Director Of Culture

Since 2018, Synthesis has been offering legal, medically supervised and science-based psychedelic retreats in Amsterdam for open-minded seekers who want to utilize moderate-to-high doses of psilocybin truffles to catalyze creative breakthroughs, explore consciousness, find meaning, improve confidence, and open up to a mystical experience. 

With the FDA designating psilocybin therapy a “breakthrough therapy,” and thereby helping to speed up the process of researching and approving it to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), now a new era is upon us—one in which psychiatrists will be able to legally prescribe psychedelics in the United States. 

Deeply rooted in its vision that everyone has access to mental health and wellbeing, Synthesis is uniquely poised to usher in this new era, pioneering as a global leader in advancing research, convening community, educating the public and engaging in activism to promote safe, legal, widespread access to psychedelics.

Standing on its years of experience and reputation for offering world-class psilocybin experiences, 

Synthesis is also uniquely qualified to set the standard for practitioners to safely, ethically and effectively support people on a journey for healing using psilocybin.

The Synthesis Institute is an Amsterdam based company. We are accepting candidates globally and will consider candidates willing and able to telecommute.  

Position Overview:

We seek a full-time experienced Director of Culture with cross-cultural experience who will nurture and lead the development of a diverse team in a start-up environment pioneering a new paradigm of mental and spiritual health. This role requires an impact and values driven professional who is dedicated and passionate about the collective wellbeing of all of our stakeholders. Candidate will be working closely with the CEO, CVO, Director of Ethics & Diversity, and HR. This role is dedicated to building a diverse, sustainable and thriving team and organizational culture that reflect Synthesis’ unique values of the many ways of knowing; increasing access to psychedelic care; ensuring diversity of people, perspectives and practices; social and ecological sustainability; organizational transparency; and professional collaboration.  

Core Objectives: To create a sustainable WE culture across our organization implementing open-book leadership, ensuring diversity and inclusion in hiring, building internal leadership training, and growing our existing internal wellness programming. This includes, but is not limited to: the implementation of monthly, quarterly, and annual staff feedback and reviews; developing new ideas and review processes; contributing to consistent team-based education and events; and the invitation to creatively contribute to a thriving and diverse Synthesis organizational culture. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Implement HR strategies by establishing and leading department accountabilities
  • Company culture 
  • Talent acquisition 
  • Staffing and onboarding 
  • Compensation 
  • Health and welfare benefits
  • Training and development 
• Work with CEO and other Directors to strategically plan HR initiatives that roll out and benefit entire organization
• Monitor internal wellness and staff health and satisfaction, and problem-solve where needed.
• Ensure that company HR policy and cross-organizational culture reflect our values
• Administer and monitor benefit programs 
• Oversee hiring, training, and on- and offboarding processes
• Encourage more efficient and value driven work from employees through company culture initiatives
• Promote a positive and open work culture where employees feel safe and comfortable speaking up about issues and sharing their perspectives
• Develop, write, and update policies, procedures, guidelines, and define the cultural environment, continuously communicating and educating employees on organizational values
• Monitor employee progress, company climate, and culture, ensuring it stays positive and productive
• Foster cross-functional relationships, ensure leadership and employees are properly connected
• Evolve the employee and company handbooks with the organization
• Understand and adhere to all pertinent labor laws and regulations, primarily in the Netherlands
• Develop and lead the HR team
• Supports Directors by providing HR advice, counsel, and decisions
• Come up with a new name for the HR department. (We deeply dislike to think about our staff as ‘human resources’ and would wholeheartedly like to hear your proposal for an alternative name during the job interview)

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE: 

• Minimum of 5+ years experience leading teams of 50+ people
• Support/embody the mission and vision of Synthesis
• Deeply passionate about the growth of others; attentive listener; understanding, empathetic, and personable
• Sensitive to cultural, ethnical, spiritual and other differences, and capacity to navigate these and bring people together
• Proven leader with strong interpersonal skills, keen to motivate and effectively educate and connect department managers and employees regarding all HR matters
• Familiar with Open Book Management
• Familiar with value-driven organizational models (Quadruple bottom line, teal organizations, B-corp, etc.)
• Deep personal experience with altered states
• Feels personally inspired by the tremendous potential of psychedelics to positively change our collective healthcare and wellbeing landscape
• Familiar with the professional and scientific psychedelic landscape
• Have self-care and inter-personal integrity as a top priority in your personal life
• Maintains a daily committed personal (spiritual) practice.
• Excellent written and spoken English skills
• Proven track record of excellent performance: honest, ethical, and dependable
• Effective analytical ability to develop and analyze options, solve complex problems and recommend solutions
• Have highly-effective judgment to make sound and responsible decisions and remain grounded under stress
• Have the ability to be flexible and possess a willingness to adapt to changing situations and to learn new skills
• Experience in strategic planning and helping to ensure the efficient operation and growth of the department
• Exceptional boundaries and containment in your leadership style
• Ability to lead through frequent changes in duties and volume of work
• Inspires confidence, appropriate risk taking and achievement of high standards
• Models professionalism: excellent and effective interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work well with people of all ages, backgrounds, etc
• Excellent delegation skills
• Skilled at de-escalation and conflict management

HIGHLY-PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience working in a culturally diverse team
• Experience working in a multinational organization
• Bi- or multilingual (Dutch and English are the main languages)
• Experience with Asana, HubSpot, & Netsuite, or similar
• Experience creating and monitoring internal health and wellness programs
• Familiar with Dutch (labor) laws and regulations
• Experience in hospitality, healthcare, education, and/or a fast growing start up

COMPENSATION PACKAGE & BENEFITS: 

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience
• Annual performance and salary review