Manager/Associate Director, People & Culture Operations

<div class="content-intro"><p><strong>About us:</strong></p> <p>Our purpose at Dispatch is to help create a world where all cancer patients can be cured. We’re humbled by the opportunity to work together as a team on some of the most pressing medical challenges of our time. </p> <p>To achieve our purpose, we are dedicated to engineering a universal treatment across solid tumors. We’re committed to the development of novel therapies, leveraging first-in-class technologies in viral vectors, universal targets, and novel cytokine biology. Our therapeutic approach has the potential to enable us to treat significant numbers of cancer patients and make a real and lasting impact on the world. </p> <p>Our company was founded on pioneering work carried out in the laboratories of Dr. Carl June (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Kole Roybal (University of California, San Francisco), Dr. Christopher Garcia (Stanford University) and Dr. Andy Minn (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center).</p> <p>At our company, you would become one of our early team members— not only playing a role in meeting our ambitious mission but also building our thriving culture.  We are determined to deliver with urgency to discover new solutions and we always stay dedicated to scientific rigor; we have an ownership mindset because each and every one of us is integral to our success.  Collaboration is core for us because we believe that by bringing people together with diverse perspectives, we make a stronger whole.  And, we show we care about our work and each other by sharing feedback - ultimately in service of our vision to empower people to continue forward with their lives – cancer free. </p> <p> </p></div><p><strong>The role:</strong></p> <p>Dispatch is seeking a Manager/Associate Director, People & Culture Operations to design and run the programs, processes, and systems that shape every stage of the employee experience. Reporting to the Chief People & Culture Officer, you will be a founding member of our small People & Culture team and own the operational backbone of the function, with particular depth in benefits, compensation, and HR systems.</p> <p>You will work with leaders and employees across every function at both of our sites (Philadelphia and San Francisco), collaborate with Finance and Legal, and manage relationships with external partners such as benefits brokers and carriers, payroll and HR technology vendors, compensation survey providers, and immigration counsel.</p> <p>This is a hands-on role that spans strategy and execution. One day you may be designing our annual salary planning cycle; the next, answering a benefits question or fixing a system workflow. This is a great fit for someone who loves building from the ground up, takes pride in getting the details right, and wants to see the direct impact of their work on a team pursuing an ambitious goal for patients.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Key responsibilities:</strong></p> <ul> <li><strong>Build the foundation: </strong>Design, implement, and continuously improve People & Culture processes, policies, and programs across the full employee lifecycle — right-sized for where we are today and built to scale thoughtfully as we grow.</li> <li><strong>Benefits: </strong>Own the design, and administration of our benefits programs (health and welfare, retirement, leave, and wellbeing), including annual renewal and open enrollment, broker and carrier management, market benchmarking, cost analysis, and compliance (e.g., ERISA, ACA, COBRA, Form 5500, nondiscrimination testing).</li> <li><strong>Compensation: </strong>Maintain our compensation infrastructure, including job architecture and leveling, salary ranges, market benchmarking, and equity guidelines in partnership with Finance and Legal; provide the pay ranges and market data that Talent Acquisition uses to develop offers; monitor pay equity and ensure compliance with pay transparency requirements.</li> <li><strong>Performance management & salary planning: </strong>Lead our annual performance and compensation cycles end-to-end, including process execution, merit and bonus modeling, equity refresh recommendations, manager tools and training, and employee communications.</li> <li><strong>HR systems & people data: </strong>Own our core People & Culture technology stack (HRIS, payroll, benefits administration, performance, and learning tools) as hands-on administrator — leading selection, implementation, integrations, data integrity, and reporting.</li> <li><strong>Offer acceptance to onboarding: </strong>Take the handoff from Talent Acquisition at offer acceptance and own everything that follows —new hire paperwork, and preboarding — through onboarding and the first 90 days, coordinating with hiring managers, IT, and Facilities across both sites to give every new hire an exceptional start.</li> <li><strong>AI-enabled operations:</strong> Use AI tools to work smarter across People & Culture, from automating routine workflows and improving employee self-service to drafting communications and speeding up analysis and reporting.</li> <li><strong>Employer brand support: </strong>Support the employer brand efforts led by Talent Acquisition by contributing content on our benefits, programs, and culture, and sharing insights from employee feedback and engagement data.</li> <li><strong>Employee inquiries: </strong>Serve as the go-to resource for employee questions on benefits, pay, leave, and policies, and build scalable self-service resources so an