Founding Senior HR Generalist / People Operations Lead

Confidential company; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Ersilia is seeking its first dedicated HR professional to own and strengthen core HR operations as the company grows. This hands-on role focuses on employee lifecycle management, compliance, and partnerships with benefits providers and employment counsel.

You will build scalable HR workflows, ensure payroll alignment with Finance, and partner with leadership on culture and employee experience while working in person in Dogpatch, SF.

Qualifications

• 4–8 years of HR experience, preferably in startups.
• Must have been the first or second HR hire at a VC-funded startup.
• Fluency in California employment law and in-person workplace considerations.
• Strong HRIS experience and ability to maintain a clean system of record.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end onboarding, offboarding, and lifecycle changes.
• Maintain employment records and ensure proper documentation.
• Manage benefits relationships and payroll collaboration with Finance.
• Keep HRIS (Rippling) accurate as the system of truth.
• Develop scalable HR workflows and partner with counsel when needed.
• Support broader people programs as the company grows.

Skills

Startup HR ownership

California employment law

HRIS (Rippling)

Payroll collaboration

Employee lifecycle management

In-person work readiness SF Bay Area

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)