Chief People Officer, Merlin Labs
Office located in Bedford, MA
Aviation tech for fully autonomous flight
Job no longer available
Aviation tech for fully autonomous flight
101-200 employees
Job no longer available
Office located in Bedford, MA
101-200 employees
Company mission
To build the AI-powered operating system of record that allows aircraft, large and small, to fly autonomously.
Role
Who you are
- This is a role for a rare kind of operator—someone equally comfortable designing scalable business systems and shaping high-performance cultures
- This role is ideal for a strategic executive who thrives in ambiguity, operates with integrity, and is motivated by building enduring systems in a highly regulated, high-impact environment
- Have 10+ years of experience in talent strategy, operations, people, or Chief of Staff roles, ideally in high-growth VC-backed or public tech companies
- Deep expertise in org design, leadership development, performance management, and total rewards
- Proven success leading cross-functional teams across the breadth of HR
- A systems mindset: able to build structure and clarity without unnecessary process
- Thrive in regulated or complex environments—ideally with exposure to dual-use tech, aerospace, defense, or adjacent industries
- Ability to align People strategy with business needs in regulated or mission-driven industries
- Deep familiarity with public company requirements (SOX, internal controls, S-1, audit committees, etc.)
- Are known for your ability to connect people, systems, and strategy to drive sustained execution
- Are operationally excellent but comfortable with ambiguity, and motivated by mission over ego
What the job involves
- You’ll partner closely with the Executive Team to lead company-wide execution while overseeing the internal functions that power our people and operations: Talent, People, Internal Ops
- You’ll bring clarity to structure, cadence to leadership, and discipline to how we scale—all while championing a culture grounded in performance, inclusion, and purpose
- Own and scale internal operations, including Talent, People and Internal Ops
- Design and implement scalable HR systems and processes that support a high-growth, distributed team
- Guide the evolution of organizational design, partnering with the CEO and functional leaders on structure and planning
- Build systems for leadership development, compensation planning, and succession strategy
- Oversee people operations, ensuring systems for performance management, learning, leadership development, and engagement
- Serve as a stabilizing force as the company navigates regulatory complexity, rapid growth, and shifting priorities
Our take
Companies like Xwing and Reliable Robotics are retrofitting aircrafts for full autonomy, however, Merlin Labs is taking a different route. Rather than building its own aircradt, it's developing the Merlin Pilot - an autonomous flight system designed to integrate into existing fleets. And this systems-first approach is gaining rel traction across commercial and defense sectors.
Instead of developing an autonomous vehicle, the company has designed configurable software that can be fitted into any plane to turn it into one. It’s already received certification from the FAA in the US, and the CAA in New Zealand; now, the goal is to get it fitted into large commercial aircraft to help reduce crew sizes. Ultimately, Merlin Labs is hoping its software will be used to fly smaller aircraft completely autonomously.
Providing a way for non-autonomous aircraft to be repurposed is a neat and attractive solution: costly aircraft needn’t be scrapped, human co-pilots don’t require retraining, and there’s a wealth of existing commercial and private applications for the software. So it’s an astute way of manoeuvring ahead of well-funded competition. Investors are paying attention, as are top-tier clients: Merlin has partnered with the likes of Ameriflight, the U.S. Air Force, and Dynamic Aviation, and pulled in millions of dollars of funding. It will need it: the competition is fierce.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
55% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2023
$1m
GRANT
Jul 2022
$105m
SERIES B
Total funding: $170.8m
Company HQ
Leather District, Boston, MA
Leadership
Matt George
(CEO)Served in an OPC role at The White House, then on the Senior Advisory Board at Boston 2024. Went on to found and lead tech company Bridj.
Salary benchmarks
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