Building Culture When 85% Work Remote, 15% In Labs

Jackie Shaw is building OneSkin's people infrastructure from the ground up as their first in-house people leader, navigating the unique challenge of scaling culture across a 40-person remote-first team where 85-90% work remotely while their R&D scientists operate in San Francisco labs. In a longevity skincare company founded by four PhD scientists, Jackie bridges the gap between highly technical research teams and business operations, creating systems that maintain psychological safety in a high-stakes environment where experimental failures can cost millions. Her approach prioritizes proactive infrastructure building over firefighting, embedding wellness as a core career strategy rather than a perk, and using strategic context-switching to address the constantly evolving needs of a scaling startup. Topics Discussed Building remote-first culture systems while maintaining connection between distributed teams and on-site R&D labs Creating transparent communication frameworks that translate complex scientific work into accessible company-wide understanding Developing psychological safety protocols for teams working in high-stakes research environments with significant financial risk Implementing recognition systems and morale-building strategies during intense work periods and external pressures Designing intentional onboarding experiences that begin before day one and emphasize value alignment Managing context-switching across benefits administration, talent acquisition, culture building, and strategic planning as a solo people leader Establishing data-driven people metrics in science-heavy organizations while maintaining space for gut-based decision making Scaling hiring across vastly different roles from PhD scientists to graphic designers while maintaining consistent candidate experience