Director, People Relations

Figma is growing our team of passionate people on a mission to make design accessible to all. Born on the Web, Figma helps entire product teams brainstorm, design and build better products — from start to finish. Whether it’s consolidating tools, simplifying workflows, or collaborating across teams and time zones, Figma makes the design process faster, more efficient, and fun while keeping everyone on the same page. From great products to long-lasting companies, we believe that nothing great is made alone—come make with us!

As Figma’s People Relations Director, you’ll be building a brand new function that is a key player in supporting the build and execution of our people team, learning & development strategy, and our Belonging, Equity, and Impact (BEI) efforts during a dynamic and high growth phase. You’ll leverage your extraordinary skills in employee relations, communication, influence, building trust, and execution in building thoughtful experiences for Figmates within the People Org, and influence across the company.  

For us, Employee Relations is about the ecosystem of performance management and the employee experience within it. It is not just about workplace conflict or exit processes but about equitable, data-driven, and proactive processes across the employee lifecycle that drive organizational health. It is in support of building better development, growth, assessments, and deeper understanding of multiple points of view quickly and efficiently. It is about solving for today while building for the future, ensuring our workforce is properly represented because, at Figma, we believe in a culture of belonging and that what makes you, you, makes us us.

If you’re excited about growing the employee experience in a fast-paced and ever-changing work environment by supporting programs, processes, and training content then this might be the role for you!

This is a full time role that can be held from one of our US hubs or remotely in the United States.

What you’ll do at Figma:

• Build a team, starting with 2 full time, senior roles, & build and lead the Employee Relations function, centering strong performance management at its core
• Iterate on all Employee Relations processes to deepen the skill sets of investigation, mediation, case management, performance improvement, justice, and conflict resolution
• Define how we address performance concerns and exits as well as organizational changes, while deepening understanding of employee needs and iterating off our performance management philosophy, processes and technology
• Partner with BEI (our DEIB team), L&D, and Legal to build equitable processes that not only scrub out biases but deepen the understanding across the company in how biases can be named and addressed to ensure they do not impact decisions or employee opportunity
• Drive accountability, in partnership with the People Partners and BEI team, on organizational health issues and specific employee workplace conflicts and concerns, including conflicts with managers and organizations that have gaps in belonging and trust 
• Partner closely with BEI, Rewards and Wellness, People Ops, People Partners & Legal team to bring an employee experience lens to the services and processes we deliver
• Act globally, setting governance and oversight of Employee Relations policies and practices, through the perspective of employment laws, and other regulations to provide guidance or clarification inclusive of the nuances that may vary by country
• Develop the protocols and metrics to measure and define success, and report on it regularly to senior leadership

We'd love to hear from you if you have:

• 8+ years of experience building and leading Employee Relations, HR Risk Management or a related function 
• 3+ years of experience hiring, managing and leading teams through transformational changes. 
• Proven track record of creating innovative processes, that uniquely match the stage of growth of the organization but also grow as it scales and drives consistency, speed, and efficiency
• Experience building and using data sets to look for and anticipate trends within employee relations that influence thinking and upstream practices to ensure the best employee development experience 
• Effective communication skills with the ability to work collaboratively, lead and influence at all levels within the organization, and make decisions while keeping all partners and leaders informed
• Set the standards for case management, documentation, coaching, facilitation, conflict resolution, and consultin