# Senior People Operations Partner - Company: [Sofarocean]() - Location: San Francisco - Team: People - Employment type: Full Time - Salary: $130K – $155K - Posted: August 19, 2026 ## Job description ## About the Role Sofar Ocean builds the sensors and software that map and forecast ocean conditions, from our Spotter buoy network to Wayfinder voyage optimization and SpotCast. We're a lean, high-ownership team of about 100 people, which means the person behind our HR infrastructure has an outsized effect on how it feels to work here. We're looking for a Senior People Operations Manager who can own that infrastructure end to end: build (some of) it, run it, and improve it without needing to be told what's broken. This is a highly autonomous role. You'll be trusted to identify gaps, prioritize what matters, and execute with minimal oversight. It also demands real attention to detail: payroll, compliance, and employee data don't tolerate sloppiness, and small errors here erode trust fast. And it requires a sense of urgency: when someone's leave, pay, or onboarding is on the line, "eventually" isn't good enough! Every process you build touches a real person's experience of working at Sofar. This role is as much about protecting the culture and wellness of every Sofarer as it is about operational excellence. ## Key Responsibilities * **HR Infrastructure & Technology:** Own and optimize our HR systems (Rippling, Ashby, Slack, and related tools), ensuring data integrity, building automation where manual work creates friction, and producing People analytics leadership can actually use. * **Compliance & Risk Management:** Maintain rigorous compliance with federal, California, and San Francisco labor law (FMLA/CFRA, SF HCSO, FLSA). Lead audit readiness, including SOC 2 or SOX documentation as needed. * **Total Rewards & Payroll:** Partner with finance and external vendors on payroll processing, benefits administration, and open enrollment, catching discrepancies before they become problems. * **Employee Lifecycle & Operations:** Run onboarding, internal mobility, leaves of absence, and off-boarding cleanly and consistently. Support the ongoing transition of our international team members to direct-hire employment as we stand up new entities abroad. * **Process Optimization:** Continuously look for administrative friction and remove it. Draft clear SOPs and keep the employee handbook current, treating documentation as a way to make the People function more autonomous, not less. ## Required Qualifications * **Experience:** 6+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 3 years focused specifically on People Operations, ideally in a fast-growing startup environment. * **Location:** Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, able to be onsite at Pier 28 4 days/week. * **Technical Skills:** Advanced administrator experience with modern HR platforms (Rippling, Ashby, Slack, or similar) and strong Excel/Google Sheets skills for data analysis. * **Legal Knowledge:** Deep working knowledge of California employment law, wage-and-hour rules, and leave administration. * **Education/Certifications:** Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field. SHRM-SCP or SPHR is a plus, not a requirement. * **What we need most:** someone who takes ownership without hand-holding, sweats the details that others miss, moves with urgency, and genuinely cares about the day-to-day experience of the people around them. ## What We Offer * Competitive base salary ($130,000–$155,000) + equity * Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance * Learning and development stipend * Flexible PTO, plus one company-wide office closure week * Catered onsite lunches * Flexible working hours (in some cases, lets chat!) ## Apply [Apply on Sofarocean]() Canonical job page: