People Operations Manager

About the role

The Kaizen team is growing and the back-office and people infrastructure that got us here (onboarding, payroll, benefits, compliance, office ops) is ready to scale. This is the first dedicated People Operations hire at Kaizen. You'll take ownership of the function, build the processes that grow with the company, and be the person employees and managers turn to across every stage of the employee lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Own onboarding and offboarding end-to-end: offer letters, I-9 verification, background checks, tools provisioning, system access setup, HM coordination, 30/60/90 check-in process, and a clean, documented exit process every time
• Run payroll operations - adding new employees, processing changes, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring every run is accurate and on time
• Manage the benefits program day-to-day: open enrollment, carrier coordination, employee questions, a potential PEO migration, stipend maintenance, usage tracking, and feedback loops
• Own people compliance across all active states: SOS registrations, unemployment insurance, quarterly and annual filings, employee records, handbook maintenance, and working fluency with tools like Mosey, Corpnet, and AbstractOps
• Own employee engagement including pulse surveys, feedback initiatives, and sentiment tracking across a distributed team. Surface themes to leadership and turn feedback into actionable improvements
• Support performance management cycles: mid-year and end-of-year reviews, manager check-ins, scorecard coordination, and keeping feedback loops tight without adding unnecessary process
• Coordinate and manage office gatherings, employer branding events, and more intimate team outings
• Spearhead future office relocation efforts including broker relationships, touring spaces, coordinating buildouts, and ensuring seamless move-in processes
• Administer equity in Carta, partnering with the CoS and Finance on option grants, termination processing, and cap table hygiene
• Partner with COO and Recruiting Lead on headcount planning, leveling, and compensation frameworks
• Partner with Recruiting Lead on candidate experience and recruiting operations including interview coordination, offer letter workflows, ATS hygiene, and keeping the recruiting-to-people handoff clean
• Use AI tools actively to automate repetitive workflows, draft communications, and build more scalable processes - this is an expectation, not a nice-to-have

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, or related program management roles
• Experience at one or more scaling startups where you operated without a full HR team behind you
• Hands-on fluency with the core People Ops toolset: Gusto or Rippling, Carta, PEOs such as Sequoia or equivalent, and compliance platforms like Vanta, Mosey, or AbstractOps
• Ownership mentality: you've run a people ops or back-office function yourself, not just supported someone who did
• Comfort operating across people, finance, and admin functions without needing clean lane boundaries - this role crosses all three
• Clear, direct communicator who can navigate sensitive employee and manager conversations with judgment and empathy
• Fluency with AI tools as a genuine part of your workflow. you use them to move faster, write better, and build processes that don't require headcount to scale
• Strong Candidates May Also...
• Have supported or led a PEO migration
• Have familiarity with federal contracting compliance from a people/HR perspective
• Have worked with SOC 2 or similar security frameworks in a people ops context
• Don't Apply If...
• You've only worked in large orgs with a full HR team.
• You're a strategist who hands off execution. At Kaizen, you define the process and then you run it.
• You can't get excited about the mission. The agencies on our platform serve tens of millions of people. The infrastructure you build here matters to them.
• You need a detailed ticket to know what to work on next
• You get overwhelmed when the path forward isn't cl

Benefits

Additional Information

Who Are We? Government technology has failed the public for decades, and Americans have been conditioned to expect websites from the 90s for essential public services. Kaizen exists to strengthen trust in American public services by building technology that residents and public servants are proud to use. We partner with local, state, and federal agencies to replace legacy systems with modern, AI-native software that is worthy of the people they serve. We started in outdoor recreation, and now we're building toward something much larger - the software layer that powers how Americans access any government service. Our platform already reaches 40 million residents across 50+ agencies in 17 states. Founded in 2022 and based in New York City, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital. We're builders, designers, and operators who believe that beautifully designed software shouldn't be a luxury in government. It's how you earn trust back.

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