Kylea Pooler

About Kylea Pooler

I believe that successfully scaling a company is a human endeavor first and a process endeavor second. My career has been defined by the challenge of turning operational ambiguity into clear, scalable People infrastructure, but one that doesn\'t slow us down & always maintains a focus on empathy, integrity, and mission-driven growth.As the founding Talent hire for Octopus Energy US, I’ve had the unique opportunity to build the local Recruitment & People function from the ground up. Over the last 4+ years, I’ve partnered with our local leadership & global teams to scale our workforce, initially focusing most heavily on our tech arm, Kraken Technologies. Having served as the sole person in the US managing the full employee lifecycle (everything from end to end recruitment to complex People frameworks), it\'s shaped my builder mindset and my ability to move fast without losing a people-first lens.I thrive in high growth, people-first environments where innovation is the standard. Whether I’m designing a performance management system or sourcing an engineering lead, I lead with a commitment to creating a 10/10 candidate & employee experience and a values-based culture. Areas of Impact:Full-Stack People Operations: Building HRBP models, compliance frameworks, performance management & engagement programs, and feedback models.Technical Recruitment: Scaling engineering, data, and product teams in the global SaaS and Energy sectors.Operational Velocity: Reducing time-to-fill & increasing candidate satisfaction through structured, data-driven hiring processes.My background in Psychology and Corporate Communications from UT Austin provides the foundation for how I approach talent strategy: with deep empathy and a commitment to organizational integrity.

Experience

1. Us Talent & People Operations Lead

   Octopus Energy

   Aug 2021 — Present · Houston, TX, US

   Foundational Strategy: As the first US Talent hire, I\'ve built and led the Recruitment and People Operations functions to support the North American expansion of Octopus Energy and Kraken Technologies across technical (Software Engineering, Data, Product) and non-technical (Finance, GTM, Operations) functions.Executive Placement: Directly manage and close all US leadership searches, establishing the leadership foundation necessary for international market expansion.People Ops Architecture: Formally expanded role to lead the US People Operations function, designing performance management frameworks and ensuring compliance while driving engagement in partnership with the executive team.Operational Velocity: Optimizes end-to-end recruitment operations to support 5x organizational growth, successfully reducing time-to-fill by 40%.Candidate Excellence: Design and maintains a best-in-class candidate journey.Stakeholder Partnership: Serves as a strategic advisor to the CEO and leadership to align talent acquisition strategy with long-term business expansion objectives.Employer Branding: Develop and lead branding initiatives through industry events and digital platforms to strengthen market visibility and talent attraction.

Education

• The University of Texas at Austin

  Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Psychology

• The University of Texas at Austin

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Corporate Communication