Magda Kozak

People and Talent leader with 15+ years building and scaling People functions inside high-growth technology companies, from 0→1 builds through IPO, post-IPO, and M&A. Has served as a startup Head of People, a senior HRBP to C-suite leaders, and the People lead for a 3,000-person, 27-location global workforce. Trusted advisor to founders and executive teams through hypergrowth, strategic pivots, restructures, executive transitions, and multi-country expansion.

Founder & Principal, Fractional People Partner at Groundswell People Partners (2026-01 – Present)

Independent people advisory practice

• Fractional senior people partner to founders and executive teams at growing technology companies, bringing Head-of-People judgment before a full-time hire is needed.

VP, People & Talent at Wizard AI (2021-11 – 2026-09)

AI shopping platform

• Joined as employee ~10 shortly after the $50M Series A and built the People function, policies, and infrastructure from the ground up, scaling to nearly 60 employees to support the original B2B product.
• Primary people advisor to the CEO and executive team; advised on C-level promotions and leadership-team design.
• Led the people side of the pivot from B2B to consumer: redesigned the organization, advised leadership on the roles and people the new strategy required, executed the restructuring and exits, and owned change management and communications end to end.
• Rebuilt the organization to 50+ around the AI- and data-driven consumer strategy, attracting talent from Meta, Google, Netflix, MIT, and other highly selective organizations; grew headcount 48% in 2026 with zero regrettable attrition.
• Owned end-to-end recruiting across AI/ML, data, engineering, product, and business functions; standardized interview and evaluation processes; led executive searches for the CFO, Head of Product, and VP Finance.
• Built compensation architecture across AI, technical, and non-technical job families with geographic differentials; created promotion, performance, and workforce planning processes.
• Advised leaders on performance situations, exits, and employee relations matters, weighing policy, legal exposure, cost, and team trust before decisions were made.
• Built manager enablement and accountability practices for distributed technical teams; partnered with the CTO to roll out AI-agent adoption company-wide, embedding AI tools into the People team's own workflow.

Director, Senior People Business Partner at CLEAR (2019-12 – 2021-10)

Identity platform; through IPO

• Senior people partner to C-suite leaders across Engineering, Product, and Security, combining talent strategy, org design, executive coaching, and hands-on recruiting partnership.
• Managed confidential executive transitions in the CTO and CISO organizations, including exits, selection support, and onboarding of new leaders, with careful sequencing of communications.
• Planned and executed two technology reorganizations, including onboarding a new CTO and realigning product and engineering dependencies; grew the technical team 30% in 2020.
• Opened the Haifa, Israel engineering office, scaling from 0 to 15 employees in six months and adapting global practices to local employment law and norms.
• Designed CLEAR's hybrid work model with the senior leadership team; temporarily led the five-person Global People Operations and Benefits team, advancing policy, compliance, systems, and job architecture with Finance and Legal.

Senior Manager, People & Recruiting Operations at Pivotal Software (2018-10 – 2019-12)

Through 2018 IPO; acquired by VMware

• Led a 10-person global team serving 3,000 employees across 27 locations in the Americas, EMEA, and APJ, absorbing tactical employee relations and program work so HRBPs could focus on strategic partnership.
• Managed the global recruiting operations team, supporting candidate experience, compliance, and recruiting operations at scale.
• Led the People workstream for a confidential global reduction in force after the VMware acquisition: 150 employees (5%) across functions and regions with differing country requirements; wrote communication templates and executive messaging and trained HRBPs to deliver the conversations.

Senior HR Business Partner at Pivotal Software (2013-04 – 2018-10)

• Advised leaders of a 600+ person technical organization on org design, workforce planning, succession, and leadership effectiveness through growth from under 1,000 to 3,000+ employees, the EMC divestiture, and the 2018 IPO.
• Built career architecture for 600+ technical employees using an MVP-first approach: piloted across cohorts and iterated on feedback; by rollout, pilot managers were training peers and ~25% of the technical org was already using it.
• Handled employee relations across multiple countries, including grievances, investigations, performance cases, and exits; coached executives and managers on feedback, difficult conversations, and performance.
• Led early People expansion into the UK, Germany, Ireland, and France, standing up hiring, onboarding, and support while adapting global standards to local law.
• Primary People lead on three acquisitions, partnering with deal teams on talent assessment, role mapping, retention, visa/mobility, and integration; integrated ~300 acquired employees, doubling one client group overnight.
• Aligned business partner for pre- and post-sales technical leaders in the Customer Success Organization; served as "HR for HR," the primary HRBP for Pivotal's 120-person HR team.

HR Business Partner at Pivotal Labs (2010-02 – 2013-04)

Acquired by EMC

• Business partner for US East, Colorado, and London offices; resolved employee relations matters quickly and discreetly and supported post-acquisition integration, retention, and onboarding.
• Managed recruiting for the New York office and built the company's first manager training for newly promoted engineering leaders.

Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) – HR Certification Institute (2018)

Certificate in Human Capital Management – New York University, School of Professional Studies

B.S. in Business Administration (Finance, Accounting, Legal Studies) – Drexel University