People Operator

DataDrone Inc.; Cheyenne, Northern (WY, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

DataDrone Inc. is seeking a Hiring Operations Lead who will own the people lifecycle, from posting roles to onboarding and offboarding. You will ensure fast, professional candidate experiences and maintain current role packets.

You will audit pipelines, guide new hires with evidence-based checkpoints, and revamp processes so the organization can hire without bottlenecks. This hands-on role requires disciplined, detail-oriented operability.

Qualifications

• You've run a hiring process end-to-end.
• You've onboarded people into structured roles with checkpoints and evidence.
• You've offboarded people completely with access revoked and knowledge documented.
• You can maintain documentation for 20+ roles and keep it current.
• You communicate professionally with candidates and manage expectations.
• You track pipeline status and onboarding progress—documentation over memory.

Responsibilities

• Run hiring pipelines — job post to exercise to evaluation to decision.
• Administer exercises — clear instructions, tracked submissions, professional candidate experience.
• Execute the Main Onboarding — guide every new hire, track evidence, verify checkpoints.
• Execute offboarding — access revocation, knowledge handoff, checklist completion.
• Maintain all 3-file packets — Role Playbooks, Job Posts, Exercises kept current.
• Maintain the Talent Management Playbook and Main Onboarding Playbook.

Job description

DataDrone builds 0-1 SaaS products and the team that ships them. No bosses, no managers — the playbook manages, the copilot tracks. Every role owns a small, defined space with extreme accountability. Every role is documented. Every hire is vetted through real work, not resumes. Every onboarding produces evidence, not just attendance. We need someone who runs the people machine — bringing the right people in, getting them operational, and offboarding them cleanly when the time comes.

What You'll Do

You'll own the people lifecycle. Hiring pipelines that move fast. Exercise administration that's professional. Onboarding that produces operational people with proof. Offboarding that's complete — no access gaps, no orphaned knowledge. And the role packets (Role Playbook + Job Post + Exercise) that stay current so the system is always ready to hire.

Daily Rhythm (How You Operate)

• Daily: move open pipelines forward — job post to exercise to evaluation to decision — and acknowledge candidate submissions within 24 hours.
• Per hire: execute the Main Onboarding — guide the new hire, track evidence, verify checkpoints.
• Per departure: execute offboarding — access revoked same-day, knowledge documented, playbook ownership transferred.
• Quarterly: audit every role packet for currency — if a role opens tomorrow, the packet is ready today.
• Always: track everything — pipeline status, onboarding progress, offboarding completion. Your brain is not a database.

Key Responsibilities

• Run hiring pipelines — job post to exercise to evaluation to decision
• Administer exercises — clear instructions, tracked submissions, professional candidate experience
• Execute the Main Onboarding — guide every new hire, track evidence, verify checkpoints
• Execute offboarding — access revocation, knowledge handoff, checklist completion
• Maintain all 3-file packets — Role Playbooks, Job Posts, Exercises kept current
• Maintain the Talent Management Playbook and Main Onboarding Playbook

What We're Looking For

• You've run a hiring process end-to-end. Not just posted jobs — administered assessments, tracked candidates, facilitated evaluations, managed offer/rejection communication.
• You've onboarded people into structured roles with checkpoints and evidence requirements. Not "here's your laptop, good luck" — real onboarding that produces operational people.
• You've offboarded people completely. Access revoked same-day. Knowledge documented. Playbook ownership transferred.
• You can maintain documentation for 20+ roles and keep it current. Not a one-time effort — an ongoing discipline.
• You communicate professionally with candidates — fast acknowledgments, clear timelines, respectful rejections.
• You track everything. Pipeline status, onboarding progress, offboarding completion — all documented, not memorized.

Bonus Points For

• Experience with exercise-based hiring (work samples, case studies, take-home assessments)
• Experience with playbook-driven organizations
• Experience with junior team onboarding (structured training, phased checkpoints)
• Experience with CRM or project management tools for candidate pipeline tracking
• Comfort with AI copilots for documentation and process management

The Mindset We Hire For

• The system carries the people. You don't manage people day-to-day. You manage the system that brings them in and takes them out. The playbooks and the leads handle the rest.
• Candidate experience matters. Whether they're hired or rejected, every candidate should think "that was professional." Fast communication. Clear process. Respectful outcomes.
• Evidence over trust. Onboarding isn't complete when someone says they're done. It's complete when the evidence proves they're done.
• Offboarding is non-negotiable. Access revoked. Knowledge documented. Playbook transferred. Every item. Every time. No shortcuts for people who left on good terms.
• Packets always current. The role packets are the hiring-readiness of the entire company. If a role opens tomorrow, the packet should be ready to publish today.
• Track, don't remember. Pipeline status, candidate evaluations, onboarding progress — documented. Your brain is not a database.

Success in This Role

• 30 Days — Playbooks read. All role packets reviewed. Recent hires and departures audited. Operations Lead relationship established.
• 60 Days — Pipeline running for open roles. At least 1 full onboarding facilitated. Offboarding process verified. Candidate experience professional.
• 90 Days — Quarterly packet audit completed. Hiring and onboarding metrics established. The system runs: roles filled, hires onboarded, departures clean.

Tools You'll Use

CRM (candidate tracking), Trello (onboarding boards), Google Drive, screen-recording tools (exercise review), Slack, AI copilot.

Why Join Us

You won't sift through 500 resumes for one hire. You'll administer exercises that show real work — and the right people self-select in. You won't babysit new hires through their first month. You'll run an onboarding system that produces operational people with evidence. The system is built. Your job is to run it with discipline and care.

5 hours of focused people operations per day. Process over intuition.

Self-Check Before You Apply

• Can you run 3 concurrent hiring pipelines across different roles without dropping a candidate?
• When a candidate submits an exercise, do you acknowledge within 24 hours — or when you "get around to it"?
• Have you ever onboarded someone and verified their readiness with evidence — not just their confidence?
• When someone leaves your team, is access revoked same-day — or "sometime this week"?
• Can you maintain documentation for 20+ roles and keep it current — or does it drift after the first quarter?
• When you reject a candidate, do they walk away thinking "that was fair" — or wondering what happened?