Canela Media is the fastest-growing, diversely owned media and entertainment company. This technology-focused, innovation-driven company has headquarters in the United States and Latin America. Canela.TV is its standalone AVOD platform, featuring several content verticals across original series and films, music, children's programming, sports, and news. Founded in 2019 and launching in 2020, the company achieved significant growth and innovation milestones in its first five years, earning industry-wide recognition.
Head of HR
Canela is excited to announce an opening for a Head of Human Resources to lead the People function across its U.S. and LATAM operations.
What You’ll Do
Reporting directly to the Global President, you’ll be responsible for building operational excellence across our U.S. and LATAM operations (based in Mexico), leading all aspects of the people function, from talent acquisition, onboarding, performance management, organizational effectiveness, compliance, people analytics, total rewards, and employee relations. You will partner closely with the senior leadership team to drive talent strategy, strengthen core people programs, and maintain a consistent and high-quality employee experience at every stage.
Our ideal candidate combines operational rigor with strong people instincts. You bring structure to start-up organizations, strengthening HR foundations to ensure that people operations run seamlessly and efficiently – enabling the business to perform at its best.
What You’ll Be Working On
HR Operations & Compliance
Oversee all day-to-day HR operations, including talent acquisition, onboarding, HRIS, compensation and benefits administration, compliance, performance management, and employee relations.
Maintain HR systems integrity and reporting dashboards for headcount, turnover, engagement, and compliance.
Manage annual headcount and budget for the team and partner with the CFO to develop annual strategic priorities for the business and drives results against established priorities.
Partner with Legal (internal and external counsel) and Finance to ensure compliance with employment laws, audits, and policy governance across all locations; research and review new legislation to maintain compliance as well as ensure proper employee notices are updated and posted; maintain various employee legal documentation from hire letters, job change letters and departure documentation for all locations.
Responsible for global policy creation and revisions as well as annual acknowledgements for the country-specific offices based on cultural and business alignment and to ensure compliance.
Partner with the CFO in overseeing payroll, year-end reporting activities, and payroll tax matters
Oversee the HR team to ensure accurate benefit and payroll administration related to employee changes, including onboarding & offboarding processes, job changes/ promotions, accurate employee data/record management
Responsible for data accuracy and regular audits to ensure alignment with established guidelines.
Business Partnership & Talent Management
Partner with the Global President and senior leaders to ensure organizational structures, staffing plans, and workforce data align with business objectives and budgets.
Deliver insights through HR metrics and analytics to guide decision-making on headcount, retention, and organizational effectiveness.
Manage employee relations matters with professionalism, confidentiality, and balanced judgment; support the HR team in responding to employee questions; evolve self-service and materials to proactively address common questions
Responsible for developing and driving talent acquisition and management strategies and processes including best practices by market (US & LATAM) to source, recruit and retain top talent:
Defines KPI’s to measure and improve effectiveness of the recruitment process
Drives workforce & succession planning processes
Support performance management review process – continuously refine performance management strategy to meet the development needs of the growing team; provide analysis to stakeholders on talent performance within their business units
Benefits & Compensation
Design and execute compensation and benefits plans for U.S. & Mexico, leveraging market insights and analytics to ensure competitiveness and pay equity.
Evaluate plans and make data driven recommendations (job analysis & descriptions, market trends, benchmarks, local industry insights and practice improvements).
Oversee annual review processes; evaluate promotion recommendations to ensure they are within the appropriate benchmarks and consistent with company policy.
Manage programs and initiatives promoting health, work-life balance, and overall well-being.
Employee Experience & Culture
Ensure that policies and practices are both compliant and reflective of the company’s values and culture – setting the tone for a culture of trust and performance.
Drive engagement, development, and recognition programs that enhance connection and retention; assess and promote team culture by identifying desired goals and creating programs (including offsites) to drive progress.
Team Management
Oversee a team of three professionals in Mexico for HR and Office Management
Hiring and developing the team on best practices and new capabilities
What Success in This Role Looks Like
HR operations that run smoothly, efficiently, and consistently across all teams and locations.
Clear, accurate workforce reporting and analytics that inform business decisions.
Strong partnership and trust between HR, Finance, and Operations leadership.
A culture of fairness, transparency, engagement, and accountability.
High employee satisfaction with HR processes, communication, partnership and responsiveness.
Must Haves
Minimum of 10 years progressive HR experience; at least five years of HR management experience with demonstrated strength in HR operations, compliance, HRIS, employee relations, and HR program design and execution.
Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field; advanced degree and/or HR certification a plus.
Experience in media/entertainment (ideally digital media) including experience working in companies with entities in U.S. and Latin America; understanding of multicultural markets and talent needs.
Strong business acumen, with the ability to influence senior leadership and develop strong working relationships with key internal and external stakeholders
Outstanding customer service orientation, interpersonal and communication skills.
Proven track record of designing and implementing compensation & benefits programs in multi-country environments; strong foundation in U.S. & LATAM compensation & benefit design and administration (job analysis, market trends, benchmarks, local industry insights and practice improvements)
Critical thinking capabilities and broad knowledge and enthusiasm for evolving Human Resource trends: ability to understand the business and internal processes to recommend, communicate, and implement new processes, approaches, policies, practices and procedures across all areas to drive continuous improvement while ensuring effectiveness to the overall employee experience.
Skilled in HRIS management (Gusto experience preferred), reporting, and data-driven decision-making.
A hands-on, results-oriented and highly collaborative people leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment, leads with clarity and empathy, and views HR not as a back-office function, but as a core partner and business enabler.
Desired Skills & Capabilities
Bilingual Spanish and English strongly preferred.
Experience implementing and managing Talent Management programs & initiatives.
Experience in full-cycle recruiting with a proven track record of successful recruitment in a fast-paced environment / start-ups.
Experience in creating and implementing Learning & Development programs.
- Experience establishing surveys and other feedback mechanisms to assess effectiveness of programs/process.
Compensation Range: $140,000-$160,000 per year (base salary only). Actual base salary within this range will be determined based on skills, experience, and qualifications. Additional compensation includes discretionary bonus opportunities aligned with objectives.
The functions listed are not fixed or unique and may vary according to the needs of the company.
