People Operations Generalist Torrance, CA

Salient Motion, Inc.; Hawthorne, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Great benefits

HQ in Hawthorne, CA

Job summary

Salient Motion, Inc. is seeking the first dedicated People Ops hire to build and own the onboarding, compliance, HRIS, payroll and benefits infrastructure as the company scales.

You will also support recruiting operations, guiding the full employee lifecycle from candidate to day one and beyond, with on-site work in Hawthorne, CA and opportunities to relocate. Ideal candidates thrive in a fast-paced hardware startup, collaborate cross-functionally, and own policy, posting, interview

Qualifications

• Experience in HR operations across onboarding, payroll, and benefits.
• Strong knowledge of California and federal employment compliance.
• Ability to manage multiple HR systems and processes simultaneously.
• Experience with Greenhouse and HRIS platforms.
• ITAR-eligible and onsite in Hawthorne, CA.

Responsibilities

• Own onboarding end-to-end from pre-boarding to day-1 coordination.
• Administer HRIS, payroll, benefits, and compliance programs.
• Coordinate visa and immigration with external counsel.
• Publish and maintain job postings and manage candidate experience.
• Own culture, pulse surveys, and engagement insights.

Skills

People Ops

Recruiting Ops

HRIS

Onboarding

Compliance

Payroll support

Visa coordination

Employee relations

Tools

Rippling

Greenhouse

Juicebox

Checkr

DocuSign

Job description

Salient Motion designs, manufactures, and supports advanced motion control and actuation systems for aerospace, defense, and robotics applications. We're a fast-growing, venture-backed startup building the next generation of intelligent motion systems, partnering directly with leading organizations to bring new technology from concept to deployment.

About the Role

This is the first dedicated People Ops hire at Salient Motion. You are coming in at a moment when the company is scaling fast enough that we need someone who can build and own the operational infrastructure that keeps everything running: onboarding, compliance, HRIS, payroll and benefits (and more). You will also support recruiting operations as we build out the talent function, which means you will touch the full employee lifecycle from candidate to day one and beyond.

A couple other things:

• We are open to relocating you
• We have great benefits
• We are well funded, and generating revenue
• We just moved into a new large HQ in Hawthorne, CA, with presence still in Torrance, CA
• We need folks onsite, but provide a lot of flexibilty

What you'll do:

People Operations

• HRIS administration in Rippling: employee records, workflows, onboarding automation, and data integrity
• Onboarding end to end: pre-boarding, Day 1 coordination, and 30/60/90 day check-ins in partnership with managers
• Benefits administration: open enrollment, carrier coordination, employee questions, and day-to-day benefits support
• Compliance: I-9 management, employment law adherence (California and federal), required policy maintenance, and ITAR documentation at offer stage
• Visa and immigration coordination in partnership with outside counsel: includes preparing job descriptions and role documentation for petition support, coordinating the recruiting process to meet visa timeline requirements, managing case tracking and document collection, and serving as the internal point of contact between employees, managers, and counsel throughout the process
• Payroll support: first point of contact for employee questions and discrepancies related to payroll. You are not running payroll, but you are making sure issues get resolved and managers are approving timesheets before processing deadlines
• Culture and engagement: own the cadence of pulse surveys and engagement check-ins, synthesize results into actionable insights for the Head of People and leadership, and serve as a visible, approachable presence on the floor. You are the day-to-day read on how the team is doing, what is working, and what is not
• Company policy ownership: employee handbook, PTO policy, code of conduct, and required state and federal postings
• Job posting management: publish andmaintainopen roles on the Salient Motion careers page and LinkedIn, keep postings current, and ensure all listings include required ITAR and location language
• Interview coordination: schedule 1:1 interviews across all active reqs and coordinate post-interview roundtable discussions where interviewers align on candidate feedback before a decision is made
• Candidate experience: serve as the primary point of contact and host for all onsite candidates. You are the first face they see when they walk in and the last when they leave. Own everything in between: greeting, logistics, escorting between interviews, and making sure the day runs on time and feels organized. The candidate experience is a direct reflection of who we are as a company
• Offer routing: manage the offer workflow end to end in Greenhouse: routing for approval, generating offer letters, managing DocuSign, and tracking acceptance
• Juicebox administration: support the Recruiting team in managing outreach agent briefs, monitoring sequence performance, and keeping candidate data clean
• Greenhouse hygiene: stage updates, candidate disposition, background check coordination via Checkr, and pipeline reporting support

What you need:

Experience matters less than how you operate. Here is what we actually value in this role.

• You can hold a lot at once. This role lives at the intersection of People Ops and recruiting, and the context switches constantly. One hour you are resolving a payroll discrepancy, the next you are hosting a candidate onsite, the next you are updating a job posting. You do not drop things when the day changes direction.
• You learn fast and go deep. You do not need to be an employment lawyer to understand California compliance, but you are not afraid to dig in until you do. Same with systems. Rippling, Greenhouse, Juicebox: you get your hands on a tool and you master it. You do not stay at the surface level
• You move before you are asked. You see around corners. You spot the timesheet that has not been approved before payroll closes, the compliance requirement coming before it becomes a problem, the candidate who has been waiting too long for a follow-up. You bring solutions, not just observations. This is core to who we are as a company and we expect it from everyone on the team.
• 3-5 years in a People Ops, HR Generalist, or HR Coordinator role is a reasonable baseline.
• ITAR-eligible (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) and onsite in Hawthorne are both required.
• Rippling, Greenhouse, Juicebox, and or other (HR/Recruiting tools) experience are a strong plus.

What we have to offer:

We are a small, technical team building hardware that flies. The people who thrive here are builders: people who take ownership, move without waiting to be asked, and hold a high bar for their own work. We also care deeply about what it feels like to work here. This role has a real hand in shaping that. If that sounds like you, we want to talk.

• Salary Range: $100,000-$130,000, plus equity and benefits at a well-funded, fast-moving startup
• Mission-driven work at the intersection of aerospace, defense, and robotics innovation
• Exceptional healthcare benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision) - Medical is 100% covered by the company
• 2x salary Life Insurance - 100% covered by the company
• Flexible PTO Policy
• 401K
• More to come!