People Operations Partner

Whatnot; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Whatnot is seeking a People Operations Partner to shape and scale the employee experience as we grow. You’ll improve systems, programs, and processes that support our team, with a strong emphasis on accuracy, audit readiness, and operational excellence.

You’ll strengthen People infrastructure across compliance, payroll, time & attendance, reporting, and core HR operations, partnering with Finance, Recruiting, IT, and Legal to deliver scalable, high-quality experiences for Whatnauts.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of experience in People Ops, HR operations, or a similar role, ideally in a fast-growing environment.
• Workday power user, comfortable handling transactions, building reports, and proactively identifying data issues.
• Experience with compliance, audits, payroll, and/or time & attendance systems.
• Think in systems and enjoy improving processes.
• Autonomy and ability to drive projects end-to-end in ambiguous environments.
• Organized, proactive, and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Clear, thoughtful communication across teams.
• Take ownership and follow-through.
• Familiar with tools like Google Workspace, Slack, Zendesk, Culture Amp, Navan, and Slab or Notion, and quick to pick up new tools.
• Care deeply about creating a great experience for every Whatnaut.

Responsibilities

• Lead core People Ops operations across the employee lifecycle, including job changes, departures, and compensation updates, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.
• Drive compliance and audit readiness with accurate records and documentation; support audits and strengthen processes.
• Partner on payroll and time & attendance operations with Finance and Total Rewards for accurate, well-controlled processes.
• Build and maintain Workday reports and dashboards to provide actionable insights for decision-making.
• Lead cross-functional People Ops initiatives with Recruiting, IT, Finance, Total Rewards, Legal, and People Business Partners.
• Manage People systems and data integrity; act as a Workday expert ensuring data accuracy and audit readiness.
• Drive process improvement and systems design to improve accuracy, compliance, and user experience.
• Improve the People Ops helpdesk by addressing Tier 1/2 questions and building self-service resources.
• Support the team and ensure continuity across onboarding, core operations, and systems, reporting, and compliance work.

Skills

People Ops experience

Payroll exposure

Compliance

Audits

Time & attendance

Systems thinking

Autonomy

Multi-priority management

Cross-team communication

Ownership

Tools

Workday

Job description

Join the Future of Commerce with Whatnot!

Whatnot is the largest live shopping platform in North America and Europe to buy, sell, and discover the things you love. Whether it’s trading cards, fashion, electronics, or live plants, our sellers are building real businesses across hundreds of categories. We’re building live commerce at a scale that’s never been done in the West, and there’s no playbook to copy. The people here are shaping how an entirely new industry develops.

As a remote co-located team, we’re inspired by our values and anchored in hubs across the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, and Australia. We move fast, stay close to our users, and focus on the work that drives the most impact.

We’re one of the fastest growing marketplaces and were recently named the #1 Best Startup Employer in America by Forbes. Check out the latest Whatnot updates on our news and engineering blogs and join us as we enable anyone to turn their passion into a business and bring people together through commerce.

People Operations Partner

We’re looking for a People Operations Partner to help shape and scale the employee experience at Whatnot. This role goes beyond keeping things running — you’ll improve the systems, programs, and processes that support our team as we grow.

This role is focused on building scalable, compliant, and data-driven People Operations infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on accuracy, audit readiness, and operational excellence.

You’ll focus on strengthening our People infrastructure across compliance, auditing, reporting, and core HR operations like payroll and time & attendance. You’ll partner cross-functionally to deliver accurate, scalable, and efficient operations across the employee lifecycle. You’ll be expected to quickly understand existing workflows, identify gaps, and drive improvements with minimal guidance. If you enjoy turning complex, messy processes into streamlined systems and leading projects from start to finish, you’ll thrive here.

What You’ll Do

• Lead core People Ops operations. Own and execute key operational processes across the employee lifecycle, including job changes, departures, and compensation updates, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.




• Drive compliance and audit readiness. Maintain accurate records and documentation, support internal and external audits, and strengthen processes to ensure ongoing compliance with policies and regulations.




• Partner on payroll and time & attendance operations. Work closely with Finance and Total Rewards to support payroll processes, time tracking systems, and issue resolution, ensuring accuracy, strong controls, and a high-quality employee experience.




• Build and scale reporting & analytics. Develop and maintain Workday reports and dashboards that provide actionable insights and support business and operational decision-making.




• Lead cross-functional People Ops initiatives and projects. Drive complex, cross-functional work from problem definition through execution, partnering with Recruiting, IT, Finance, Total Rewards, Legal, and People Business Partners.




• Manage People systems and data integrity. Act as a Workday expert, ensuring data accuracy, identifying issues proactively, and maintaining clean, audit-ready systems.




• Drive process improvement and systems design. Identify gaps across workflows and design scalable, efficient solutions that improve accuracy, compliance, and user experience.




• Improve the People Ops helpdesk. Respond to Tier 1 and Tier 2 questions, identify trends, and enhance self-service resources to improve efficiency and employee experience.




• Support the team and ensure continuity across People Ops workflows. Share knowledge, document processes, and flex across onboarding, core operations, and systems, reporting, and compliance work as needed, contributing to a strong, scalable People Operations function.

You

People who do well at Whatnot tend to be comfortable figuring things out as they go, biased toward action, and genuinely curious about what they’re building. They care more about outcomes than credit and stay close to the product and the people using it.

As our next People Operations Partner, you:

• Have 3–5+ years of experience in People Ops, HR operations, or a similar role, ideally in a fast-growing environment.




• Are a Workday power user, comfortable handling transactions, building reports, and proactively identifying data issues.




• Have experience with compliance, audits, payroll, and/or time & attendance systems.




• Think in systems and enjoy improving processes.




• Are comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy and driving projects end-to-end in ambiguous environments.




• Are organized, proactive, and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.




• Communicate clearly and thoughtfully across teams.




• Take ownership and follow through.




• Are familiar with tools like Google Workspace, Slack, Zendesk, Culture Amp, Navan, and Slab or Notion, and pick up new tools quickly.




• Care deeply about creating a great experience for every Whatnaut.

EOE

Whatnot is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, parental status, disability status, or any other status protected by local law. We believe that our work is better and our company culture is improved when we encourage, support, and respect the different skills and experiences represented within our workforce.