Senior People & Culture Manager

Conexus; Long Beach (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Conexus is seeking a Senior HR Manager to join the People team and partner with the Head of People on both operational and strategic HR across multiple states.

This hands-on role owns payroll, UKG, benefits administration, HR operations, and compliance, while also partnering on culture, talent development, and AI adoption. The ideal candidate is highly organized, solutions-oriented, and able to navigate a fast-changing environment.

Qualifications

• 10 years of progressive HR generalist experience.
• Strong hands-on experience managing payroll and HR operations; UKG experience REQUIRED.
• Experience with benefits administration and multi-state HR compliance.
• Strong HRIS expertise and comfort learning and optimizing systems.
• Experience partnering with Finance/Payroll and senior leaders.
• Strong employee relations and manager coaching capabilities.
• Experience supporting culture, engagement, talent, and organizational initiatives.
• Curiosity about AI and emerging HR technology, with the ability to translate new tech into business value.

Responsibilities

• Own and oversee biweekly payroll process through UKG, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Serve as the internal SME for UKG HR/payroll functionality and partner with Finance, Payroll, and UKG.
• Review payroll inputs, deductions, changes, time & attendance, data, and reporting.
• Partner with Finance on payroll reconciliation, reporting, audits, and issue resolution.
• Identify opportunities to automate HR processes and improve data integrity.

Skills

HR generalist experience

Payroll & UKG

Benefits administration

HRIS

Multi-state compliance

Employee relations

Leadership development

Stakeholder management

Tools

UKG HRIS

Job description

Schedule: Hybrid, Tuesday through Thursday in office

Reports to: Head of People

Compensation: $140,000–$170,000 base + 12–15% target bonus

About the Role

Our client is seeking a Senior HR Manager to join their growing People team and serve as a key partner to the Head of People across both the operational and strategic sides of HR.

This is a highly hands-on role with significant ownership of payroll, UKG, benefits administration, HR operations, compliance, and the employee experience, while also partnering with the Head of People on broader initiatives including culture, talent, engagement, leadership development, and AI adoption.

The ideal candidate is a strong HR generalist who can move seamlessly between the details and the bigger picture — someone who is highly organized, solutions-oriented, comfortable working independently, and excited to improve how HR operates within a growing, multi-state organization.

Key Responsibilities

Payroll, UKG & HR Operations

• Own and oversee the company's biweekly payroll process through UKG, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, compliance, and a positive employee experience.
• Serve as the internal subject-matter expert and primary point of contact for UKG HR/payroll functionality, partnering with Finance, Payroll, and UKG as needed.
• Review payroll inputs, deductions, changes, time and attendance, employee data, and payroll reporting.
• Partner closely with Finance and the Controller on payroll reconciliation, reporting, audits, and issue resolution.
• Identify opportunities to automate and streamline HR processes within UKG.
• Maintain accurate employee records and ensure HR data integrity across systems.
• Support multi-state HR compliance and ensure policies and practices remain aligned with applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
• Own day-to-day benefits administration and serve as the primary internal resource for employee benefit questions.
• Partner with the benefits broker and UKG to administer medical, dental, vision, life, disability, 401(k), and other benefit programs.
• Manage new-hire enrollments, qualifying life events, eligibility changes, deductions, and employee communications.
• Ensure benefits information and payroll deductions remain accurate and aligned.
• Support annual open enrollment and ongoing benefits communications.
• Evaluate processes and leverage UKG to improve the employee benefits experience.

Culture, Engagement & Talent

Partner closely with the Head of People to develop and execute initiatives that strengthen the overall employee experience, including:

• Employee engagement and retention initiatives
• Culture-building programs and events
• Employee listening and feedback mechanisms
• Talent development and career growth
• Performance management, Leadership development, Manager enablement, Recognition programs, Onboarding and employee experience.

AI & Future of Work

• Partner with the Head of People and leadership team on the company's AI adoption strategy.
• Help identify practical opportunities to leverage AI to improve HR processes, employee experience, productivity, and decision-making.
• Support responsible adoption of AI tools across the organization through communication, training, and change management.
• Identify repetitive HR processes that can be automated or enhanced through technology.
• Stay current on emerging HR technology and AI capabilities and bring forward ideas that can meaningfully improve the business.

Employee Relations & HR Partnership

• Serve as a trusted HR resource for employees and managers.
• Coach managers on employee relations, performance management, policy interpretation, and people leadership.
• Handle employee relations matters with discretion, sound judgment, and a solutions-oriented approach.
• Partner with leadership to address organizational and people challenges.
• Help ensure policies are consistently and fairly applied across locations.
• Support investigations and employment-related issues as needed.

What We're Looking For

• 10 years of progressive HR generalist experience.
• Strong hands-on experience managing payroll and HR operations, UKG experience REQUIRED.
• Demonstrated experience with benefits administration and multi-state HR compliance.
• Strong HRIS expertise and comfort learning and optimizing systems.
• Experience partnering closely with Finance/Payroll and senior business leaders.
• Strong employee relations and manager coaching capabilities.
• Experience supporting culture, engagement, talent, and organizational initiatives.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment where priorities can change.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage both tactical responsibilities and strategic projects.
• A solution-oriented mindset — someone who sees a problem and figures out how to solve it.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to build trust across all levels of the organization.
• Genuine curiosity about AI and emerging HR technology, with the ability to translate new technology into practical business applications.