People & Culture Manager

Diraq is building the world’s first truly utility-scale quantum computer. The science is hard and the people are exceptional. As we continue to scale globally and grow in the US, we need someone who can build the way we work at the same pace, without wrapping it in process no one asked for.
You would be our first People & Culture hire on the ground in the US, reporting to our global Head of P&C. You won’t be starting from a blank page on how the function works, but you’ll have real freedom to run it locally. This is for an experienced People & Culture or HR professional who cares more about people than about job titles, who can work independently without much direction. You would shape how a fast-moving, deep-tech team hires, grows, and works together, adapting how we do P&C globally to what the US team actually needs. You care deeply about people, and it comes through in how you work. You know what good looks like, you’re clear about focus and output, and you hold the line on how people treat each other. You like building things that work, and you fix real problems. You can talk to anyone, from the lab bench to the leadership team, and you’ll be honest even when it’s awkward, respectfully. You take compliance seriously without hiding behind it, and you reach for process only when it genuinely helps the business move faster.

On experience, we’re looking for someone who:

• Has hands-on People & Culture or HR experience, ideally in a scaling startup or scale-up
• Has put practical onboarding, performance, and feedback basics in place that people value
• Has coached managers through real people issues and kept a culture healthy as the team grew
• Knows US employment compliance, and ideally has moved a team off a PEO toward running things in-house

Working closely with our scientists, engineers, and leaders to help a growing US team do its best work. In practice that means:

• Getting exceptional people through the door and set up to do their best work
• Spotting what’s slowing the team down and fixing it simply
• Coaching managers so people issues get sorted early
• Building just enough structure for the stage we’re at, and no more
• Keeping an honest read on how people are really doing as we scale, and protecting what makes this place so amazing to be part of

We cannot overstate how precious our culture is. We may be a young company, but our roots run back through a research group decades in the making. This role is the custodian of that culture: the person who protects our norms and values as we grow. We don’t tolerate individual brilliance at the expense of others, and we don’t tolerate mediocrity either.

• You own P&C in the US, backed by an established global function
• A close-up seat to genuinely hard science, and the people behind it
• A team without big egos or heavy process, that trusts people to use their judgement
• Room to shape the role, and the function, as we grow globally
• 401k + health benefits
• Hybrid work environment
• Eligibility to participate in our Employee Incentive Program
• Paid time off to volunteer for causes you care about