People Operations Manager

The People Operations Manager will oversee the employee lifecycle at Quindar—from recruiting and onboarding through ongoing employee support and offboarding. This is a broad, hands-on role that combines human resources, hiring, event planning, workplace programs, and employment compliance.

You will serve as a trusted resource for employees and managers while ensuring that our people practices are organized, consistent, compliant, and aligned with Quindar’s culture. The right person enjoys creating structure, solving practical problems, and shifting comfortably between strategic projects and day-to-day execution.

This role reports to Business Operations Manager.

People Operations and Employee Experience

• Manage core people operations across the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, employee changes, leave, benefits administration, and offboarding.

• Serve as a responsive and trusted point of contact for employee questions.

• Maintain accurate employee records, policies, templates, and internal documentation.

• Coordinate benefits enrollment, renewals, and employee communications in partnership with brokers and vendors.

• Support performance-review, compensation-review, employee-engagement, and professional-development processes.

• Help managers navigate employee relations and people-management questions with consistency and good judgment.

• Build scalable processes that preserve a thoughtful, high-quality employee experience as Quindar grows.

• Manage relationships with relevant HR, benefits, payroll, recruiting, and employment vendors.

Compliance and Risk Management

• Maintain compliance with applicable federal, state, and local employment requirements.

• Coordinate required filings, notices, workplace postings, training, and recordkeeping.

• Keep employee handbooks and people policies current in partnership with legal counsel and external advisors.

• Support compliance related to hiring, worker classification, compensation, leave, benefits, accommodations, and terminations.

• Track changes in employment requirements and recommend updates to Quindar’s policies and practices.

• Support employment-related audits, diligence requests, and government or customer reporting requirements.

Recruiting and Hiring

• Partner with hiring managers to define roles, create job descriptions, and develop hiring plans.

• Manage job postings, applicant tracking, interview scheduling, and candidate communications.

• Source and screen candidates for selected roles.

• Design organized and equitable interview processes, including scorecards and interviewer guidance.

• Coordinate offers, reference checks, background checks, and pre-employment requirements.

• Monitor recruiting activity and help improve time-to-hire, candidate experience, and hiring quality.

• Develop talent pipelines and strengthen Quindar’s employer brand.

Events and Culture

• Plan and execute company offsites, team gatherings, celebrations, and other employee events.

• Manage event logistics, including schedules, venues, travel, lodging, catering, vendors, budgets, and communications.

• Develop programs and rituals that strengthen connection and collaboration across the company.

• Gather employee feedback and continually improve company events and the broader employee experience.

• Support internal communications and company-wide meetings as needed.

• 4+ years of experience in people operations, human resources, recruiting, or a related role.

• Experience independently managing multiple stages of the employee lifecycle.

• Experience in a startup, technology company, aerospace company, or other highly regulated environment.

• Working knowledge of U.S. employment practices and compliance requirements.

• Experience coordinating recruiting processes and delivering a strong candidate experience.

• Demonstrated ability to plan complex events, manage vendors, and stay within budget.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Excellent organization, follow-through, and attention to detail.

• Sound judgment and the ability to handle sensitive situations with empathy and discretion.

• A practical, service-oriented approach paired with a willingness to improve inefficient processes.

• Comfort working in a fast-moving environment where priorities may evolve.

• Proficiency with HRIS, applicant-tracking, payroll, benefits, and collaboration tools.

  Nice to Have

  • Experience supporting a distributed, hybrid, or multi-state workforce.

  • Experience working with a professional employer organization or employer-of-record provider.

  • Familiarity with immigration coordination, government contracting requirements, or security-related workforce processes.

  • Experience implementing or migrating HR systems.

  • Relevant certification, such as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR.

• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicants must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful permanent resident (also known as a green card holder), (iii) refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

• We work in a cutting-edge industry, and you will have the opportunity to be part of a small team with a direct impact on the success of our customers’ space missions.

• We take work-life balance seriously. We require employees to take at least 15 days off, provide unlimited PTO, and observe most U.S. federal holidays.

• Mental health is just as important as physical health, so we provide quarterly health and wellness benefits.

• We provide comprehensive health insurance for employees and their families, with 100% coverage for employees.

• We encourage employees to save for retirement and provide a 4% 401(k) match.

• Each year, we hold a four-day company offsite. Previous locations include San Francisco, Palm Springs, Nashville, Denver, Santa Fe, New Orleans, San Diego, Bozeman, and New York City.

• Our culture and company are evolving. You will play an important role in creating the next major—or minor—version!