People Operations Generalist

Abacum•New York, NY

11d•Hybrid

About The Position

Abacum is seeking a People Operations Generalist to join its People team and support its growing North American organization. This is a hands-on role with ownership across the US and Canada, focusing on payroll, employee lifecycle management, compliance, benefits, office management, and operational execution. The Generalist will manage key People processes from onboarding through off-boarding, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and documentation. A significant part of the role involves managing payroll operations for both the US and Canada, requiring an understanding of cross-border operational needs and the ability to partner with payroll providers, Finance, and external advisors. The role involves close collaboration with the Global People Manager, Finance, external payroll providers, and managers across the company. This is a hybrid role based in the New York City office, requiring presence Tuesday-Thursday.

Requirements

Hands-on payroll experience in both the US and Canada is essential.
5+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations or a similar generalist role.
Strong experience managing employee lifecycle processes including onboarding, compensation changes, leaves and offboarding.
Practical knowledge of US and Canadian People Operations, including payroll, benefits, employment documentation and leave administration.
Experience working with external payroll providers, PEOs, or similar partners.
Strong HR systems, data and process mindset.
Strong judgement and discretion when handling confidential or sensitive employee matters.
Comfortable taking ownership and improving processes in a fast-growing international environment.

Responsibilities

Own People Operations across the full employee lifecycle for employees in the US and Canada, including onboarding, employee changes, leaves, documentation and off-boarding.
Ensure employee records and documentation remain accurate and consistent across systems.
Own the operational preparation and review of payroll across both the United States and Canada.
Manage payroll inputs including new hires, terminations, salary changes, variable compensation, benefits and other employee changes.
Partner with payroll providers and Finance to ensure every payroll cycle is accurate, compliant and completed on time.
Identify and resolve payroll discrepancies and continuously improve payroll processes.
Act as an operational point of reference for employees and managers across the US and Canada on payroll, benefits, PTO, leaves, employee documentation and People processes.
Maintain awareness of relevant employment requirements across both countries and coordinate with external advisors when specialist guidance is needed.
Translate regulatory requirements into practical and scalable internal processes.
Be the go-to representative for the People team in the NYC office and provide on the ground support for the CEO and Chief of Staff.
Coordinate onboarding requirements, employment documentation and operational setup for new hires.
Manage voluntary and involuntary employee exits, including payroll, benefits, documentation and system updates.
Ensure every transition is handled accurately, consistently and with the appropriate level of care and compliance.
Maintain accurate employee data across our HR systems and internal tools.
Own recurring People Operations workflows and documentation.
Build and maintain clear SOPs and scalable processes.
Identify opportunities to simplify or automate manual processes.
Support the administration of employee benefits across the US and Canada.
Act as a trusted point of contact for employees on People Operations questions.
Provide clear and practical guidance while maintaining confidentiality, consistency and professional judgement.