People Operations Specialist

About the role

We're looking for a People Operations Specialist to be the backbone of HappyRobot's people function — the person employees go to with questions, and the person who makes sure everything behind the scenes actually works. You'll own onboarding end-to-end, run benefits and leave administration across every country we operate in, and manage the day-to-day relationship with our PEO and EOR partners in the US, Spain, UK, EMEA, and LATAM.

This is a hands-on, detail-driven role for someone who takes real pride in clean data, closed loops, and being the teammate everyone can count on. You'll keep our HRIS (Rippling) accurate and current, navigate the compliance complexity that comes with hiring across multiple countries, and automate the repetitive parts of the job rather than grinding through them manually. As the people function matures, you'll also get to help shape engagement initiatives, policy, and programs, with real opportunity to go deeper into the areas you care most about.

Responsibilities

• Be the go-to for employee questions. You'll be the first point of contact for questions about benefits, payroll, policies, leave, and anything else people-related. You'll answer quickly, know when to escalate, and turn repeat questions into better documentation.

• Own onboarding. From offer signed to their first day, you'll make sure every transition runs smoothly. That covers background checks, work authorization, equipment and access coordination, and a first week that sets new hires up to succeed.

• Run benefits and leave administration. You'll manage our benefits programs and statutory leave across the countries we operate in, including enrollments, life-event changes, and local requirements. You'll make sure employees understand what they're entitled to.

• Manage our PEO and EOR partners. You'll own day-to-day coordination with our PEO for employees in the US, Spain, and the UK, and with our EOR partners across EMEA and LATAM. You'll keep vendors accountable, resolve exceptions, and flag compliance questions before they become problems.

• Keep our HRIS clean and running. You'll own employee records, status changes, and data integrity in Rippling. Clean data is the foundation everything else is built on.

• Help build people programs. Beyond operations, you'll help with engagement initiatives, policy updates, team events, and whatever else the team needs as the function matures.

• Automate the repetitive work. You'll find where manual steps slow us down and fix them with AI tools, Rippling workflows, or whatever gets the job done sustainably.

Required Qualifications

• 2–4 years in HR, People Operations, or a generalist People role, ideally at a tech company or fast-growing startup. You've owned real work, not just supported someone else's.

• Hands-on HRIS experience (Rippling preferred) and comfort learning new systems quickly.

• Breadth across the employee lifecycle. You've worked on some mix of onboarding, benefits, payroll, compliance, and employee support, and can be a strong thought partner across these areas. As the team grows you will have an opportunity to dive deeper into areas of special interest.

• Comfort with international HR complexity. You've worked with employees or contractors across multiple countries and know how to navigate that complexity — whether through EOR partners, local counsel, or your own experience with international employment law and frameworks. You have a strong understanding of local employment law and compliance that guide your decisions and help shape our operations. For roles based in San Francisco: US employment law; Mexico City: Mexico and LATAM; Madrid: Spain and EMEA. You know what you don't know and you know who to call.

• Strong coordination skills. You can manage multiple vendors and stakeholders, like PEOs, EORs, and outside counsel, keep them accountable, and keep things moving.

• AI-native and automation-oriented. You reach for automation before doing something manually for the third time. You've built workflows in your HRIS, automate tasks using tools like chat GPT or Claude, and you're genuinely excited about using AI to work smarter. This is a real part of how you operate, not a checkbox.

• High ownership, high precision, low ego. You take deep satisfaction in closing loops and keeping things clean. You're energized by being the person your teammates can count on. The details matter to you, and you're comfortable doing the unglamorous work that holds everything together.

• Startup orientation. You've thrived where the playbook wasn't fully written. You're comfortable with ambiguity, resourceful when you don't have all the answers, and you see a ground-floor people function as an opportunity — not a risk.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience coordinating global immigration cases with outside counsel

• Experience working with a PEO and EORs

• Spanish or French language skills

Why join us?

• Join a world-class team of engineers and builders.

• Comprehensive Benefits including healthcare, dental, vision coverage.

Our Operating Principles

Extreme Ownership

Craftsmanship

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