People Operations Specialist

Role Summary 

We are seeking a highly accountable, data-driven People Operations Specialist to own and elevate the operational foundation of our People function. This is a highly visible role that delivers meaningful, company-wide impact through ownership of payroll, benefits, compliance, HRIS, people operations reporting, and employee lifecycle workflows—including onboarding and offboarding. 

This role is ideal for someone who loves accountability, earns trust through execution, and gets energized by building and improving processes—especially where systems are manual, underdeveloped, or non-existent. You will play a critical role during a period of cultural and operational transformation, helping ensure our People practices are scalable, reliable, and clearly communicated as the company grows. 

Reporting to the Director, Total Rewards, you will be trusted as a primary owner of core people operations and the communication surrounding them. While operational in nature, this role carries significant visibility, ownership, and value impact across the organization. This position is fully remote. 

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

Payroll, Compliance & Risk Management 

• End-to-End Payroll Ownership: Own the full-cycle payroll process for a multi-state U.S. workforce, ensuring accuracy across timesheets, tax withholdings, deductions, and filings. 

• Compliance & Audits: Serve as the point of ownership for payroll and benefits-related compliance, including year-end reporting, workers’ compensation audits, unemployment coordination, and 401(k) compliance support. 

• Operational Rigor: Establish and maintain clear controls, documentation, and timelines to ensure payroll and compliance processes are predictable, accurate, and audit-ready. 

• Process Improvement: Identify manual, fragmented, or high-risk processes and lead improvements that reduce errors, increase efficiency, and support scale. 

Benefits Administration & Vendor Management 

• Benefits Operations Ownership: Administer and maintain employee benefits programs, including medical, dental, vision, mental health, and ancillary offerings. 

• Open Enrollment Leadership: Own the end-to-end open enrollment process, including system configuration, data validation, employee communications, and post-enrollment reconciliation. 

• Vendor & Broker Partnership: Manage relationships with benefits vendors and brokers, proactively resolving issues and ensuring a high-quality employee experience. 

HRIS, Data Integrity & Reporting 

• HRIS Ownership: Act as the operational owner of the HRIS, ensuring data integrity, workflow accuracy, and effective system utilization across payroll, benefits, onboarding, offboarding, and performance management. 

• Workflow Design & Automation: Build, improve, and document HR workflows that replace manual or ad hoc processes with scalable, repeatable solutions. 

• People Reporting: Partner with the Director, Total Rewards to deliver accurate, timely people operations reporting, including headcount, payroll, compliance, and benefits data. 

• Data Stewardship: Ensure people data is clean, reliable, and trusted across the company. 

Onboarding, Offboarding & Orientation 

• Onboarding Operations Ownership: Own and continuously improve end-to-end onboarding workflows, ensuring all administrative, system, and compliance steps are completed accurately and on time. 

• Orientation Sessions: Plan, coordinate, and facilitate new hire onboarding orientation sessions, partnering with People leadership and cross-functional stakeholders as needed. 

• Onboarding Surveys & Check-Ins: Own onboarding survey execution and new hire check-ins, analyzing feedback to identify trends, gaps, and improvement opportunities. 

• Onboarding Insights: Translate onboarding feedback into actionable insights and recommendations to improve the new hire experience and early engagement. 

• Offboarding Workflows: Own offboarding processes to ensure system access removal, documentation, and compliance requirements are executed consistently. 

Operational Communications & Visibility 

• People Ops Communications: Own clear, timely communications related to payroll, benefits, compliance requirements, HRIS updates, onboarding processes, and operational changes. 

• Expectation Setting: Translate people operations updates into plain-language communications that build trust, reduce confusion, and reinforce accountability. 

• Trusted Operator: Serve as a visible, reliable point of contact for people operations—known for follow-through, accuracy, and sound judgment. 

Required Experience & Skills 

• Experience: 2+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, or Payroll & Benefits administration, ideally in a high-growth or remote-first environment. 

• Multi-State Expertise (preferred): Strong knowledge of U.S. payroll, tax, and compliance requirements across multiple states. 

• Systems & Tools: Advanced proficiency with HRIS platforms (UKG Pro or UKG Ready preferred) and strong Excel skills, including reconciliations and reporting. 

• Ownership Mindset: Thrives with responsibility, autonomy, and trust; takes pride in being the person others rely on. 

• Process Builder: Enjoys creating structure, improving workflows, and bringing order to manual or undefined processes. 

• Clear Communicator: Able to confidently explain payroll, benefits, onboarding, and compliance topics in a calm, empathetic, and accessible way. 

• Judgment & Discretion: Handles sensitive information with care, accuracy, and professionalism. 

What Success Looks Like in This Role 

• Payroll, benefits, and compliance processes are accurate, timely, and trusted 

• Onboarding orientation sessions are well-run, consistent, and clearly understood 

• Onboarding surveys and check-ins generate actionable insights that improve early employee experience 

• Manual or ad hoc people operations processes are replaced with scalable systems 

• HRIS data is clean, audit-ready, and trusted by leadership 

• Employees feel informed and supported through clear, thoughtful people operations communications 

• Leaders see this role as critical to operational excellence and cultural transformation