Human Resources Manager

Grant, Genovese & Baratta, LLP; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Parking

Gym in building

Paid professional development

SHRM or PIHRA membership

Job summary

Grant, Genovese & Baratta, LLP, Irvine, CA, is seeking an experienced HR leader to own the full HR lifecycle for a 65-person firm in person. You will drive recruiting, onboarding, policy creation, compliance, benefits administration, and employee relations with strong coordination from accounting and operations.

The role demands hands-on ownership, strategic judgment, and the ability to implement scalable practices in a boutique, professional services setting.

Qualifications

• Five+ years of hands-on HR or personnel-management experience across multiple HR functions.
• Civilian HR experience in California preferred; military personnel-management experience welcome.

Responsibilities

• Own the full HR lifecycle for a 65-person law firm, including recruiting, onboarding, policy development and compliance.
• Administer benefits, leaves, and open enrollment; manage performance reviews and compensation benchmarking.
• Lead employee relations, investigations, and documentation; ensure California pay-transparency compliance.
• Develop and maintain employee handbook, policies, and state-specific addenda; coordinate with accounting and operations.

Skills

HR leadership

California employment law

Recruiting & onboarding

Employee relations

HRIS & payroll

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR or related field

HR certifications (SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP/PHR/SPHR/PHRca)

Tools

HRIS

Payroll platform

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Irvine, California ·Full-time · In person

The short version

You will lead the human resources function for a 65-person law firm, end to end: recruiting and hiring, onboarding, offboarding, policies, compliance, benefits, leaves, employee relations, performance reviews, compensation benchmarking and the firm's internal events calendar. The full HR cycle is yours to manage, and the firm's accounting and operations departments support you in running it.

This is a role for a seasoned HR professional. We are looking for someone who has done the full cycle with their own hands: ideally someone who has been running one part of HR inside a larger organization and is ready to run all of it, someone who already leads HR at a firm our size and wants a better one, or a military veteran who ran a personnel management function and is ready for the civilian equivalent. The role reports jointly to the firm's Chief Financial Officer, Rick Tucker, and its Executive Director of Operations, Jorge Santisteban. The Managing Partners are the final authority on every people decision. Your clients are the firm's 65 people, 30 of them lawyers.

About the firm

Grant, Genovese & Baratta, LLP is a law firm in Irvine, California, founded in 1999. We are about 65 people: 30 attorneys and the paralegals, legal assistants and business professionals who work alongside them, in three practice groups.

• Insurance Litigation: coverage and insurance-related disputes.
• Corporate & M&A: privately held companies and their owners through the life of a business: formation, financing, commercial contracts, real estate, acquisitions and exit.
• Business Litigation: commercial disputes for businesses and their principals, in court and in arbitration.

We are not a volume practice. We are a boutique firm with a white-glove standard: quality, discretion, professionalism and care for our clients come first, and the people who deliver that standard deserve the same care. That means a workplace that is professional, fair and safe, and that still knows how to enjoy itself. Big-firm depth with small-firm attention.

HR has so far been shared among the people who run the firm. The firm has grown past that, and this role exists so that our people have a professional whose entire job is them.

What you will own

Human resources at this firm, in its entirety, is yours. The ten areas below are yours to lead and run, start to finish: the process, the judgment and the results. Accounting and operations support you with the pieces that are theirs (payroll processing, invoices, systems, workspace, event logistics) so that you can run HR properly. The function itself does not move.

1. Recruiting and hiring

• Take every search from the first conversation with the hiring partner to the signed offer, for staff and attorney positions alike.
• Define the role with the partner or supervisor: job description, requirements, salary range within the firm's bands, and a realistic timeline.
• Source candidates directly through our networks, LinkedIn, professional associations, law schools and paralegal programs; engage outside recruiters only when a search warrants it, and manage their terms and fees.
• Screen résumés, conduct first interviews, run structured interviews with the hiring team, check references, coordinate background checks, and prepare and negotiate offers within approved ranges. The partners decide; you make the process fast, fair, consistent and documented.
• Give every candidate the experience our clients get: prompt replies, clear next steps, and a respectful answer whether it is yes or no.
• Keep a bench: the recruiters, schools and networks that matter in Orange County legal hiring, and a pipeline of people worth calling before a seat is empty.

2. Onboarding

• Complete offer letters, background checks, I-9 verification, new-hire documentation and benefits enrollment before the start date.
• Run a structured first week: an orientation on how the firm works, who to go to and the standards expected.
• Conduct and document 30-, 60- and 90-day check-ins with every new hire.
• Keep a current written job description for every position in the firm.
• Administer the medical, dental, vision and 401(k) plans: enrollments, changes, terminations, COBRA, and the carrier and broker relationships.
• Run open enrollment every year, on schedule, and communicate it so that employees understand their options.
• Benchmark the plan before each renewal and bring leadership a recommendation 90 days ahead: what we offer, what it costs and how it compares.

