Founding Senior HR Generalist / People Operations Lead

Ersilia; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Ersilia is seeking its first dedicated HR professional in the SF Bay Area to own day-to-day HR operations, including onboarding, compliance, and benefits coordination. This hands-on role requires independent work and a mindset for building scalable processes.

You will partner with Finance on payroll, manage employee lifecycle, and gradually lead culture and employee experience initiatives as the company grows.

Qualifications

• Must have venture-backed startup HR exposure and be the first dedicated HR hire.
• 4–8 years HR experience, with a background in payroll and benefits.
• Fluency in California employment law and in-person workplace considerations.

Responsibilities

• Own the full employee lifecycle from onboarding to offboarding.
• Maintain employment documents and ensure records accuracy.
• Keep Rippling as the source of truth for HR data.
• Serve as primary internal owner for HR processes with external partners.
• Apply California employment law to guide HR decisions, including in-person workplace requirements.
• Handle transitions, terminations, and severance with care and compliance.
• Partner with Finance on payroll accuracy and compliance.
• Document scalable HR workflows and standards.
• As the function matures, tackle broader People initiatives (culture, manager enablement, employee experience).

Skills

First HR hire experience in venture‑f背

4–8 years HR experience

California employment law fluency

HRIS proficiency

Payroll fundamentals

Employee lifecycle management

Tools

Rippling

Job description

About the Role

Our Client is hiring its first dedicated HR professional to own and strengthen core HR operations as the company continues to grow. This is a greenfield opportunity to bring clear ownership and scalable processes to a function currently shared across Operations and the business. The role is hands-on and execution-focused. You will own the day-to-day HR function, with emphasis on employee lifecycle management, compliance, and effective partnership with benefits providers and employment counsel. Building strong operational foundations is the immediate priority. Once fundamentals are in place, there is an appetite to expand into broader people initiatives such as culture, manager enablement, and employee experience. The right person is comfortable operating independently, enjoys bringing order to complexity, and is excited to be the first HR hire with meaningful ownership and room to grow as the company grows.

What You'll Own

• Own the full employee lifecycle: onboarding end to end (equipment, accounts, orientation, first-week experience), role changes, offboarding, and terminations
• Maintain employment documentation and records, including offer letters, employment agreements, and separation materials
• Keep Rippling clean, current, and accurate as the source of truth
• Serve as the primary internal owner for HR processes, including when working with external vendors and outside counsel
• Apply working knowledge of California employment law to guide HR decisions, especially around in-person workplace requirements
• Handle employee transitions, terminations, and severance with consistency, care, and sound judgment
• Serve as the go-to owner for benefits administration (health, retirement) and manage relationships with brokers and providers
• Partner closely with Finance, and sometimes take the lead, on payroll accuracy and compliance
• Build and document HR workflows that scale with the business, introducing structure where processes are currently informal or evolving
• As the function matures, take on broader people programs (performance management, manager enablement, employee experience)

Requirements

Must-Have

• Experience at a venture-backed company with ≥$10M in funding. This experience should ideally be the candidate’s most recent role
• 4–8 years of HR experience. Flexibility for candidates whose early career was in office management or recruiting coordination before moving into HR.
• Prior experience as a first or second HR hire at a Series A or B, venture-backed startup. One-of-one or one-of-two ownership is the signal.
• California employment law fluency, with familiarity with in-person workplace considerations.
• Strong HRIS fluency (Rippling a plus) and ability to keep the system clean as the source of truth.
• Strong understanding of payroll fundamentals, with experience partnering with or leading payroll providers.
• Demonstrated experience handling employee transitions, terminations, and severance in a thoughtful, compliant way.
• Comfortable being the primary HR owner in a fast-moving environment, with the discernment to bring in counsel or partners when the stakes require it.
• Based in the SF Bay Area and willing to work in-person 5 days a week in Dogpatch.

Nice-to-Have

• Rippling specifically
• Experience supporting a significant sales team (OTE, accelerators, multipliers, commission complexity)
• Multi-state or international employment exposure
• Experience building or supporting performance management processes
• Prior exposure to broader People Ops work (manager enablement, engagement, culture programs)