About the role We're hiring a Senior Manager, People Operations to own HR end to end: payroll, benefits, employment tax, compliance, employee relations and our HRIS. You'll be our senior-most HR leader, reporting to the Chief of Staff and partnering closely with our hands-on CEO. Much of our workforce is global contractors, so you'll support both U.S. employees and an international contractor population. This is a hands-on role. Much of our People foundation was built quickly, and we've inherited processes that work but need attention. Your job is to keep day-to-day operations accurate and reliable while steadily improving how we work, so the function matures with the business. Best fit: an experienced HR or People Ops manager who has done the hands-on work and is ready to own the whole function. There's room to grow toward “Director” level as the function and scope grows. What you'll own Payroll, benefits and tax • Run multi-state payroll, audits and reconciliations, and resolve issues quickly • Own benefits administration, annual renewal, open enrollment and broker relationships, with clear employee communication • Keep employment tax filings and registrations accurate and on time, including Q4 filings and W-2s • Manage compliance for our global contractor population HRIS and systems • Lead our in-flight migration to BambooHR: data cleanup, testing, parallel payroll runs, cutover and adoption • Own PeopleOps systems, vendors and budget • Keep employee data clean and audit-ready Employee relations and compliance • Handle HR cases: investigations, corrective action, performance issues, accommodations and terminations • Coach managers through sensitive situations, and bring in outside counsel when needed • Own the handbook, policies and compliance calendar (I-9, EEO-1, ACA, leave laws, postings) Employee lifecycle • Own onboarding through offboarding, including new-hire orientation • Turn manual, inconsistent processes into documented, repeatable ones • Partner with leaders on performance management, role clarity and org design Leadership and partnership • Lead and develop 2 PeopleOps Generalists (global contractors): Payroll & Benefits, and HR Operations • Work daily with IT Support, Facilities and Recruiting on onboarding, offboarding, access and hiring • Act as HR Business Partner to department leaders, especially Sales and Customer Success • Partner directly with the CEO and leadership team, bringing data, risks and clear recommendations What success looks like First 90 days • Year-end payroll and tax work (Q4 filings, W-2s) is completed accurately and on time • Benefits renewal and open enrollment run smoothly, and employees understand any changes before they enroll • Every open HR case is triaged and documented, with outside counsel in place for complex matters • The BambooHR migration has a clear plan with owners, dates and risks • Learn the entire payroll process • Regular 1:1s are in place with your team, and you've built working relationships with leadership and partner teams By 6 months • BambooHR is live, data is clean and payroll runs without errors • One onboarding and offboarding process runs across PeopleOps, IT, Facilities and Recruiting • HR cases follow a consistent process, and managers come to People Ops early • Performance management and other lifecycle processes are documented and in use • Your team is stable, engaged and spending less time firefighting What you bring Must-haves • Minimum of 6 years of progressive HR / People Operations experience, including 2+ years at a startup or high-growth company with 100+ employees • Led at least one full HRIS or payroll system migration from kickoff through go-live • Hands-on ownership of payroll, benefits and employment tax compliance • Deep employee relations experience, including investigations and terminations • Experience in B2B SaaS or another fast-growing, sales-led tech company • Experience managing people, contractors and vendors, including global contractors • A track record of building buy-in at the executive level and turning manual processes into scalable ones with limited tools • A go-getter who advocates at the right time: when you hear "no" or "not yet," you come back with a clear Phase I, II, III plan that matures People Ops step by step • Growth mindset: curious, coachable and quick to adapt Nice-to-haves • Experience with Gusto and/or BambooHR • HRBP experience with high-volume Sales or Customer Success teams • Multi-state and international workforce experience • SHRM-SCP, SPHR or similar certification What we offer • Full transparency: the base salary range for this role is $115,000 to $140,000, based on experience, with room to grow over time into Director level role • Medical, dental and vision coverage through SANA, Beam and VSP • 15 days of PTO for vacation, mental wellness and sick time that grows with tenure, plus 10 paid holidays • 8 weeks of paid parental leave, plus 4 additional weeks through FMLA • 401(k) with a company match of up to 3% • Real ownership: you'll be our senior-most HR leader, with a seat at the table and room to grow toward Director • Full-scope experience you won't get at a bigger company: payroll, benefits, ER, systems and team leadership in one role • Visible impact: the processes you build become how the company runs, and leadership will see it • Your choice of our Austin or Charlotte office Is this role right for you? We want to be upfront about what this job is really like. What to expect • A busy, fast-paced, hybrid role in our Austin or Charlotte office. This is not a 9-to-5 job. • No polished onboarding program. You'll jump in, learn our history and existing processes quickly, and apply your expertise early. • A limited budget and lean tech stack. You'll find scrappy ways to get things done, build the case for better systems, and know when an investment needs to wait. • You'll hear "not yet." The people who do well here come back with a phased plan (what we can do now, w