Sr. Manager of People Operations
130k – 150kAtlanta, GAPeople OpsOnsite7+ YOE
Summary
Owns design, standardization, and continuous improvement of global employee lifecycle processes, payroll/benefits operations, HR reporting, and data integrity at a technology company. Provides operational leadership and serves as continuity for the Sr. Director of People Operations.
About the role
Design & Govern Employee Lifecycle Processes
- Own the design, standardization, and continuous improvement of global onboarding, offboarding, and employee lifecycle workflow processes for employees and contractors
- Build and maintain process documentation: every workflow, SOP, and operational standard is documented, version-controlled, and accessible
- Identify and prioritize automation opportunities across People Operations workflows, partnering with the UKG Ready Specialist and cross-functional stakeholders to reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and increase scalability
- Partner with HRBPs, functional leaders, and the UKG Ready Specialist to ensure processes are aligned with business needs and executed consistently across the organization
- Evaluate and recommend practical uses of AI and automation within People Operations while ensuring appropriate governance, privacy, and compliance controls
- Ensure processes are built for scale — designed to support a 500-person organization even when we are at 325
Enable Payroll & Benefits Operations
- Partner closely with the Payroll & Benefits Manager to ensure accurate and timely data flow into payroll and benefits systems, with strong internal controls that catch errors before they become problems
- Support annual benefits renewals, vendor negotiations, and plan design improvements in collaboration with the Sr. Director
- Provide escalation support for critical payroll or benefits issues, serving as a reliable backup when primary owners need coverage
- Partner with Finance and leadership on cost transparency and vendor performance reporting
Serve as a Key Operational Leader
- Establish and enforce process standards across the People Operations team, in partnership with functional owners
- Provide day-to-day operational leadership and guidance to the team — the person others come to when a process is unclear, a system is behaving unexpectedly, or an edge case needs a decision
- Act as the escalation point for systems and process-related issues, resolving problems before they reach the Sr. Director
- Develop and maintain operational coverage models, documentation, and cross-training plans that reduce single points of failure and improve business continuity across People Operations
- Support company-wide initiatives that require People Operations execution: M&A activity, compensation cycles, workforce reductions, audits
Own HR Reporting & Data Integrity
- Build and maintain People Operations dashboards and reporting for the team and leadership — headcount, turnover, time-to-onboard, compliance completion rates, and other operational metrics
- Partner with the UKG Ready Specialist to ensure reporting infrastructure is accurate and timely, with clear data ownership between the system layer and the analytics layer
- Ensure EEO-1 reporting, I-9 compliance, and other regulatory filings are accurate and on time
- Maintain employee file compliance standards across paper and digital records
Act as Operational Continuity for the Sr. Director
- Serve as the operational leader of the function in the absence of the Sr. Director, ensuring continuity of critical People Operations processes, stakeholder support, and decision-making
- Build documented knowledge transfer across every function the Sr. Director currently owns, ensuring no critical process is a single point of failure
- Grow into increasing scope as the function matures
Who You Are
- A systems-minded operator who thrives on building processes that are clean, scalable, and efficient
- Detail-obsessed and precise — you hold yourself to a high bar on accuracy and take it personally when something is wrong
- Equally comfortable working independently and collaborating cross-functionally — you do not need to be told what to do next; you see what needs doing
- Energized by building, not maintaining — this role requires someone who creates structure where none exists, not someone who manages existing infrastructure
- A communicator who can translate operational complexity into clear, concise guidance for the team and leadership
- Calm under pressure — People Operations handles payroll, compliance, and sensitive employee data; the right person for this role does not panic when things go wrong, they solve problems
Required Experience
- 7+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, or a closely related role at a technology company
- Demonstrated experience owning employee lifecycle processes end-to-end — onboarding, offboarding, job changes, comp changes — with documented SOPs
- Experience with HRIS platforms at an operational ownership level — responsible for data quality, process execution, and compliance in an HRIS (Workday, HiBob, ADP, Paylocity, etc.)
- Experience supporting payroll and benefits operations, including internal controls and data flow between HR and payroll systems
- Track record of cross-functional partnership with Finance, IT, Legal, and Security on HR compliance, systems, and process initiatives
- Experience building and maintaining HR reporting and dashboards with a data integrity mindset
- Working knowledge of federal and state HR compliance requirements: I-9, EEO-1, FMLA, multi-state employment law
Preferred Experience
- Experience at a high-growth SaaS or AI-native company where the pace of change outstrips the pace of process documentation
- Experience with HRIS implementation or migration — having owned the evaluation, rollout, or transition of an enterprise HR system
- Experience supporting M&A activity from a People Operations perspective: system integration, org restructuring, headcount reconciliation
- Familiarity with UKG Ready — including an understanding of its architecture, module structure, and configuration approach
- Experience managing a small team or providing operational leadership to HR coordinators and specialists
- HR certification: PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP
Skills
People OperationsHR OperationsHRISWorkdayADPPaylocityPayroll OperationsBenefits AdministrationProcess AutomationHR ReportingData IntegrityComplianceI-9EEO-1FMLA
Similar roles at this salary range
All People Ops jobs →People and Talent Operations Lead
Owns strategic People Operations projects spanning compensation, HR systems, data/reporting, AI enablement, and employee experience. Builds frameworks, automates workflows, and drives initiatives from ambiguous briefs to structured execution.
140k – 170kNew York, NYPeople OpsHybrid5+ YOEHRISExcel