Hiring your first Head of People: a founder's playbook
Most founders make this hire 6 months too late. A practical guide to scoping the role, sourcing candidates and structuring the offer.
The Head of People hire is one of the highest leverage moves a Series A/B founder makes — and one of the most commonly fumbled.
When to hire
The signal is not headcount, it is friction. If your leadership team is spending more than 20% of their week on people topics they cannot delegate, you are already late.
Scoping the role
- Build vs. run. Be explicit about whether you need a builder, an operator, or a hybrid.
- Reports. First hire is typically a player-coach with 1–2 reports inside 6 months.
Compensation
Pay at the 75th percentile for your stage. The difference between a great and average Head of People will dwarf the salary delta inside a year.
More from the Spinwell blog
For FoundersHow funded startups should structure their first 10 hires
Your first ten hires set the culture, the velocity, and the ceiling. Here's the order that actually compounds.
FractionalWhy fractional leadership is winning in 2026
Fractional execs are no longer a stop-gap. Here is how the smartest founders are using them to compress 18 months of progress into 6.
InterviewingFive interview questions that actually predict performance
Skip the riddles and the cultural fluff. These five questions tell you whether the person can do the job.