4. Performance and compensation

• Design and run an annual review cycle for staff, with goals, feedback and documentation.
• Coach supervisors and partners on giving feedback, and on performance improvement plans when they are needed.
• Benchmark staff compensation every year and present market data and recommendations to leadership.
• Maintain the firm's salary ranges and keep every posting compliant with California pay-transparency requirements.

5. Employee relations

• Be the first point of contact for employee concerns, complaints and conflicts, and address small matters before they become large ones.
• Conduct workplace investigations promptly, thoroughly and in writing: directly where appropriate, with outside counsel where warranted.
• Advise partners and supervisors on performance concerns, coaching, corrective action and documentation, candidly, including when it is not what they hoped to hear.
• Expect your internal clients, who are attorneys, to engage closely with your reasoning. Preparation, precision and composure will serve you well.

6. Policies and the employee handbook

• Maintain the handbook as a current, readable document that complies with California law and with the law of every other state where the firm has employees, with state-specific addenda where required, reviewed each January as the law changes and whenever circumstances require.
• Track the employment-law requirements of each state where we have people (leave, pay, notice and posting rules differ) and keep the firm compliant in all of them, not only in California.
• Draft the policies the firm lacks, retire the ones no longer followed, and keep written policy aligned with actual practice.

7. Compliance

• Wage and hour: exempt and non-exempt classification, timekeeping, meal and rest periods, overtime and final pay.
• Leaves and accommodations: FMLA, CFRA, Pregnancy Disability Leave, paid sick leave, coordination with PFL and SDI, bereavement and jury duty, and the interactive process for reasonable accommodations.
• Training and notices: harassment-prevention training on the statutory cycle, required postings, the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, the Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, workers' compensation claims and return-to-work.
• Records: personnel files, I-9s and records retention maintained to an audit-ready standard.
• The calendar: a compliance calendar covering federal, California and every other applicable state requirement, that leadership can see and that is never missed.

8. HR data and payroll coordination

• Own the HR record of hires, changes, leaves and terminations, and send each payroll cycle's changes to accounting on time and correct, so that the HRIS and the payroll register agree every cycle.
• Keep the HRIS, the org chart and the headcount report current.
• Deliver a monthly HR dashboard to leadership: headcount, turnover, open positions, leaves and compliance status.

9. Culture and internal events

• Own the calendar of internal events (the holiday party, the summer event, work anniversaries and milestones) and the recognition and wellness programs around them. Plan them, budget them, run them, and be present.
• Keep the workplace one where people feel respected, safe and glad to be here, and bring leadership ideas for making it better.

10. Offboarding

• Handle voluntary and involuntary separations, attorney and staff, correctly: final pay within California's timing rules, benefits and COBRA notices, same-day termination of systems access, return of firm property and closure of files.
• Plan each separation with the responsible partner and supervisor, document it, and conduct it with dignity.
• Run exit interviews that produce usable information, and an orderly handoff of the departing person's work.

Where the support comes from

• Accounting processes payroll, reconciles benefits invoices, administers the 401(k) with you, and supplies the pay data for compensation work.
• Operations handles systems access, equipment, workspace setup, facilities and event logistics for onboarding, offboarding and internal events.
• Leadership and outside counsel: the CFO and the Executive Director of Operations are your day-to-day partners; the Managing Partners back the function with the authority and budget it needs; outside employment counsel is available when a matter calls for it.

They carry the work that is theirs; the HR function is yours.

How we will measure the work

We will agree the specific targets with you in your first 60 days and review them every quarter. These are the measures we have in mind, so that you know what success looks like before you apply.

The standards

• Discretion: you will know everyone's salary, everyone's leave and everyone's concerns. None of it leaves your office.
• Responsiveness: every employee question is answered within one business day; every complaint is acknowledged within 24 hours.
• Documentation: if it is not written down, it did not happen. Every decision, conversation and matter is documented to a standard outside counsel would appreciate.
• Judgment: you know what to decide, what to ask and what to elevate, and you elevate early rather than late.
• Ownership: the responsibilities in this posting are yours to carry through, with the support described above.

The KPIs

• Recruiting and hiring: time-to-fill for staff and attorney positions, offer acceptance rate, cost per hire and 90-day retention of new hires, tracked and reported; every candidate who interviews receives a response within five business days of a decision.
• Onboarding: 100% of new hires have paperwork, benefits enrollment and systems access completed before day one; 30-, 60- and 90-day check-ins completed and documented for every hire.
• Benefits: open enrollment completed on schedule with every eligible employee enrolled or waived in writing; renewal benchmark and recommendation to leadership 90 days before renewal; benefits questions answered within one business day.
• Employee relations: complaints acknowledged within 24 hours; investigations completed and documented within 30 days.
• Compliance: zero missed statutory deadlines on training cycles, notices, filings and leave paperwork; handbook and state addenda updated by January 31 each year; personnel files and I-9s audit-ready at any time.
• Reporting: the monthly HR dashboard delivered by the fifth business day of every month.
• Internal events: the year's calendar published by the end of February; every event delivered on budget; participation and feedback measured.
• Offboarding: 100% of separations meet California final-pay timing; access terminated the same day; exit interview within five business days.
• Internal client satisfaction: a short quarterly survey of attorneys and staff on HR responsiveness and quality, reported to leadership unfiltered.

