Founding Senior HR Generalist / People Operations Lead
About the Role
Our Client is hiring its first dedicated HR professional to own and strengthen core HR operations as the company continues to grow. This is a greenfield opportunity to bring clear ownership and scalable processes to a function currently shared across Operations and the business. The role is hands-on and execution-focused. You will own the day-to-day HR function, with emphasis on employee lifecycle management, compliance, and effective partnership with benefits providers and employment counsel. Building strong operational foundations is the immediate priority. Once fundamentals are in place, there is an appetite to expand into broader people initiatives such as culture, manager enablement, and employee experience. The right person is comfortable operating independently, enjoys bringing order to complexity, and is excited to be the first HR hire with meaningful ownership and room to grow as the company grows.
Requirements
- Must-Have:
- Experience at a venture-backed company with ≥$10M in funding. This experience should ideally be the candidate’s most recent role
- 4–8 years of HR experience. Flexibility for candidates whose early career was in office management or recruiting coordination before moving into HR.
- Prior experience as a first or second HR hire at a Series A or B, venture-backed startup. One-of-one or one-of-two ownership is the signal.
- California employment law fluency, with familiarity with in-person workplace considerations.
- Strong HRIS fluency (Rippling a plus) and ability to keep the system clean as the source of truth.
- Strong understanding of payroll fundamentals, with experience partnering with or leading payroll providers.
- Demonstrated experience handling employee transitions, terminations, and severance in a thoughtful, compliant way.
- Comfortable being the primary HR owner in a fast-moving environment, with the discernment to bring in counsel or partners when the stakes require it.
- Based in the SF Bay Area and willing to work in-person 5 days a week in Dogpatch.
- Nice-to-Have:
- Rippling specifically
- Experience supporting a significant sales team (OTE, accelerators, multipliers, commission complexity)
- Multi-state or international employment exposure
- Experience building or supporting performance management processes
- Prior exposure to broader People Ops work (manager enablement, engagement, culture programs)
Qualifications
Not specified
Skills
Not specified
Benefits
Not specified
Pay
Not specified
Schedule
Not specified