Director - Talent, People & Culture

The Director of Talent, People & Culture is a new strategic role designed to ensure that our people systems scale with the same precision as our delivery systems. You will oversee the entire talent ecosystem - how we attract, develop, retain, and support our team - while defining the standards for leadership as we expand into new regions. You will do this with the explicit backing of an Executive Team committed to sustainable growth - valuing quality and depth over speed.

Direct cybersecurity experience is not required. In fact, we value out-of-industry perspectives. We are seeking a seasoned talent leader who has successfully built scalable talent frameworks and workforce strategies, created impactful leadership development solutions, and protected culture during periods of high growth.

Packetlabs is a cybersecurity firm based in Canada, founded by a passionate ethical hacker on a simple premise: vulnerability assessments should never be disguised as penetration tests. We exist to eliminate the false sense of security that often plagues our industry. Our slogan, "Ready for more than a VA scan?", is a commitment to delivering the manual rigor and depth that real security demands (and our clients deserve).

Who we are looking for - Core Values:

• No egos, ever. You don’t posture, hide behind policy, or protect your function at the expense of the company.
• Systems over heroics. You eliminate recurring people problems instead of absorbing them personally.
• People-first, but not people-pleasing. You care deeply about people, and you hold leaders accountable for their impact.
• Comfortable being uncomfortable. You step into tension and have hard conversations early, before they escalate.
• Calm under pressure. You do not import urgency, fear, or chaos into decision-making.
• Always learning. You continuously refine how leadership, culture, and performance work at scale.

What you’ll be leading - People Systems & Strategy:

• Talent Strategy & Workforce Planning:
• • Own the strategic workforce plan, translating high-growth business targets into a rolling talent forecast that anticipates critical skills gaps before they impact delivery.
  • Move beyond reactive hiring by constructing a predictable, high-velocity talent pipeline for critical and high-risk roles, ensuring the business is never talent-constrained.
  • Implement structured interviewing, bias-mitigation frameworks, and calibrated scorecards to ensure every new hire increases overall talent density.
  • Lead the expansion of our international footprint (US & Australia), establishing compliant, culturally aligned hiring frameworks that allow us to engage international talent seamlessly.
  • Proactively identify and reduce risks associated with rapid scaling, specifically preventing "speed over quality" compromises and clear ownership of headcount decisions.
• Culture, Values & Psychological Safety
• • Own the evolution of the employee experience. Ensure that as processes become more systematized, the human element and our unique identity remain central to our day-to-day.
  • Help embed company values into leadership behaviours, feedback systems, and decision-making processes, including identifying and correcting any approaches that could diminish trust or impact morale.
  • Design and enforce a culture of continuous, multidirectional feedback.
  • Position psychological safety not just as "wellness," but as a prerequisite for performance, learning, and retention.
  • Anticipate the friction points of scaling (e.g., role ambiguity, communication breakdown) and deploy proactive change management frameworks/communication strategies to keep the entire team aligned and engaged.
• Leadership Enablement & Performance Systems
• • Equip people managers with clear, consistent frameworks for:
  • • Continuous feedback
    • Conflict management / managing difficult conversations
    • Coaching
    • Performance management
    • Workload and capacity management
  • Ensure every role has a clear job description, scorecard, expectations, and growth path.
  • Facilitate ongoing manager learning & development focused on capability-building.
  • Own the design, development, and operation of a performance management system.
  • Ensure performance conversations are uniform, continuous, fair, and non-punitive.
• Employee Experience, Trust & Infrastructure
• • Own onboarding, orientation, and return-from-leave processes for new/returning employees.
  • Enhance visibility for internal mobility opportunities and career pathways.
  • Own all HR systems, people data integrity, and process maturity within the TPC function.
  • Ensure compensation, bonus, and merit processes are transparent and consistently enforced.
  • Act decisively on engagement data, retention signals, and systemic risks.
• Retention, Burnout Prevention & Wellbeing Systems
• • Design and lead our proactive retention strategy, with particular focus on higher-risk roles/functions.
  • Identify emerging, critical, and at-risk talent early, and develop systems to strategically increase retention of each grouping.
  • Design systems that help diminish potential drivers of burnout (such as role ambiguity, unclear expectations, excessive pressure, etc.).
  • Lead wellbeing initiatives that are designed to address the source of employee pain points/concerns, not the symptoms.
  • Approach retention as a leadership accountability, not an individual resilience problem.

What success looks like:

• Leaders manage people consistently, calmly, and effectively, without heroics or fear.
• The pipeline of A-players grows consistently, leveraging culture as a strategic tool.
• Retention improves because expectations are clear and leadership quality is high.
• Growth does not diminish culture, trust, or psychological safety.
• People problems are addressed early, systemically, and durably.
• Headcount increases deliberately to support utilization needs and growth objectives.
• The organization can scale without relying on unsustainable effort or informal fixes.

Education & experience: 

• 8-12+ years of senior HR leadership, talent strategy, or organizational effectiveness roles.
• Direct experience supporting fast-growing, services-based or consulting organizations.
• Proven ownership of workforce planning, leadership enablement, and performance systems.
• Experience operating across regions and navigating international hiring and compliance.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders without formal authority over them.

Compensation: The target hiring range for this position is $140,000 - $165,000 CAD. However, we recognize that exceptional talent doesn't always fit neatly into a bracket. Final compensation will be tailored to your specific experience, skills, and the unique value you bring to the table. If your qualifications exceed the scope of this role, we are open to adjusting the mandate - and the salary - to reflect that expertise. 

Why Packetlabs:

• Full support from a leadership team that believes in developing people and systems the right way, not just the fastest way.
• Direct influence on how a high-growth company scales (anticipated to 3x in 3-years)
• The authority to fix root causes, not just manage outcomes.
• Competitive compensation, employer-paid benefits for you and your family, GRSP matching program, and long-term career growth opportunities.