Founding Senior HR Generalist / People Operations Lead

About the Role: Our Client is hiring its first dedicated HR professional to own and strengthen core HR operations as the company continues to grow. This is a greenfield opportunity to bring clear ownership and scalable processes to a function currently shared across Operations and the business. The role is hands-on and execution-focused. You will own the day-to-day HR function, with emphasis on employee lifecycle management, compliance, and effective partnership with benefits providers and employment counsel. Building strong operational foundations is the immediate priority. Once fundamentals are in place, there is an appetite to expand into broader people initiatives such as culture, manager enablement, and employee experience. The right person is comfortable operating independently, enjoys bringing order to complexity, and is excited to be the first HR hire with meaningful ownership and room to grow as the company grows. What You'll OwnOwn the full employee lifecycle: onboarding end to end (equipment, accounts, orientation, first-week experience), role changes, offboarding, and terminations Maintain employment documentation and records, including offer letters, employment agreements, and separation materials Keep Rippling clean, current, and accurate as the source of truth Serve as the primary internal owner for HR processes, including when working with external vendors and outside counsel Apply working knowledge of California employment law to guide HR decisions, especially around in-person workplace requirements Handle employee transitions, terminations, and severance with consistency, care, and sound judgment Serve as the go-to owner for benefits administration (health, retirement) and manage relationships with brokers and providers Partner closely with Finance, and sometimes take the lead, on payroll accuracy and compliance Build and document HR workflows that scale with the business, introducing structure where processes are currently informal or evolving As the function matures, take on broader people programs (performance management, manager enablement, employee experience)