People Operations Manager

Buckingham Search; Gurnee (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Buckingham Search is seeking an experienced HR leader to establish and scale a comprehensive People Operations function within a rapidly growing, acquisition-focused organization. Reporting to the CFO, you will serve as the go-to HR partner for the business, balancing day-to-day support with strategic program development.

You will own full-cycle HR, oversee payroll, benefits, compliance, and multi-state policies, lead system implementations, and drive acquisitions through due diligence and

Qualifications

• 5+ years in broad HR/generalist or People Ops leadership.
• Experience managing payroll, benefits, and compliance across multi-state operations.
• Experience implementing HRIS/payroll systems.
• Strong knowledge of federal/state employment laws and wage-and-hour requirements.
• Ability to build scalable HR processes in a growth environment.
• Excellent communication and discretion in handling sensitive information.
• Bachelor's degree in HR/Business; SHRM cert a plus.
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary HR resource for employees and leaders across the full lifecycle (recruiting to offboarding).
• Lead full-cycle recruiting including postings, sourcing, interviewing, offers, and onboarding.
• Create a compliant new-hire experience (orientation, I-9/E-Verify, state reporting, benefits enrollment).
• Develop, maintain and improve the employee handbook and HR policies across multi-state workforce.
• Manage employee relations matters with discretion; conduct investigations as needed.
• Administer leave programs and accommodations per federal/state requirements.
• Oversee benefits programs, renewals, communications, enrollment and open enrollment.
• Manage payroll operations with multi-state tax setup, reporting, and reconciliations.
• Own annual performance, compensation, merit increases and incentive processes.
• Lead HRIS/payroll platform implementation and go-live; act as system owner post-implementation.
• Support acquisitions via HR due diligence and employee data integration.

Skills

Full-cycle HR

HR leadership

HRIS implementation

Payroll

Benefits administration

Compliance

Multi-state HR

Recruiting

Employee relations

Bilingual EN/ES

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business

SHRM certification (CPA/CPR)

Tools

HRIS/Payroll platform

Job description

In office 4-5 days a week!

This is a high-impact opportunity for an experienced HR professional to establish and scale a strong internal People Operations function within a growing, acquisition-focused organization. Reporting to the CFO, this individual will be the go-to HR leader for the business, balancing day-to-day employee support with the operational work needed to build sustainable people programs, systems, and processes.

What You'll Own

• Serve as the primary HR resource for employees and leaders across the full employee lifecycle, from recruiting and onboarding through performance management, development, and offboarding.
• Lead full-cycle recruiting activities, including job postings, sourcing, interview coordination, offers, candidate communication, and onboarding.
• Create a thoughtful, compliant, and consistent new-hire experience, including orientation, employment documentation, I-9/E-Verify, state reporting, and benefits enrollment.
• Develop, maintain, and improve the employee handbook, HR policies, and people-related procedures to support a multi-state workforce.
• Manage employee relations matters with discretion and sound judgment; conduct investigations and partner with outside counsel or advisors when needed.
• Administer leave programs, accommodations, disability, return-to-work processes, and related employee communications in compliance with federal and state requirements.
• Oversee the company's benefits programs and broker relationships, including annual renewals, employee communications, enrollment, and open enrollment.
• Manage payroll operations and related controls, including multi-state payroll considerations, wage-and-hour compliance, tax setup, reporting, reconciliation, and coordination with Finance.
• Own annual performance review, compensation planning, merit increase, and incentive processes.
• Build and manage required compliance training, employee education, safety-related programs, and completion tracking.
• Prepare and maintain accurate records for employment-related filings and reporting, including EEO-1, ACA, OSHA, unemployment, workers' compensation, and other applicable requirements.
• Support acquisitions through HR due diligence, employee-data review, workforce analysis, and integration of new employees into payroll, benefits, HR systems, and policies.
• Evaluate, select, and implement an HRIS/payroll platform that will support the organization's next phase of growth.
• Lead the system implementation process from vendor evaluation through configuration, data cleanup, testing, integrations, training, and go-live.
• Act as the internal system owner following implementation, managing reporting, workflows, updates, vendor relationships, and continuous improvement.

What You Bring

• 5+ years of progressive HR experience in a broad generalist, People Operations, or HR leadership capacity.
• Experience independently managing core HR operations, including employee relations, compliance, benefits, payroll, and HR administration.
• Prior involvement in, or ownership of, an HRIS and/or payroll system implementation.
• Strong knowledge of federal, state, and multi-state employment laws, payroll practices, leave administration, and wage-and-hour requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to create practical processes, policies, and programs in a fast-moving or growth-stage environment.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage competing priorities, external vendors, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Comfortable partnering closely with Finance, leadership, managers, and outside advisors.
• Excellent communication skills, discretion, and the ability to handle sensitive information with sound judgment.
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field preferred; equivalent experience will be considered.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR, or CPP certification is a plus.
• Bilingual English/Spanish skills are strongly preferred.