People Operations Manager

Star Catcher; Jacksonville (FL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health coverage

401(k) retirement plan

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Star Catcher, based in Jacksonville, FL, seeks a proactive People Operations Manager to scale HR across a growing hardware/space tech team. You will own onboarding, benefits, and ATS coordination while partnering with engineering and leadership to shape hiring and retention programs.

You will maintain HRIS data, support compliance and surveys, and help build a high-velocity, compliant People Operations function in a fast-paced startup environment.

Qualifications

• 4-6 years progressive HR/People Ops experience, ideally in a tech, hardware, or aerospace environment.
• Experience onboarding logistics, scheduling, and benefits administration.
• Direct experience with HRIS/ATS platforms and modern office tools.
• High attention to detail and discretion with confidential data.
• Strong written and verbal communication with a customer-service mindset.
• Ability to prioritize, adapt to change, and solve operational snags in a fast-paced setting.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end onboarding workflows for all new hires, including background checks and system access.
• Manage day-to-day questions on health insurance, retirement plans, PTO, and perks; assist open enrollment and leave administration.
• Collaborate with engineering, ops, and leadership to define hiring needs and craft compelling job descriptions; maintain ATS records.
• Maintain accurate employee records in HRIS, support data privacy, and assist with compliance audits.
• Design and launch the organization’s first formal review process and establish promotion criteria.
• Organize company-wide events, training sessions, and wellness initiatives for a high-performance culture.
• Assist with offboarding logistics, including exit paperwork and benefit termination.
• Identify bottlenecks and develop scalable templates, guides, and SOPs for rapid scaling.

Skills

4-6 years HR exp

HR Operations knowledge

HRIS/ATS proficiency

Attention to detail

Communication & empathy

Agility & problem solving

Tools

Rippling

BambooHR

Gusto

Greenhouse

Lever

Google Workspace

Slack

Microsoft Office

Job description

Power the future of Space at Star Catcher

Star Catcher is powering the future of space by building the world’s first orbital energy grid: the Star Catcher Network. Spacecraft connect into the Star Catcher Network and receive conditioned energy via their existing solar arrays, requiring no retrofit to utilize the first true space-based infrastructure. The Star Catcher Network provides power as needed from tens of Watts to tens of thousands of Watts at concentrations from fractions of a Sun of flux to ten Suns of flux.

The Star Catcher Network enables More Uptime, More Bandwidth, and More Mission.

Join our team of experienced and passionate space innovators driven to transform and expand humanity’s utilization of space. The creation of space-based power infrastructure is as impactful for space missions in the 2020’s and 2030’s as the advent of low-cost launch services was in the 2010’s. We seek individuals who share our passion for enabling people to do more in space and are not afraid to get their hands dirty to make our vision of the future reality.

Star Catcher Industries, Inc. (Star Catcher) located in Jacksonville, Florida, is building the first power grid in space. We are seeking an energetic, highly organized, and proactive People Operations Manager to support our rapidly scaling team in Jacksonville, Florida. In this role, you will be the tactical engine across key HR functions—driving seamless candidate and employee onboarding experiences, designing retention programs. coordinating benefits administration, supporting talent acquisition, and scaling everyday People Operations efforts. As we expand into our new high-tech facility, you will ensure our workforce is supported by high-velocity, reliable, and compliant HR processes.

Responsibilities

• Onboarding & Employee Experience: Own the end-to-end onboarding workflow for all new hires, ensuring a smooth transition into Star Catcher. Coordinate I-9 verification, background checks, system access requests, local orientation, and first-week schedules.
• Benefits & HR Administration: Serve as the first point of contact for day-to-day employee questions regarding health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and company perks. Assist with open enrollment, benefits carrier updates, and leave administration.
• Recruiting & Talent Acquisition Support: Partner directly with engineering, ops, and leadership hiring managers to define hiring needs and craft compelling job descriptions, manage ATS (Applicant Tracking System) records to maintain high data integrity and candidate speed, conduct phone screenings and orchestrate on-site interview visits.
• People Systems & Data Integrity: Maintain accurate employee records in our HRIS, ensure data privacy, and assist with compliance audits (including state/federal labor law postings, ITAR personnel tracking, and record retention).
• Retention: Work with senior leadership to design and launch the organization's first formal review process and establish clear, objective criteria for promotions and
• merit-based raises. Implemented structured continuous feedback mechanisms, manager training, and peer-review systems across all engineering and operational teams to boost employee retention and talent mobility.
• Office & Culture Initiatives: Help organize company-wide events, team celebrations, training sessions, and employee wellness initiatives to foster an inclusive, high-performance culture.
• Offboarding & Employee Support: Assist with offboarding logistics, including exit paperwork, equipment retrieval coordination, and benefit termination notices.
• Continuous Process Improvement: Identify bottlenecks in current HR workflows and build clean, scalable templates, guides, and SOPs for a fast-scaling company.

Qualifications

• 4-6 years of progressive experience in HR support, talent operations, or people operations roles, ideally within a high-growth tech, hardware, or aerospace environment.
• Core HR Operations Knowledge: Practical experience managing onboarding logistics, candidate scheduling, and benefits administrative support.
• Systems Proficiency: Direct experience working with HRIS/ATS platforms (e.g., Rippling, BambooHR, Gusto, Greenhouse, Lever) and modern office tools (Google Workspace, Slack, Microsoft Office).
• High Attention to Detail & Discretion: Exceptional organizational skills with proven ability to handle sensitive, confidential employee data with care.
• Communication & Empathy: Strong written and verbal communication skills with a customer-service mindset toward supporting team members across technical, operational, and leadership disciplines.
• Agility & Problem-Solving: Ability to prioritize tasks effectively, adapt to changing priorities, and solve operational snags in a fast-paced environment.

Ideal Experience

• Prior experience working in an aerospace, defense, or hardware engineering startup environment.
• Basic familiarity with ITAR/EAR compliance considerations as they relate to personnel onboarding and citizenship verification.

Help us deploy and scale space infrastructure that will drive our utilization of space forward! We offer a highly competitive benefits package including access to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plan, life insurance, and paid parental leave, in addition to other benefits.

Star Catcher is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Star Catcher is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

All offers of employment at Star Catcher are contingent upon results of a thorough background check and your ability to provide proof of eligibility to work in the US.

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.