People Ops Manager

Instawork; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Instawork is seeking a highly organized People Operations Manager to own the core People operations across the employee lifecycle. The role focuses on automating processes, ensuring data integrity in the HRIS, and partnering with Finance, IT, Recruiting, and Legal to execute changes accurately.

You will support benefits administration, compliance, and leave management while driving AI-enabled workflows to simplify work and scale employee experiences.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in People Operations or HR roles in tech environments.
• Experience owning core People Operations processes and lifecycle.
• HRIS experience; Rippling is a plus.
• Experience administering benefits and working with brokers/vendors.
• Knowledge of HR compliance, leaves, and employee relations.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end employee lifecycle: onboarding, changes, leaves, offboarding.
• Improve People Operations processes, workflows, docs, and internal resources.
• Be primary contact for People policy, benefits, leaves, and resources.
• Partner with Finance, IT, Recruiting, Legal for accurate, timely changes.
• Administer HRIS data, records, and org data; maintain data integrity.
• Run audits and maintain People reporting for compliance and insights.
• Support compliance, classifications, documentation, audits, and state requirements.
• Manage leaves and work with Legal on complex employee matters.
• Advise managers on People policies and performance matters.
• Coordinate performance review and calibration cycles and communications.
• Support programs that boost engagement and company culture.
• Collaborate with Recruiting for seamless candidate-to-employee transitions.
• Identify AI/automation opportunities to streamline work.

Skills

People operations

HRIS

Benefits administration

HR compliance

AI enablement

Operations excellence

Project management

Communication

Talent Acquisition collaboration

Cross-functional partnerships

Tools

Rippling

Job description

Instawork is on a mission to create meaningful economic opportunities for skilled hourly professionals in communities around the globe. Our AI-powered labor marketplace helps local businesses scale, and enables global technology companies to push the frontiers of robotics and AI. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and others, we’re looking for exceptional talent to reimagine the way the world works.

We are looking for a highly organized, thoughtful, and execution-focused People Operations Manager to join our People team. This is a manager-level individual contributor role responsible for owning and continuously improving the core People operations that support our employees throughout their lifecycle.

As we invest in how AI can improve the way we work, we are looking for someone who brings an AI-enabled mindset to People Operations—constantly looking for ways to simplify work, automate processes, and build more scalable employee experiences.

Key Responsibilities

People Operations & Employee Lifecycle

• Own the end-to-end employee lifecycle, including onboarding, employee changes, leaves, and offboarding, ensuring a seamless and high-quality employee experience.
• Manage and continuously improve People Operations processes, workflows, documentation, and internal resources.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for employees on People-related questions, policies, benefits, leaves, and workplace resources.
• Partner with Finance, IT, Recruiting, Legal, and other teams to ensure People processes and employee changes are executed accurately and on time.

HRIS, Data & Compliance

• Own the day-to-day administration and data integrity of our HRIS, including employee records, job and compensation changes, and organizational data.
• Conduct regular audits and maintain People reporting to ensure data is accurate, complete, and compliant and to identify trends and opportunities for improvement.
• Support HR compliance, including employee classifications, required documentation, policy updates, audits, and state-specific requirements.
• Manage leave-of-absence processes and partner with Legal on employee relations and more complex employment or compliance matters.
• Serve as an internal resource for employee benefits questions.
• Partner closely with our benefits broker and vendors to evaluate plan performance, analyze utilization and costs, troubleshoot issues, and support annual renewals and open enrollment.
• Serve as a trusted People resource to managers, providing guidance on People policies, performance management, employee concerns, and routine employee matters.
• Coordinate key People programs, including performance review and calibration cycles and related communications.
• Support People programs that strengthen employee experience, engagement, and company culture.
• Partner with Recruiting to ensure a seamless transition from candidate to employee and strong handoffs between Recruiting and People Operations.

AI Enablement & Operational Excellence

• Proactively identify opportunities to use AI and automation to reduce manual work, improve workflows, and make People information easier to access.
• Build, test, and improve AI-enabled workflows and tools while maintaining appropriate confidentiality, judgment, and human oversight.

What We Are Looking For

• 6+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, or HR Generalist roles, ideally in a fast-growing technology or similarly dynamic environment.
• Demonstrated experience independently owning core People Operations processes and the employee lifecycle.
• Strong HRIS experience; experience with Ripplingis a plus.
• Experience administering benefits and partnering with brokers and vendors, including analyzing plan costs, utilization, or performance.
• Working knowledge of HR compliance, leaves, employee relations, and employment practices, with sound judgment around when to involve Legal or other specialists.
• Experience supporting performance management cycles and company-wide People programs.
• Demonstrated interest and experience using AI and automation in a professional setting; experience building AI-enabled workflows, automations, or internal tools is a strong plus.
• Exceptional attention to detail, operational rigor, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and follow through reliably.
• A calm, thoughtful, and solution-oriented approach when navigating changing priorities or sensitive employee situations.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the judgment and discretion required to handle confidential employee matters.
• A growth mindset and a desire to continuously improve how work gets done.
• Experience partnering with Talent Acquisition teams

Our Values

Empathy, Trust & Candor
We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

Bias for Action
We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it’s OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

Always Be Learning
We’re a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

Act Like an Owner
We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

About Instawork

Founded in 2015, Instawork is the nation’s leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we’re doing it at scale.

We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.