Head of People Success, CookUnity
$350-400k
+ Eligible for a bi-annual performance bonus + Stock options plan
1 day a week in office
Ready-meal delivery marketplace
Job no longer available
Ready-meal delivery marketplace
501-1000 employees
Job no longer available
$350-400k
+ Eligible for a bi-annual performance bonus + Stock options plan
1 day a week in office
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To empower chefs everywhere to nourish the world through our shared love of great food.
Role
Who you are
- The ideal candidate brings more than just HR experience—we are looking for an expert in organizational design, business growth, and transformation who can help CookUnity scale strategically and sustainably
- Proven track record of driving business transformation, growth, and operational excellence through People strategies in fast-growing, consumer-centric environments
- Background beyond traditional HR - strong exposure to business operations, growth, finance, or product-oriented companies
- Strong experience designing, and executing transformative People strategies in fast-growing, innovative environments, with expertise in spanning organizational design, business strategy, and operational excellence
- Demonstrated success leading cultural transformation and scaling organizations in hyper-growth consumer companies
- Proven experience working with globally distributed, multicultural teams, with the ability to foster inclusivity and alignment across diverse regions
- Passion and curiosity for AI, automation, and emerging technologies, with a vision for how they shape the future of work
- Exceptional interpersonal and coaching skills, with a focus on building authentic, drama-free relationships
- Strong analytical and operational acumen, capable of leveraging data to inform People strategies
- Innovative approach to leadership development, talent acquisition, and retention
- Exceptional communication, coaching, and leadership skills, with the ability to influence executive teams and drive cultural transformation
- Fluency in Spanish is a plus
- Preferably based in New York, with a track record of leading globally distributed, multicultural teams
- If you are ready to redefine what People leadership looks like and are passionate about shaping the future of work at CookUnity, we want to hear from you
Desirable
- Business-Minded Leadership: You think beyond HR—you see People as a business function that fuels growth, transformation, and innovation
- Operational & Analytical Thinking: You are data-driven and process-oriented, always focused on scalability and efficiency
- Visionary & Forward-Thinking: You challenge the status quo and embrace AI, automation, and innovation in workplace design
- Strategic & Growth-Oriented: You thrive in hypergrowth environments and understand what it takes to scale an organization
- Culture-Builder & Change Agent: You have the ability to drive cultural transformation while staying true to CookUnity’s values
What the job involves
- We are seeking a strategic, business-minded leader to drive the transformation of CookUnity’s People Success function
- Going beyond traditional HR, this role leverages AI, technology, and forward-thinking strategies to build a high-performance, scalable organization where team performance, business health, and employee experience are deeply interconnected
- As Head of People Success, you will be a key member of the Executive Team, reporting directly to our Founder & CEO
- You will be responsible for designing and executing a People strategy that integrates automation, fosters a connected hybrid workforce, optimizes team performance through incentives, and directly impacts business outcomes
- Reimagine People Strategy: Design and implement a business-driven People strategy that leverages innovation, AI, and organizational design to optimize culture, talent, and business performance
- Optimize Performance & Incentive Design: Define what success looks like at CookUnity, establishing performance frameworks and incentive models that align compensation, rewards, and recognition with business impact and team contributions
- Strategic Business Partner: Align the People strategy with business growth objectives, working closely with executive leaders to drive cross-functional collaboration, operational efficiency, and market expansion while keeping operational alignment across North America and our globally distributed workforce
- Lead Cultural Evolution: Champion and evolve CookUnity’s culture, ensuring it scales effectively while staying true to our core values of creativity, authenticity, and excellence. Foster a sense of belonging and shared purpose across our hybrid workforce by creating meaningful experiences that reflect our principle: Create moments that matter for every guest
- Strategic Business Partner: Align the People strategy with business growth objectives, working closely with executive leaders to drive cross-functional collaboration, operational efficiency, and market expansion
- Leverage AI to Redesign Organizational Structure: Reimagine our organizational design to integrate AI, positioning CookUnity at the forefront of the future of work, where human talent and AI-powered tools collaborate to automate tasks and amplify impact
- Develop Leadership Excellence: Build scalable systems and programs that empower all leaders to to drive growth and enhance their coaching and mentoring capabilities, fostering a culture of authentic, drama-free relationships and strong performance across all levels
- Elevate Talent Management: Oversee talent acquisition, development, and retention strategies, ensuring alignment with business priorities and a world-class employee experience
- Optimize People Operations: Drive operational excellence in People functions, including compensation, benefits, policies, and HR systems, with a focus on designing compensation strategies for high-performance organizations and addressing the unique needs of remote and distributed teams. Balance simplicity with scalability to support CookUnity’s growth
- Drive Data-Driven Decisions: Develop and leverage people analytics to measure, forecast, and optimize business and workforce performance
Our take
CookUnity is a meal subscription service which connects consumers with some of the country's best known chefs, including Esther Choi, Chris Ratel and Andy Mendez. Consumers can select from a menu of handcrafted meals that cater to a wide variety of palates and dietary preferences. Believing that healthy food fuels stronger communities, CookUnity contributes to an ongoing partnership and donation with the Food Bank For New York City.
The New York founded business hit the headlines for its upward trajectory in 2020, where it secured $15.5M in funding and saw an expected boost not just in demand, but in the supply of top culinary talent at a time when restaurants were struggling.
While there’s a wide world of meal plan delivery services, CookUnity has a jump on much of the competition as it’s the first service that connects such eminent chefs directly with the customer. This has allowed it to expand across much of the US, and it now prepares over 10M meals annually for its 50,000 subscribers.
With most of the urban US now covered by its service, CookUnity is moving into the next phase of its growth, expanding the range of sellers and food products on the platform, and has plans to offer family-sized portions, breakfast options and cooking classes using its existing physical and digital infrastructure. This will enable it to grow into an all-in-one meal subscription service over the coming years.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
30% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
Apr 2023
$47m
LATE VC
Sep 2021
$47m
SERIES B
Total funding: $119.3m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive Health, Dental & Vision Insurance
- 401(k) Plan to invest in your future
- Paid Parental Leave
- Wellness Benefit to support your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing
- Unlimited Paid Vacation & Sick Days
- 4-Week Paid Sabbatical after 5 years with us
- Compassionate leave each time the need arises
- Remote/Hybrid/On Site Options
- Employee Stock Options Plan
- Bi-annual bonus based on performance
- Planning Sessions twice a year: New York & Buenos Aires
- Spanish/English Lessons with a private coach
- Monthly CookUnity Credits to enjoy meals crafted by our creators
- Once a month in-person gatherings to fuel connection and belonging
- Chef-Led Culinary Trips to foodie destinations (twice a year)
Company HQ
Bedford-Stuyvesant, NY
Leadership
Mateo Marietti
(Co-Founder & CEO)Born on a farm in Argentina, Mateo is on a mission to make great real food available for all and a more fair and sustainable food system. He has built 10+ food brands that delivered more than 25M meals combined in the last 13 years, including SUSHIPOP and La Causa.
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