Senior Program Manager, People Operations & Systems

About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

About the Job

We are developing a core technology that will operate in the worst conditions the world’s oceans have to offer for years at a time without human maintenance or intervention. As Senior Program Manager, People Operations & Systems, you will build and own the operational infrastructure behind our total rewards programs. This is a senior individual contributor role responsible for designing, strengthening, and scaling the systems, workflows, and controls that support payroll, benefits, leave administration, compliance operations, reporting, and related employee transactions.

This role is for someone who has built and run these systems before and knows what excellent looks like. You are comfortable stepping into a fast-growing environment, identifying what needs to be built or tightened, and putting practical, durable processes in place without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

You have likely been the operational backbone of a People function before, whether as an HR department of one or as the senior operator behind total rewards, payroll, systems, compliance, and reporting. You know how to build processes that work now and scale as a company grows from a few hundred employees to several thousand.

Payroll is a critical part of this role, but it is only one part. This role sits at the intersection of accuracy, compliance, and scale. As the company grows, the quality of these systems directly impacts employee trust, financial accuracy, and our ability to operate without disruption

Responsibilities

Total Rewards Systems Ownership

• Build and own the systems, workflows, controls, and documentation that support total rewards operations
• Design and improve scalable processes across payroll, benefits, leave, reporting, and related employee transactions
• Identify process gaps and implement practical improvements that strengthen accuracy, efficiency, and scale
• Serve as a senior thought partner on how total rewards operations should evolve as the company grows

Payroll Administration

• Own end-to-end payroll administration and ensure timely, accurate processing
• Partner with Finance on payroll review, reconciliations, reporting, and year-end activities
• Maintain payroll records, deductions, earnings, tax setup, and related controls

Benefits and Leave Administration

• Own benefits administration operations, including enrollments, qualifying life events, deductions, audits, and reconciliations
• Administer leave programs, internal tracking, documentation, payroll coordination, and related operational support
• Oversee company-specific paid leave programs and ensure appropriate controls and documentation are in place

Systems, Compliance, and Reporting

• Serve as primary administrator for HRIS, ATS, and related people systems
• Own workflows, permissions, data integrity, integrations, and system maintenance
• Prepare recurring and ad hoc reporting, reconciliations, and audits for leadership, Finance, and external partners
• Build controls that improve quality, consistency, and risk management across people operations

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in payroll, total rewards operations, HR operations, people systems, or related roles
• Proven experience building, improving, and running systems and processes across payroll, benefits, leave, and related operations
• Deep experience with HRIS, payroll, and people systems administration, including building workflows, maintaining data integrity, and improving operational scale
• Strong experience in <