking the time to consider me for this role. I’m confident you’ll be glad you did.

Please allow me to introduce myself…

Why I’m a perfect candidate to lead People Operations at Human Made

People are my passion

I was born to lead teams and thrive when given full responsibility for all things People Operations. My personal mission in life is to uplift others and that’s what I’ve continued to do in my people leadership roles. While serving as the Director of Operations for multiple WordPress plugin companies, I’ve been instrumental in hiring best-fit talent, developing vibrant teams, creating talent strategies which serve business goals, championing Diversity & Inclusion, and raising the standard for employee experiences.

At Human Made, I will bring an insatiable appetite for continuously improving the lives of our people in ways which improve retention, aid recruitment, and drive growth.

I’ve built complete compensation systems from the ground up

At Sandhills Development I created a sophisticated, bespoke, and transparent system for determining employee compensation which turned a company weakness (low employee pay satisfaction) into a strength (over 90% satisfied with pay after implementation). I incorporated compensation data from sources like PayScale, Culpepper, Glassdoor, and others to ensure our pay was fair and equitable.

This compensation system also included a detailed, easy to use, and effective career progression framework (a topic I love talking about) which provided our entire team with crystal clear incentives to improve and grow.

I have designed, implemented, and managed all kinds of benefits and perks

Health insurance, 401k plans, equipment purchasing, PTO, company holidays, profit shares, parental leave, and all other common offerings have been completely managed by me for the past 3+ years. In addition, I’ve been able to take inspiration from our expressed values (and a little creativity) to implement meaningful perks and benefits such as an annual vacation stipend, Arbor Day tree planting, an “Unplugged bonus”, and more.

In every case, I’ve consulted with ownership to discern our strategy and goals which I then translate into action. For example, when employee engagement became a priority, I created a popular “Sipscription” benefit and coordinated virtual gatherings. To that same end, I planned and organized numerous events like these: 2017,  2019, and 2020 virtual. When employee retention became a KPI, I worked to address low satisfaction with pay by creating a data-driven, transparent compensation system which dramatically improved how our staff felt about pay. I also created a career progression framework which gave every employee a clear path forward so that no one felt that leaving the company was necessary in order to advance their careers.

Deep management experience

For the past twelve years, I’ve been managing employees across all disciplines. I’ve had developers, designers, marketers, tech support agents, business development managers, engineering managers, support managers, and product managers, report to me at various stages and have consistently been able to establish close, productive working relationships with all of them. I make it my personal mission to help each of my direct reports accomplish their career goals. I have a very strong track record of guiding, mentoring, and ultimately advancing more junior employees whom I’ve worked with.

I satisfy every requirement for the job

Some of the requirements taken directly from the job posting:

• 5+ years of experience in a People Operations/HR role

  • ✅ I’ve spent the past five years fully owning all things People Operations at two different open source software companies. Every process from employee onboarding to equipment purchasing was mine to design and manage. Every aspect of employment with these companies, from compensation to performance evaluations to travel bookings was under my purview.

• 3+ years experience in a management/leadership role

  • ✅ People management is one of my greatest strengths. I’m most comfortable and effective when managing teams. Over the past 10+ years I have always had at least one (up to as many as six) direct reports.

• You have worked with fully distributed teams across different time zones and regions, including an understanding of the complexities of remote working practices

  • ✅ I’ve been working remotely for global teams since 2017 and before that worked from home while operating my own digital agency. I’ve had colleagues in almost every time zone and have learned to work asynchronously by default.

• You understand the importance of documentation

  • ✅ Creating the Sandhills Development Employee Handbook was entirely my responsibility. I have always prioritized systemizing and documenting processes.

• You have experience managing the full employee lifecycle, onboarding, offboarding, performance management, professional development, and rewards

  • ✅ All of those and more have been mine to design and manage at multiple companies.

Why I want to work at Human Made

I want to do work that means something and I want to spend my days working with other people who share my values for inclusivity, diversity, and open source technologies. Human Made fits that description perfectly.

I’ve considered Siobhan McKeown and Tom Willmot to be role models for years. As I’ve learned and grown as a People Operations professional, Human Made’s example has frequently been a source of inspiration. Being able to join the team at Human Made and put my skills and passion for People Ops to use would be an incredible opportunity.

I’m not looking for a cushy job. I want hard problems and meaningful work. That’s what Human Made offers (comments like these suggest this is the case) and its why I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to join the team.

What others have to say about working with me

Don’t just take my word for it. Here are former colleagues voluntarily endorsing me:

Steve Bennett, Co-founder, Real Big Marketing (former business partner)

“…You can’t ask for a more well rounded individual.”

 

Pippin Williamson, Founder and Managing Director, Sandhills Development (former boss)

“Kyle is one of the most dedicated, hard-working, and caring people I have ever had the opportunity to work with”

 

 

Tyler Lau, Partnerships Manager, Sandhills Development (former direct report)

“…we were very lucky to have {Kyle} on our team.”

Adam Silver, founder, ConciergeWP (former client and podcast co-host)

Kyle constantly amazed me with his industry insight and original approaches to solving problems. He consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic and has a dedication to success.

Kyle brings intelligence, creativity and leadership to any project he is involved in. On account of his mature approach to his responsibilities, I often thought of Kyle as a colleague I could always rely upon to get the job done. I have always felt he was one of the best in class and it was a pleasure working with him.

Mandy Jones, Content Manager, Sandhills Development and Paid Memberships Pro (former colleague)

Without a doubt, Kyle is one of the most valuable, hardworking, genuine, and thoughtful people I have ever met. After working with him for over two years at two different companies – Sandhills Development and Paid Memberships Pro – I know his character very well, and feel particularly well-suited to vouch for him as a friend and colleague.

Since I’ve known Kyle, he has brought tremendous value to the teams we’ve been a part of together. He not only pioneered a game-changing career progression framework and made massive efforts in planning and organizing events as Director of Operations at Sandhills Development; He also spent countless hours getting to know his colleagues (including myself) on a personal level.

It’s always been obvious that Kyle is totally invested in helping everyone on his team reach their highest levels of performance and personal satisfaction. Plus, his ability to see different perspectives and potential outcomes make him an excellent communicator and strategist across multiple arenas.

However, even with his creative talent, mind for business, and technological savvy, what strikes me most about Kyle is his kind, earnest nature. He is truly the kind of person you want on your team – the full package.

 

Ross Johnson, General Manager, 3.7 Designs and Snap Orbital (former co-organizer)

He is wise well beyond most people I’ve encountered in my life. He is incredibly loyal and trustworthy…and an excellent leader.

 

You can read more positive comments about me in the Recommendations section on my LinkedIn profile.