People Operations Manager

About Liquid AI

Spun out of MIT CSAIL, we build general-purpose AI systems that run efficiently across every kind of hardware, from data center accelerators to on-device chips, ensuring low latency, minimal memory usage, privacy, and reliability. We partner with enterprises across consumer electronics, automotive, life sciences, and financial services. We are scaling rapidly and need exceptional people to help us get there.

The Opportunity

Our People team shapes how Liquid AI grows and how we look after our people, across the US and around the world.

We’re hiring a People Operations Manager to own our HR data and the operations that run on it, so every moment in someone’s time at Liquid AI is handled properly: their offer, their first day, a move to a new country, a visa, a pay review, their last day.

Behind every record is a person. Getting the details right is one of the most direct ways we look after our team, and you’ll make sure they’re right without needing to be chased.

You’ll report to our Head of People Operations and work closely with the engineers on our People team, testing and shaping the internal operating system they’re building. This is a hands-on operator role, not an HR business partner role.

This role will be based in our SF office, typically 4 days a week.

What We’re Looking For

We need someone who is:

• Detail-oriented: You notice when something doesn’t match, see how one change affects everything downstream, and fix it.
• A team player: You pitch in wherever the team needs you, and no task is too small.
• Self-directed: You get things done without much supervision, and you know when to escalate.
• Someone who ships: You work at pace, get through a high volume of work, and don’t let quality slip while you do it.
• Someone who cares about people: You see this work as part of how we look after our team, and you handle sensitive information with care.

The Work

• Own our HR data: keep HR, payroll and headcount records accurate and matching across systems, run regular checks, fix errors fast, and flag where they’re coming from
• Handle onboarding and offboarding admin: take care of the paperwork and system setup for every new starter and leaver, so their records are complete and correct from day one to their last
• Manage employee changes: process contractor conversions, moves between states or countries, contract amendments, salary changes, leaves and visa updates, so each one is touched once and done right in every system; for visas, work with our outside immigration counsel on documents and deadlines
• Run benefits operations: lead open enrollment, keep plan documents current and on hand, and work with our broker on renewals and compliance
• Manage our people vendors: be the day-to-day admin and escalation point for our HRIS, payroll, benefits and global EOR providers, and push open issues until they’re closed
• Run comp analysis and offer letters: benchmark roles against market data, model the full cost of offers and changes across countries, and prepare accurate offer letters consistent with approved terms
• Help run cross-functional projects: work with teams across the company on People projects, including our coworking weeks, which bring the team together several times a year
• Test and shape our internal operating system: be our main beta tester, running new features against real cases and working with the engineers until it’s right

Experience & Capabilities

What you’ll need:

• Experience in People Operations, HR operations or payroll, including time at an early-stage startup or on a small team where you covered a bit of everything
• Hands-on admin experience with a modern HRIS (Rippling, Workday, Deel or similar), owning the data and processing onboarding, offboarding and employee changes in it
• Experience with employees across multiple US states and countries
• Working knowledge of US benefits and compliance (open enrollment, ERISA, COBRA)
• Strong spreadsheet and analysis skills: comp benchmarks, cost models, headcount reporting, and the habit of checking your own numbers

Helpful, not required:

• A background in finance, accounting or payroll
• Experience with US immigration processes (H-1B, O-1, green cards) alongside outside counsel
• Experience with comp benchmarking tools such as Pave or Carta

What Success Looks Like (Year One)

• HR, payroll and headcount records match across every system, with regular checks that catch errors before anyone else does
• Every employee change, benefits cycle and vendor issue is closed and tracked in one place
• Our internal operating system has a tight feedback loop with the operations work you do every day

What We Offer

• Compensation & Equity: Competitive base salary plus equity, so you share in what we build. Final offers reflect skills, experience, and location.
• Time Off: Unlimited PTO, plus company-wide Refill Days, long weekends when the whole company rests together.
• Health & Wellbeing: Comprehensive health coverage, with details varying by location.
• Paid Leave: Paid leave for pregnancy, parenting, medical needs, and caring for family.