People Operations Manager

Role overview

About the Role

The People Operations Manager will own end-to-end people operations for a fully remote, documentation-first organization with employees across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and other locations. This role is the first dedicated people function and will manage HRIS, benefits, onboarding, offboarding, employee relations, workplace investigations, performance and compensation cycles, international employment models, immigration matters, I-9 compliance, and employee-facing HR support.

The position requires a senior, hands-on HR professional who can build processes from the ground up while still managing detailed operational work such as open enrollment reminders, I-9 follow-up, policy writing, documentation, and issue intake. The role will work closely with leadership, recruiting, outside counsel, benefits carriers, brokers, and employees across multiple countries.

Core Responsibilities

• Own the HRIS and associated people systems used to support employee records, HR operations, benefits, compliance, and people processes.
• Administer benefits for employees in the United States, Canada, and other international locations, including open enrollment, carrier and broker escalations, HSA, FSA, COBRA, 401(k), and required annual notices.
• Own the employee handbook, HR wiki, and people policies, including writing missing policies and keeping documentation clear, current, and usable.
• Manage onboarding end to end, including cohort logistics, new hire paperwork, and the first-90-days employee experience.
• Own offboarding processes, including exit interviews and severance logistics.
• Serve as the company’s HR point of contact for employee concerns, questions, reports, and sensitive workplace matters.
• Take reports, run workplace investigations, and write clear findings documentation, including matters involving harassment.
• Build the intake, trust, and escalation process needed to make employee reporting clear, accessible, and low-risk.
• Run the biannual HR cycle on schedule, including performance check-ins, compensation review, and the employee engagement survey.
• Continuously improve the performance, compensation, and engagement cycle after each administration.
• Handle off-cycle compensation changes, promotions, relocations, international moves, and related compensation implications.
• Partner with recruiting on international employment models, including employer-of-record arrangements and contractor structures.
• Own the employment-based immigration program, including active O-1, L-1A, H-1B, and PERM matters from end to end.
• Manage outside immigration counsel on timelines, track renewals and expirations before they become urgent, and maintain visibility into immigration status needs.
• Own I-9 compliance and verification, including follow-up on required signatures and documentation.
• Create proactive trackers, workflows, and documentation so people operations issues are handled before they become emergencies.
• Write policies, investigation summaries, employee communications, and company-wide HR documentation in a clear, practical, documentation-first style.

Candidate Profile

• 5+ years of experience in people operations, human resources, or a people partner role.
• Experience working in an organization without a large HR team, where people operations ownership requires both strategic judgment and hands-on execution.
• Independent experience running workplace investigations, including harassment matters.
• Ability to write defensible documentation for investigations, HR decisions, policies, and employee communications.
• Deep experience administering United States benefits and leave programs.
• Global benefits experience is a bonus.
• Strong HRIS experience; Rippling experience is preferred.
• Direct, hands-on experience with employment-based immigration, including H-1B, O-1, L-1, and PERM matters.
• Experience running performance and compensation cycles for an employee population of 100+ people.
• Excellent judgment in situations without precedent, with the ability to document reasoning clearly.
• Ability to earn trust quickly, protect confidentiality, and handle sensitive employee matters with discretion.
• Proactive operating style, including a preference for building systems, trackers, and processes before issues become urgent.
• Comfort operating at a senior level while still completing detailed administrative work, such as open enrollment reminders and I-9 follow-up.
• Clear written communication skills for a documentation-first work environment.

Work and Pay Details

• Location: United States.
• Workplace: Remote.
• Employment Type: Full time.
• Department: People.
• Team Context: The broader organization has approximately 175 employees across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and other locations.
• Work Environment: Fully remote, high-documentation, low-meeting culture.
• Geographic Flexibility: Work from anywhere in the Americas.
• Base Salary: $110,000 to $160,000 per year.
• Equity: Equity is offered.

Benefits

• 100% covered health benefits for United States employees.
• Unlimited paid time off.
• 12 to 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Competitive base pay and equity.

Role Impact

• Define and build the first dedicated people function rather than inheriting an established HR model.
• Operate with direct access to leadership and meaningful latitude to decide how people operations should work.
• Create the people systems, policies, documentation, compliance practices, and employee support structure needed for a growing distributed organization.