People Operations Lead

FurtherAI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Stock options

401(k)

Unlimited PTO

In-office culture SF

Lunch on site

Team events

Commuter benefits

Job summary

FurtherAI is seeking its first People Operations Lead in San Francisco to build the people function from the ground up. You will be the go-to for employees and managers on the hard stuff and ensure systems and processes run smoothly.

You'll collaborate with GTM, Engineering, Product, and Design leaders on org design, talent decisions, and scalable programs that will support FurtherAI as it grows, with a focus on data-driven people decisions and automation.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of HR/People experience spanning business partnership and hands-on People operations.
• Proven ability to navigate sensitive employee situations with good judgment and discretion.
• Ability to earn trust quickly across all levels, from new hires to founders.
• Bias toward executing on undefined programs and turning them into reliable operations.
• Experience supporting GTM, Engineering, Product, and Design orgs preferred.
• Direct ownership of an HRIS platform (Rippling preferred).
• Experience building People infrastructure from scratch at an early-stage company.

Responsibilities

• Lead onboarding through offboarding and policy governance.
• Partner with GTM, Engineering, Product, and Design on org design and career structures.
• Coach first-time managers and implement performance cycles and calibration as we formalize them.
• Oversee payroll, benefits, and vendor relationships, with automation goals.
• Track attrition, engagement, and hiring velocity to inform people decisions.

Skills

HR strategy

People operations

Change management

Data-driven decisions

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR or related field

Tools

Rippling

HRIS

Job description

People Operations Lead

San Francisco, CA: Financial District. In-Person (M-F)

The Role:

We're hiring FurtherAI's first People Operations Lead to build our People function largely from a blank slate. You'll be the go-to person for employees and managers navigating the hard stuff, and the one keeping the systems and processes underneath it running smoothly. You'll also work directly with leaders across GTM and Engineering, Product, and Design on org design and talent decisions.

The role is equal parts strategic and tactical. You'll help shape decisions at the leadership table and personally build the programs that don't exist yet, because at this stage there's rarely someone else to hand things to. What you put in place now should still be working as FurtherAI scales.

Why FurtherAI?

• Elite Team & Culture: Join a YC and a16z-backed startup, collaborating with industry experts who share your hunger and ambition. Be part of a culture built for high performers who are proud to put in the work.

• Transformative Opportunity: Sell pioneering AI solutions in complex, regulated industries and help modernize a trillion-dollar sector.

• Leadership Growth: Leverage your experience to shape our sales process and grow into a senior leadership role as the company scales.

• Highly Competitive Compensation: Strong base salary, top-tier commission plan, equity, and comprehensive benefits.

What You'll Do:

• Employee relations: Be the first call for leaves, life events, conflicts, investigations, and exits, handling each with the judgment and discretion that protects both the person and the company

• Lifecycle & HR systems: Own onboarding through offboarding, coordinate immigration matters (H-1B, green cards, and similar) with outside counsel, and run Rippling as the system of record for employee data, workflows, and reporting

• Org design & career growth: Partner with GTM and Engineering, Product, and Design leaders on workforce planning, and build the reporting structures, job architecture, leveling, and career progression paths the company doesn't have yet

• Manager development & performance: Coach a mostly first-time-manager population on feedback and team development, and stand up performance cycles and calibration as we formalize them

• Policy, payroll & vendor ops: Keep documentation and policy current and consistently applied, manage payroll inputs, benefits administration, and vendor relationships, and push toward more automated, less manual workflows using modern tools and AI

• Data & change management: Track people metrics like attrition, engagement, and hiring velocity to catch problems early, and lead the people side of reorgs and structural change as we scale

• Pick up whatever else the function needs — scope here will shift as the company's needs do

What You Bring:

• 5–8 years of HR/People experience spanning both business partnership and hands-on People operations

• A track record of navigating sensitive employee situations with good judgment and appropriate discretion

• A natural ability to earn trust quickly with people at every level, from new hires to founders

• A bias toward execution — you can take a messy, undefined program and turn it into something that runs reliably

• Good instincts for what's confidential and who needs to know, and the discipline to apply policy evenly

• Experience supporting both GTM and Engineering, Product, and Design orgs preferred

• Direct ownership of an HRIS platform (Rippling preferred, or similar)

• Experience building People infrastructure from scratch at an early-stage company

• Familiarity with org design, job leveling, and career framework fundamentals

• Comfort using data to inform people decisions rather than just react to them

Bonus Points:

• Have run performance cycles and led calibration conversations

• Know your way around compensation structuring and job leveling

• Have implemented or migrated an HRIS platform

• Understand common immigration pathways (H-1B, green card, TN)

• Have an interest in learning & development

• Have scaled a People function through a startup's rapid growth, and use AI tools to cut down on manual HR work

You can look forward to the following benefits:

• Fully covered, best-in-class health, dental, and vision benefits

• Competitive Compensation, meaningful stock options, company 401(k)

• Unlimited PTO

• Outstanding in-office culture in the heart of San Francisco

• Lunch and dinner onsite

• Team events, such as happy hours and off-sites

• Commuter benefits