People Operations & Systems Specialist

Relay; Toronto; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Relay is hiring a People Operations & Systems Specialist in Canada to close operational gaps and build the technical infrastructure enabling the People team to operate efficiently. You will own day-to-day People operations, maintain end-to-end data accuracy, and build a self-serve analytics layer across systems like Rippling and Notion.

You will map processes, determine what can be automated, and lead a roadmap while coordinating with IT on integrations.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years of hands-on experience owning and improving systems and tooling.
• Experience shipping automations that others depend on.
• Comfort configuring and integrating People tech and data sources.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day People operational work: onboarding/offboarding logistics, systems admin, employee data updates, and ad hoc People requests.
• Own People data end to end: keep headcount, attrition, compensation, and hiring metrics accurate and fast to pull; build self-serve dashboard in Rippling or connected tooling.
• Map and optimize People processes end-to-end: onboarding, offboarding, employee changes, benefits enrollment, performance cycles.
• Build an automation roadmap and drive delivery; identify what can be automated vs. needs human-in-the-loop.
• Evaluate workflow automation platforms and recommend best-fit solutions.
• Manage People tech stack integrations and vendor relationships; surface IT collaborations when needed.
• Track ROI on People tech investments and document system configurations in Notion.
• Leverage AI tools to automate recurring workflows and surface insights without manual work.

Skills

Data analysis

Automation mindset

HRIS

ATS

Tools

Rippling

Gusto

Ashby

CultureAmp

Notion

Google Suite

Claude

ChatGPT

Jira

Job description

• Our People Team exists to build Relay into a company high-performing, ambitious people actively choose and a place where they do career-defining work
• We are hiring a People Operations & Systems Specialist to close our operational gap and build the technical infrastructure that lets the People team operate at a fundamentally different level of efficiency going forward
• Right now, two problems sit on top of each other
• First: our People tech stack is fragmented, data lives in multiple systems with limited connectivity, manual handoffs fill the gaps, and there’s no single source of truth for People data
• Second: our operational and coordination work (onboarding logistics, systems admin, day-to-day People requests) currently has no dedicated owner, which means it’s landing on people whose job is meant to be something else
• This role exists to solve both, in sequence. You’ll own the operational work directly from day one, and as you build the automation and systems layer underneath it, that same work should increasingly run itself. The goal is not to add process, but to eliminate it
• Own day-to-day People operational work: onboarding/offboarding logistics, systems admin, employee data updates, and ad hoc People requests
• Own People data end to end: keep headcount, attrition, compensation, and hiring metrics accurate and fast to pull from day one, build that into a self-serve dashboard system in Rippling (or connected tooling) as the year progresses, run analyses that surface trends and risks, and prepare ad hoc reporting for board materials and executive updates in partnership with People leadership
• Be the responsive point of contact for operational asks that don’t need a People Business Partner or specialist judgment call
• Document current-state processes with clear eyes as you run them, building the foundation for what comes next
• Map every People process end to end: onboarding, offboarding, employee changes, benefits enrollment, performance cycles, and more
• Identify what can be fully automated, what needs a human in the loop and why, and what is manual today only because no one has built the solution yet
• Build a prioritized automation roadmap and own delivery against it
• Evaluate workflow automation and integration platforms and make a recommendation on what we should adopt
• Own our full People tech stack: HRIS, ATS, onboarding, employee experience, and benefits tools, with a mandate to make them work together. Current stack: Rippling, Gusto, Ashby, CultureAmp, Notion, Google Suite, Claude, ChatGPT, Jira, and various benefits/insurance provider platforms
• Build and maintain integrations using native connectors, automation tooling, and lightweight custom solutions where gaps exist, partnering with IT to surface underutilized capability before we add anything new
• Own vendor relationships across the stack: renewals, escalations, utilization tracking, and contract management, and lead structured evaluations with clear criteria when new tooling is needed
• Track ROI on People tech investments, flag what isn’t earning its cost, and own documentation on system configurations, integrations, and decisions via Notion
• Use AI tools actively and practically, not as a novelty, to automate recurring workflows, reduce manual reporting, and surface insights without human intervention
• Identify where AI can replace manual judgment in low-stakes, high-frequency People tasks and build those workflows
• Stay close to what’s new in HR/People tech and AI tooling and experiment quickly

Benefits

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity: Relay employees are Relay owners, complete with equity and a competitive salary. Since 2023, 66%+ of employees have received salary increases, with multiple new team members joining just last year.
• Social connection: We believe in celebrating our wins with two annual company-wide get-togethers, quarterly team events, happy hours, and special events and networking opportunities with industry leaders.
• Personal and professional growth: Through ongoing feedback, mentorship, and coaching, work with peers and leaders who are invested in your growth and success. Even with more than half of our team joining in the last 12 months, almost 20% have received promotions in the last year alone.
• Parental leave with top-up: We offer 12 weeks off with a 100% salary top-up for all full-time employees, regardless of location, and accessible for all parents: birthing, non-birthing, and adoptive
• Comprehensive health benefits: Enjoy full health benefits from day one: no probation period required. We offer flexible Health or Wellness Spending Accounts and medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents.
• Hybrid work environment: We value meaningful collaboration and connection at our Toronto office three days per week, with lunch, snacks, and beverages on us.
• Top-tier equipment: As a Mac-first company, our Toronto offices have everything you need to produce your best work comfortably, from multiple screens to ergonomic seating.
• Flexible vacation and time off: Every team member starts with 15 vacation days and 5 flex days to use as needed, plus an extra week of office closure during the end-of-year holidays.
• Dog-friendly space: Can dogs really make you happy and healthy? We don’t know for sure, but since we don’t want to chance it, our office is 100% floof-friendly.
• Award-winning workplace: As a winner of CB Insights’ Fintech 100, Deloitte Canada’s Technology Fast 50, Forbes Fintech 50, and the CIX Top 10 Growth Award, Relay is a recognized innovative and high-growth company.

You are genuinely data-minded: you can pull, clean, model, and present data without someone checking your work, and you find patterns other people miss

You care about employee experience and understand that the quality of the operational layer is what shapes how people actually feel about working somewhere

You are curious about the technical layer underneath the tools you use. You may not have built custom integrations from scratch yet, but you’d learn what you needed to if the problem required it, and you’d find that interesting

You have 2-4 years of hands-on experience owning and improving systems and tooling, and you’ve shipped automations that other people now depend on. The specific tools matter less than your ability to transfer it to whatever stack Relay adopts

You’re comfortable owning both the operational grind and the systems work that eliminates it. You don’t see the coordination work as beneath you. You’re motivated by the fact that you’ll personally feel the pain points you’re automating

You are comfortable working with People technology at a configuration and integration level. You know where to look when something breaks, you form a view on what to do about it, and you act on it

You’re encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn’t perfectly match the job description — your perspective and drive matter more. We welcome diverse backgrounds and people who think critically, challenge the status quo, and want to help small businesses thrive