People (HR) Operations Manager

THE COMPANY
We are NEURAL EARTH. We bring clarity to physical risk, enabling leaders to engage with confidence and enact resilient, business-critical decisions. Today's environmental, economic, and infrastructure challenges are deeply interconnected, yet the data required to understand these relationships is scattered across siloed and aging systems. Neural Earth enables operational execution, delivering a single decision intelligence platform that unifies planetary, governmental, and asset-level data, always on and always learning. This is technical work that requires patience. It requires teams willing to operate at the intersection of AI research, geospatial science, distributed systems, and enterprise deployment. It is also incredibly rewarding. Join us at Neural Earth — the next frontier is here.

THE TEAM

You will join Neural Earth's G&A Team, reporting to our Chief Financial Officer (CFO), as the first person here dedicated solely to People Operations execution. This is a team of one, and the day-to-day is yours: you will own payroll, hiring, and employee support outright for a company of less than 30 across two legal entities in the US and abroad. The G&A Team is responsible for Finance, Legal, Operations, and People for the entire company, and you are the expert we are hiring to lead the People needs of the organization.

THE ROLE

As the People (HR) Operations Manager, you will own payroll and contractor payments first: payroll administration, tax registrations, W2 management, and accounts payable for contractors across two entities in the US and abroad. From there, you own the entire employee lifecycle and the systems that make it possible (HRIS, ATS, onboarding, leave, hiring). This role also owns the complete hiring process end to end: headcount approval, job description, compensation banding, first-round candidate screens, and partnering with hiring managers all the way to offer. When headcount opens faster than one person can screen, you will have access to external recruiting support, but the process, the pipeline, and the outcome stay yours. You will shape how we run as a company, from onboarding through the all-hands agenda. Reporting directly to the CFO, you will have both the mandate and the support to get things done. This is you!

HOW YOU’LL BE SUCCESSFUL

• Manage: Payroll and contractor payments across two entities, in the US and globally: payroll administration, onboarding and offboarding, payroll registration and maintenance; W2 management across Rippling, Gusto, and QuickBooks, and accounts payable for contractors, including 1099 reporting.

• Own: The employee lifecycle end to end: policy management, employment documentation and file maintenance, new device management and retrieval, leave administration, and offboarding, across our HRIS.

• Hire: The complete hiring process end to end: headcount approval, job description refinement and approval, ATS administration, first-round candidate screens, compensation, and negotiations through offer.

• Support: Leaders and employees as their day-to-day People partner, advising on people solutions and workforce planning, and building the kind of trust that gets problems brought to you early instead of after they've grown.

• Cultivate: The culture and environment that lets our people do the best work of their lives: reinforcing what we value day to day, building the rhythms and moments (including the all-hands) that keep the company connected, and creating the conditions where performance and growth actually happen.

WHY WE VALUE YOU

• You know Rippling deeply, not just how to run a cycle in it, but how to configure it and where it breaks.

• You have registered payroll tax accounts across multiple states and resolved the notices that follow: you can read one, work out what the agency actually wants, and close it out before it turns into a penalty.

• You have paid international contractors and managed contractor payments end to end, AP, 1099 reporting, and vendor compliance, without letting them or the entities they sit under get tangled.

• You have administered leave and claims: parental leave, disability, paid family leave, unemployment, and you know what the agencies actually need and when.

• You know your way around Ashby, or an ATS close to it, and you have screened candidates yourself and carried offers through negotiation to signature.

• You treat sensitive information as sensitive and people know that about you without having to ask.

• You document a process the first time you run it, so that the second time someone else could.

• You are precise where precision matters. Someone's pay is not a place for approximations.

• You are comfortable being the only person who owns this, and equally comfortable standing in front of the whole company to talk about it.

• You hold confidential information and use discretion without being asked to, and people trust you as a sounding board because you listen first and exercise good judgment before you ever weigh in.

REQUIREMENTS

• 4–7 years in People Operations or recruiting, including time as the primary owner of a hiring process rather than a contributor to one

• Hands-on Rippling administration experience, covering payroll cycles and onboarding workflows

• Hands-on ATS experience (Ashby or similar), including running candidate screens and managing a pipeline end to end

• Multi-state US payroll tax registration and compliance experience

• Experience paying international contractors and supporting two or more legal entities

• Ability to accommodate occasional travel as needed 10%

COMPENSATION

The salary range for this position is $110,000 to $140,000 annually, reflecting progression within the role based on demonstrated growth and impact.

At Neural Earth, we believe in pay equity, transparency, and rewarding growth. Our compensation philosophy is built on an equitable model with offers based on role, level, and expertise. This approach ensures that all employees are paid fairly and equitably without the influence of external factors like negotiation skills or previous pay history. This structure provides clarity, consistency, and alignment between pay, performance, and career development.

BENEFITS

At Neural Earth, taking care of our people isn't just something we strive for, it's who we are. Our comprehensive benefits package is designed to support you at every stage, whether you're advancing your career, growing your family, or planning for the future. From day one, you'll have access to:

• Competitive base compensation regardless of work location

• Company performance-based cash bonuses

• Majority employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents

• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO)

• Group Life Insurance at 2x your base salary, paid by the company

• FSA and HSA options to maximize your healthcare dollars

We know that when people feel supported, they can focus on what matters most at Neural Earth which is doing great work, growing in their careers, and making a meaningful impact.