layiq
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A role, opportunity, or path that merits attention, time, and pursuit.
Loading LAYIQ…From Backblaze's posting. “We” and “our” refer to the employer.
VP, People
Backblaze (Nasdaq: BLZE)
| Reports to the CHRO | Remote, US-based
Compensation
$210,000 - $230,000, plus 30% target annual bonus and RSUs
How We Got Here
Backblaze is the object storage leader in the open cloud movement, fueling customer success with cloud storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Together with our partners, we're helping customers break free from the restrictive, overpriced legacy solutions that hold them back, and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.
We started by building storage servers from scratch in a Palo Alto apartment to save 90% on hardware. Turns out hard constraints make for pretty good engineering. That discipline forged a platform that performs as well or better than competitors, scales to multi-exabyte workloads, and costs a fraction of what AWS or Google charge. AI infrastructure runs on data. Storage gets hard at scale. We've been breaking, rebuilding, and improving that storage layer for 20 years.
Today, the world's leading AI infrastructure providers, neoclouds, and data-intensive businesses run on Backblaze. Our platform includes:
B2 Overdrive
B2 Neo
Reporting to the CHRO, we need a builder to run People at a public, remote-first company scaling through roughly the 500-1000 range while expanding internationally. You’ll design the systems that make Backblaze a great place to work when there’s no office doing that job for us - engagement, culture, communications, retention, succession, and manager development - and you’ll run a small HR Operations and strategic HRBP team to do it.
This isn't a maintenance role. The operational foundation is already in place; you'll build the next layer on top of it, with your team, using AI agents as part of how the work gets done. If your instinct is to scope a vendor and a project plan, or disappear for six weeks and come back with a deck, this isn't the right fit. If your instinct is to open a doc, pull your team in, and start building the first version together, keep reading.
Build
Making Backblaze an even better place to work when there is no office carrying it for us. That means designing connection, belonging, and teamwork into how the company operates rather than hoping they happen on their own.
Engagement as a leader-owned discipline with outcomes, not a survey followed by silence. People want to connect their work to where the company is going. You build the system that makes that real.
Strategic employee and leader communications: a standing rhythm that gives people line of sight to the strategy, tells the same story every quarter, and makes sure information reaches every geography and every time zone.
Culture as a design output. We are remote-first, expanding internationally, and growing fast. Connection, recognition, and belonging stop happening by accident at this stage. If we do not design them, distance designs them for us. Onboarding, team rituals, and the few in-person moments a year get designed and budgeted like anything else that matters.
Remote working excellence: one company, many geographies. Same expectations, same development, same voice in the room, wherever someone sits. Offshore is where we hire, not a tier of employees.
Retention and succession: knowing who is at risk before they resign, building the bench underneath key roles, and making sure we are not one resignation away from a gap we cannot fill.
A learning organization: manager capability rebuilt for distributed teams, internal mobility, cross-functional movement, and development that survives contact with a busy quarter. What it means to be a manager at Backblaze is changing as spans widen, AI reshapes teams, and most managers rarely see their people. You rewrite those expectations.
Partnering with our AI Transformation Leader on how AI changes work design, job architecture, and team structure across the company.
Own
You will run a small, high-impact HR Operations and strategic HRBP team. The operational foundation is already in place. You inherit it, make sure it stays clean, and evolve it as we scale internationally.
Compensation
To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base pay ranges for all US-based job postings regardless of state. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate location, skills, depth of work experience, and relevant licenses/credentials.
The expected salary range for this role is $210,000 - $230,000 plus 30% target annual bonus and RSUs.
At Backblaze, we value being fair and good to our customers, partners, and employees. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our values. We are committed to fostering a workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic status, ability, veteran status, and education. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.
LAYIQ is an independent job-discovery service. This listing does not imply a partnership with or endorsement by the employer. Review the original posting for current details and availability.
Employer posted:
Build - but build with the team, not over them. The point is not to arrive with finished answers. It is to bring people into the work, raise their skills along the way, and communicate constantly so the whole team understands what is being built and why.
The engagement program and the operating rhythm behind it, designed so leaders own the outcomes, not HR
How remote teams work here, written down and adopted, not aspirational. Recognition that reaches people in every geography and every time zone.
ESPP program