Companies are phasing out the HR generalist role in favor of embedded teams that drive growth and strategic change.
Alfredo Mercedes of VU Talent Partners challenges the HR generalist model as a legacy structure that slows down business progress.
AI is facilitating this transition by automating routine HR tasks, freeing up time for strategic initiatives.
The People Ops model provides talent professionals with broader career opportunities in operations and strategy.
The HR generalist is dead. Built for paperwork, not speed, the role adds friction where companies need force. Businesses are replacing it with lean, embedded teams that treat people as drivers of growth, not risks to manage.
Alfredo Mercedes is the Co-Founder of VU Talent Partners, the recruiting arm of a venture firm backing titans like OpenAI and SpaceX. He argues the HR generalist model is a legacy structure holding companies back.
Jack of no trades: “The ‘HR Generalist’ is probably a title you won’t see in the future,” says Mercedes. “What does that even mean? You’re likely just sitting in meetings all day that don’t equate to anything.” This isn’t the end of HR. It is a split. The generalist role gives way to People Ops Managers who act like strategic operators. Where a generalist might flag a 25 percent attrition rate, a People Ops lead digs into the root cause and runs a program to fix it.
A small, centralized team will still handle legal, compliance, and sensitive escalations, Mercedes explains, especially when the issue involves a direct manager. The rest of HR gets embedded where it can actually drive change.
Lacking strategy: “Every other department—product, sales, you name it—they all have strategy and a decentralized way to execute,” Mercedes explains. “HR sits in this awkward, separated ecosystem. It’s not tied in a way that’s effective or leverages the business. It’s always seen as this isolated function you go to when you need help or you’re in trouble.” That separation is a design flaw, creating a bureaucratic drag that’s fundamentally incompatible with the venture world’s hyper-growth mandate.
Who’s the boss?: “What you’re going to see is the hiring manager also being the HR manager,” says Mercedes. “You’d think that was already the case, but it often isn’t. A manager who owns the full search—functionality and accountability—can move faster, hire better, and retain longer than if it’s siloed off to some HR guy.” It’s a structural correction that places decision-making power with the person closest to the outcome.
AI clears the deck: Technology makes this new, leaner model possible. “It’s no coincidence that this is also happening in time of the AI revolution,” Mercedes notes. He sees AI as an augmentation tool that will take over the manual, administrative workload that bogged down traditional HR departments. This automation frees up managers and People Ops teams to focus on the high-value, strategic work of building great teams. “They’re doing something that’s not only going to cut cost, time, and efficiency, but also probably get you access to better people quicker.”
Ops-timistic: The People Ops model also creates more fulfilling career paths for talent professionals. “The ability to progress within HR is limited,” Mercedes says. By embedding talent professionals within the business, they gain valuable experience in operations, strategy, and go-to-market functions. “Now you can actually be a biz ops person or a project manager. You have more than just, ‘I did 44 onboards last quarter.’”
Companies are phasing out the HR generalist role in favor of embedded teams that drive growth and strategic change.
Alfredo Mercedes of VU Talent Partners challenges the HR generalist model as a legacy structure that slows down business progress.
AI is facilitating this transition by automating routine HR tasks, freeing up time for strategic initiatives.
The People Ops model provides talent professionals with broader career opportunities in operations and strategy.
VU Talent Partners
The HR generalist is dead. Built for paperwork, not speed, the role adds friction where companies need force. Businesses are replacing it with lean, embedded teams that treat people as drivers of growth, not risks to manage.
Alfredo Mercedes is the Co-Founder of VU Talent Partners, the recruiting arm of a venture firm backing titans like OpenAI and SpaceX. He argues the HR generalist model is a legacy structure holding companies back.
Jack of no trades: “The ‘HR Generalist’ is probably a title you won’t see in the future,” says Mercedes. “What does that even mean? You’re likely just sitting in meetings all day that don’t equate to anything.” This isn’t the end of HR. It is a split. The generalist role gives way to People Ops Managers who act like strategic operators. Where a generalist might flag a 25 percent attrition rate, a People Ops lead digs into the root cause and runs a program to fix it.
A small, centralized team will still handle legal, compliance, and sensitive escalations, Mercedes explains, especially when the issue involves a direct manager. The rest of HR gets embedded where it can actually drive change.
Lacking strategy: “Every other department—product, sales, you name it—they all have strategy and a decentralized way to execute,” Mercedes explains. “HR sits in this awkward, separated ecosystem. It’s not tied in a way that’s effective or leverages the business. It’s always seen as this isolated function you go to when you need help or you’re in trouble.” That separation is a design flaw, creating a bureaucratic drag that’s fundamentally incompatible with the venture world’s hyper-growth mandate.
VU Talent Partners
Who’s the boss?: “What you’re going to see is the hiring manager also being the HR manager,” says Mercedes. “You’d think that was already the case, but it often isn’t. A manager who owns the full search—functionality and accountability—can move faster, hire better, and retain longer than if it’s siloed off to some HR guy.” It’s a structural correction that places decision-making power with the person closest to the outcome.
AI clears the deck: Technology makes this new, leaner model possible. “It’s no coincidence that this is also happening in time of the AI revolution,” Mercedes notes. He sees AI as an augmentation tool that will take over the manual, administrative workload that bogged down traditional HR departments. This automation frees up managers and People Ops teams to focus on the high-value, strategic work of building great teams. “They’re doing something that’s not only going to cut cost, time, and efficiency, but also probably get you access to better people quicker.”
Ops-timistic: The People Ops model also creates more fulfilling career paths for talent professionals. “The ability to progress within HR is limited,” Mercedes says. By embedding talent professionals within the business, they gain valuable experience in operations, strategy, and go-to-market functions. “Now you can actually be a biz ops person or a project manager. You have more than just, ‘I did 44 onboards last quarter.’”
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