People & Talent Lead

Atomic is growing a diverse and inclusive team of curious, creative people who love creating great software for our clients.

Company

Since 2001, Atomic Object has designed and developed software products for web, mobile, desktop, IoT and connected devices. Many people can write code, but it takes a close-knit team of passionate people to create exceptional, innovative products that change the way people do business.

We’re an employee-owned company with 140+ Atoms in Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Chicago and Raleigh. We have a flat organization and practice open-books management. At Atomic, you can stay close to the craft for your entire career while owning part of the company and its profits.

Job Overview

POSITION

Clients hire Atomic for our teams. How we hire, welcome, coach, and support the people on those teams shapes everything we deliver. As People & Talent Lead (PTL) for our Ann Arbor office, you’ll own that work locally. You’ll be the person every Atom knows, trusts, and turns to.

Right now, our Ann Arbor Managing Partners do this work on top of sales and client relationships. This role gives people and culture in Ann Arbor a dedicated owner.

Atomic designs its organizational structure at the company level, in collaboration with Managing Partners and company leaders. The People & Talent Lead brings it to life in the Ann Arbor office, focusing on presence, relationships, and delivery. The Lead is someone local that every Atom can build a relationship with.

This is an organizational-development role, not a traditional HR role. The PTL develops and curates talent at the business unit level. Compliance, payroll, and benefits remain part of corporate operations. That leaves your time for the work that helps people grow: coaching, feedback, onboarding, hiring, and building strong consultants. You’ll join the Ann Arbor office leadership team. Your peers there are our Practice Leads, who guide growth within disciplines like design and development; our Accelerator Manager, who leads our early-career program; and our business development lead. The Managing Partners still make the final call on hiring, compensation, performance and terminations. You'll be their trusted advisor, bringing valuable first-hand information to inform their decisions.

You'll thrive here if watching people grow gives you energy. Earning trust across an office of designers, developers, and consultants should come naturally to you, and you should enjoy doing the work as much as designing it. You’ll be at the center of an employee-owned company’s culture and see up close how an open-books software consultancy runs.

DETAILS

Home base in Ann Arbor, MI; generally present in the office on weekdays

Work 40–42 hours most weeks; some weeks will require more time

Contribute to Atomic’s blog; represent Atomic at events and conferences as opportunities arise

Key Responsibilities

COACH THE COACHES: CAREER DEVELOPMENT MANAGER PROGRAM

Every Atom has a Career Development Manager (CDM) . CDMs are experienced colleagues who mentor a handful of Atoms alongside their own project work, helping each one set career goals and reach them. Part of your job is to support the CDMs.

Coach and develop the Ann Arbor CDMs on facilitating career conversations, giving feedback, and managing difficult conversations. This is the work that has made the CDM program successful in Ann Arbor.

Run the local program: its meeting cadence, quarterly and annual planning cycles, and participation tracking

Serve as a thought partner to CDMs and the Accelerator Manager on individual Atoms, keeping enough context on each person that you can offer a useful point of view quickly. The CDMs support each Atom directly; you make the CDMs effective.

SUPPORT AND REINFORCE A CULTURE OF GENERATIVE FEEDBACK

Own the current office feedback program. Every Atom completes a feedback sync with project team leaders at least quarterly.

Join most of those conversations, and teach new Atoms Atomic’s approach to generative feedback, which is feedback meant to help people grow. Make sure no one falls through the cracks.

ONBOARDING

Own organizational onboarding for every new Atom in Ann Arbor and be their go-to person as they get settled.

Partner with Practice Leads on discipline-specific onboarding and with project teams on getting new Atoms up to speed on client work.

HIRING

Run the Ann Arbor office’s day-to-day hiring process with Atomic’s internal recruiting team, and make sure candidates have a great experience.

Keep the office’s interviewers calibrated and coach new interviewers.

Give the Managing Partners and Practice Leads the information they need for the hire/no-hire call.

CONSULTING-CRAFT DEVELOPMENT

Work with Practice Leads to strengthen consulting skills across the office: delivering great work, communicating with clients, and using sound professional judgment. Measure whether those programs are working.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYEE SUPPORT

Coordinate the logistics and cadence of the office’s performance reviews.

Serve as the escalation point between project teams and the Managing Partners. When a performance concern leaves a project team, it comes to you first.

Support performance improvement plans and the Atoms on them, providing framework and rigor while the Managing Partners hold authority.

Stay informed of what is going on with talent across the office, and keep the Managing Partners informed enough to make sound compensation and performance decisions without day-to-day involvement.

Act on the office’s engagement-survey results.

Desired Skills

TALENT DEVELOPMENT

Experience running mentorship and career-development programs, including coaching the coaches.

Skilled facilitator with technical and non-technical audiences.

LEADERSHIP AND TRUST

People trust you with sensitive topics because you handle them with integrity and discretion.

You lead through influence. Most of the people you’ll guide don’t report to you, so success comes from trust and partnership, not authority.

Builds rapport with Atoms at every level and never undermines the Managing Partners.

Has difficult conversations with empathy and directness.

Finds real satisfaction from seeing others grow.

DRIVE AND PRODUCTIVITY

Strong work ethic; able to get up after being knocked down.

Wants to do the work, not just design it.

Prioritizes well and balances many initiatives at once.

COMMUNICATION AND STRATEGY

Excellent writer, presenter, and listener.

Uses data to measure and improve talent initiatives.

Anticipates future needs; knows when to preserve options and when to act.

Requirements

10+ years in talent development, organizational development, or learning and development, with hands-on experience running programs like these.

Hands-on organizational development experience, such as building or running programs for career growth, feedback, or culture, beyond traditional HR experience. Experience with hiring processes, interviewer calibration, and performance improvement plans.

Experience leading a team.

Professional services or consulting background strongly preferred; familiarity with software development a plus.

Typical Schedule

Approximate share of a typical week. The Lead manages their own schedule and balances short-term and long-term work daily.

~30% CDM and feedback programs

~25% Hiring and onboarding

~20% Performance and employee support, including escalations and keeping the Managing Partners informed

~15% Consulting-craft development with the Practice Leads

~10% New ideas and company-level contribution

Recurring cadence: monthly meetings with each CDM and with the Practice Leads; quarterly feedback syncs for every Atom, CDM planning cycle, and engagement-survey action; yearly input to the Managing Partners’ compensation reviews and annual planning. Attend office Spindown monthly and the open-book presentation q