Kernel
People Operations Lead
$150K–$230K
San Francisco +3 · On-site · Full-time · Posted Oct 20, 2026
- Location
- San Francisco
New York
Seattle
Cincinnati - Experience
- 4+ years in people operations or HR.
About the job
Owns end-to-end HR and people operations for Kernel’s approximately 30-person, multi-location team, building and scaling people systems.
What you'll do
- Manage the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, I-9s, equipment, policy acknowledgments, and offboarding.
- Administer payroll, benefits, HRIS, 401(k), and multi-state employment compliance.
- Build people programs and resources, advise employees and managers, and support culture and team growth.
What they ask for
- 4+ years in people operations or HR.
- Hands-on experience running payroll, benefits, and an HRIS.
- Working knowledge of multi-state US employment compliance.
- Strong judgment and discretion with sensitive topics.
Nice to have
- Early people/HR hire at a high-growth startup.
- Rippling experience.
Pay
$150K – $230K USD base salary
Tools
Rippling, HRIS
AI focus
Use AI and automation to handle busywork, allowing more focus on work requiring human judgment.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative