HR Ops Specialist

Higgsfield • San Francisco, CA

3d • $100,000 - $125,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

We’re looking for an HR Operations Specialist to help build and scale the people infrastructure behind a rapidly growing, global organization. This role sits between day-to-day HR administration and HR Operations leadership. While our HR Coordinator supports routine administrative tasks and employee requests, the HR Operations Specialist will own more complex operational workflows, HR systems, benefits and payroll coordination, compliance processes, and process improvement. You’ll work closely with HR, Finance, Legal, IT, and external partners to ensure our People operations are accurate, scalable, and built to support continued growth. We’re looking for a strong operator who can take ownership of a problem, understand how the pieces connect, and build a better process—not someone who simply follows an existing checklist.

Requirements

• 3–5+ years of experience in HR Operations, People Operations, or a similar role.
• Strong working knowledge of core U.S. HR operations, including payroll, benefits, onboarding/offboarding, employee changes, and compliance.
• Hands-on experience administering and improving an HRIS; experience with Rippling is a plus.
• Experience building or improving HR workflows rather than solely executing established processes.
• Strong systems orientation and comfort working with HR data, reporting, and automation.
• Exceptional attention to detail, particularly when working with payroll, compensation, benefits, and employee data.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Ability to independently investigate issues, identify root causes, and drive them through resolution.
• Strong judgment and discretion when handling sensitive employee information.
• Comfortable working in a fast-growing environment where processes are still being built.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Rippling

Responsibilities

• Manage more complex employee changes, including compensation updates, promotions, employment status changes, transfers, and organizational changes.
• Partner with managers and cross-functional teams to resolve employee lifecycle issues and operational escalations.
• Develop scalable workflows, documentation, and controls as the company grows.
• Design and improve workflows, automations, permissions, custom fields, reporting, and system configurations.
• Maintain strong data integrity and establish processes for regularly auditing employee information.
• Build reporting and dashboards for headcount, employee changes, benefits, and other People metrics.
• Identify manual processes that can be automated or eliminated.
• Partner with IT, Finance, and other teams on integrations and system improvements.
• Partner with Finance and payroll providers to ensure employee changes are accurately reflected in payroll.
• Support the administration and ongoing improvement of employee benefits programs.
• Coordinate open enrollment, qualifying life events, employee eligibility changes, and carrier/vendor processes.
• Manage operational relationships with benefits and HR vendors and help troubleshoot escalated issues.
• Build processes and controls that improve payroll and benefits accuracy as headcount grows.
• Support HR compliance requirements across the employee lifecycle, including required documentation, recordkeeping, and employment changes.
• Partner with Legal and external advisors on HR compliance initiatives.
• Support state registrations and other operational requirements associated with employing people across multiple jurisdictions.
• Help manage operational processes for international employees, contractors, and global employment partners.
• Maintain organized, audit-ready HR records and documentation.
• Identify compliance or process risks and escalate them appropriately.
• Build and maintain HR playbooks, SOPs, workflows, and internal documentation.
• Evaluate existing processes and redesign them to be more efficient, scalable, and employee-friendly.
• Establish clear ownership and handoffs between HR, Recruiting, Finance, IT, Legal, and managers.
• Create controls and checkpoints for high-risk HR processes.
• Use data and operational trends to identify recurring issues and recommend solutions.
• Take ownership of HR Operations projects from problem identification through implementation.

Benefits

• The opportunity to work on ambitious AI products alongside a highly experienced, fast-moving, and international team.
• Significant ownership, direct impact, and opportunities for professional growth as the company scales.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed