Open to opportunities

Ryley Laird

@ryleylaird

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Senior People Operations leader driving scalable talent strategies, workforce planning, and leadership development.

United States

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What I'm looking for

I seek a strategic People Operations or HR leadership role where I can build scalable talent infrastructure, drive L&D programs, apply data-driven workforce planning, and partner with executives to transform culture and retention.

I am a high-impact People Operations leader with 14+ years of experience advancing organizational effectiveness through data-backed talent solutions, Agile program delivery, and global succession planning. I have a rapid career trajectory from educational institutional leadership to executive HR roles, where I design scalable learning ecosystems and drive measurable improvements in retention, performance, and operational delivery.

As VP of People Operations, I build end-to-end people lifecycles, implement KPI-driven reporting, and launch enterprise talent platforms for tens of thousands of employees. I deliver executive coaching, leadership development, and workforce planning that align individual purpose with business strategy to produce sustainable culture change and measurable ROI.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Vice President, People Operations

Current

Rocket Clicks

Sep 2025 - Present (6 months)

Spearheaded a comprehensive People Operations lifecycle and internal communications strategy, improving retention by 22% and increasing on-time delivery by 18% through KPI-driven workforce optimization.

Workforce Planning Talent Development Succession Planning L&D People Analytics Internal Communications HR strategy Agile Project Management

Senior Manager, Career Development

Quad

Jun 2022 - Aug 2025 (3 years 2 months)

Engineered a global onboarding and talent development platform for 16,000+ employees, standardized career frameworks and 9-box calibration, and delivered leadership programs informed by enterprise skills gap analyses.

Onboarding Leadership Development Talent Analytics Succession Planning Performance Management

Scrum Master

Esker

Mar 2021 - Jun 2022 (1 year 3 months)

Led Agile transformation for the Procure-to-Pay division, implementing Scrum to accelerate delivery, remove systemic impediments, and use sprint metrics to drive strategic capacity planning.

Scrum Agile Transformation Agile Coaching Sprint Metrics Stakeholder Management Continuous Improvement Impediment Removal

School Principal

Unknown (Educational Institution)

Jan 2015 - Dec 2021 (6 years 11 months)

Directed building operations and professional development for 50+ staff, led institutional change and crisis management initiatives, and aligned school strategy with district objectives.

Educational Leadership Crisis Management Staff Development Change Management Performance Management Stakeholder Engagement

Education

Degrees, certifications, and relevant coursework

Marian University

Master of Science, Educational Administration and Leadership

Master of Science in Educational Administration and Leadership focused on school leadership, organizational governance, and educational change management.