The first year

By month six: a written job description for every position, a complete compliance calendar, a current handbook, and the HRIS as the single source of truth for who works here and on what terms. By month twelve: one full cycle of reviews, open enrollment, compensation benchmarking and internal events, and at least one search filled start to finish, run your way.

• Bachelor's degree in human resources, business administration or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Five or more years of hands-on human resources or personnel-management experience, including at least two years with ownership across several HR functions. Civilian HR experience in California is preferred; military personnel-management experience is welcome and counts fully.
• Working knowledge of California and federal employment law: wage and hour, leaves of absence, accommodations, harassment prevention and workplace safety requirements, and the ability to track and apply the rules of the other states where the firm has employees. If your experience is from the military, you will need to show how you will bring this up to standard quickly.
• Experience running recruiting end to end, from defining the role through sourcing, interviewing and the offer, for both professional and support positions.
• Direct experience handling employee relations matters and workplace investigations.
• Experience administering benefits and leaves of absence.
• Proficiency with an HRIS and a payroll platform, and with the Microsoft suite, including Excel.

Preferred: experience in a law firm or another professional services firm (accounting, consulting, financial advisory), strongly preferred; experience in an organization of 40 to 150 people, or as the HR lead for a business unit of that size within a larger company; SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR or PHRca certification (if you do not hold one, we will fund it); experience building HR processes and policies rather than inheriting them.

Who you are

• You have personally done the whole cycle: recruited and hired, onboarded, written a policy, run an open enrollment, administered a leave, conducted an investigation, handled a separation correctly, and advised a manager through a decision they found difficult.
• You know employment law well enough to apply it with confidence across the states where we have people, and well enough to know exactly when to call outside counsel.
• You understand what it means when your internal clients are owners who bill by the hour and hold themselves and everyone around them to a high standard.
• A writer. Your policies get read, your memos are short, and your emails sound like a person.
• Discreet, highly organized, and calm when others are not.
• A builder. You would rather build it right than inherit it, and you have done so before.
• A sense of humor. This is a serious firm that knows how to enjoy itself, and HR should be part of that.

Who you are not

• Early in your HR career. We are looking for five or more years of hands-on experience, and we will verify it.
• A specialist in a single area, such as recruiting alone, benefits alone or payroll alone. This role needs the whole range, recruiting included.
• Someone who relies on an in-house legal department for employment-law answers. Our attorneys practice in other areas; you bring the employment-law knowledge, with outside counsel available when needed.
• Someone who needs a large HR team around them. You will have real support from accounting and operations, but the HR judgment and execution are yours.
• Someone who works only from behind a desk. People need to see you.

Who this role is for

You may be the HR manager or senior generalist at a company of 500 or 5,000: good at your job, well regarded, and aware that the next real step up in your organization is some years away. Here you would run all of it, work directly with the people who run the firm, and see the effect of your work on actual people every week. You may already lead HR at a firm our size and want one that is more stable, better run and more serious about doing this well. Or you may be a military veteran who ran a personnel management function, in human resources, administration or manpower, and is ready for the civilian equivalent. That experience translates well here, and we welcome it. In any of these cases, we would like to hear from you.

Compensation and benefits

• Base salary: $110,000 to $135,000, set by experience. We would rather pay at the top of that range for the right person than at the bottom for the wrong one.
• Discretionary annual bonus, based on three things: the KPIs we agree with you, internal client satisfaction (the quarterly survey above), and your supervisors' evaluations.
• Medical, dental and vision coverage; 401(k) with firm contribution; paid vacation, sick leave and firm holidays.
• Paid professional development and HR certification, and a paid professional membership (SHRM or PIHRA).
• Parking, and a gym in our building.

Location and schedule

Irvine, California, in person. This is a people role and the people are here. Standard business hours, with the occasional early morning or evening for firm events, planned well in advance.

How we hire

• A 30-minute conversation with Jorge Santisteban, Executive Director of Operations.
• A 30-minute conversation with Rick Tucker, Chief Financial Officer. Together, they are the two people the role reports to.
• A working session of one to two hours: role-play of real scenarios we have faced and a short policy exercise, done live with us. This is not free work; it is a conversation in practice, so that we can see how you think and how you work with people.
• Meetings with one or more of the Managing Partners, who make the final decision.
• References, including one partner or executive you advised and one employee who brought you a problem, a background check, and an offer. We move in weeks, not months.

Who reads your application. People. Every email is read by Jorge and Rick, and the strongest go to the Managing Partners. No applicant-tracking software ranks you and no AI screens you before we do. Write for a person who will actually read it.

Grant, Genovese & Baratta, LLP is an equal opportunity employer. We make employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.