Sr. People Operations Business Partner
On-site Hawthorne Full-time Senior People Operations & HRIS
At a glance
Senior People Operations & HRIS role at Astrolab. Hawthorne · full-time · no salary stated · we estimate $114,000–$157,500 across the United States.
Estimated pay
Astrolab has not published a salary for this role. The figure below is our estimate, not theirs.
$114,000 – $157,500
What the middle half of senior people operations & HRIS roles in the United States paid, among postings that did state a salary.
Worked out from 141 postings that stated pay, median $130,000. Last updated Oct 20, 2026.
RolePeople Operations & HRIS
SenioritySenior
LocationHawthorne
WorkplaceOn-site
EmploymentFull-time
PostedAug 31, 2026 · 7w ago
Role brief
hrroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Advise managers and employees in technical and operational teams on performance, development, team structure, and workforce planning
- Handle investigations, conflict resolution, corrective action, and performance concerns with fairness and sound judgment
- Maintain employment compliance and records, with particular attention to California rules, leave, accommodations, and wage practices
- Improve onboarding, exits, transfers, promotions, feedback cycles, and employee development across the employee lifecycle
- Build People Operations workflows and use HR systems and reporting to guide decisions on retention, engagement, and organizational health
What you bring
- At least six years in HR or People Operations, including support for technical, engineering, manufacturing, or operational teams
- Knowledge of California employment requirements and experience handling complex employee relations cases and investigations
- Experience coaching managers on difficult conversations, performance, and organizational challenges, and supporting exempt and non-exempt staff
- Hands-on use of HRIS and performance systems, such as Lattice, Rippling, ADP Workforce Now, or a comparable platform
Who this fits
This senior role suits someone who can combine strategic advice with direct execution in a fast-changing engineering and manufacturing setting. You’ll work on-site in Hawthorne, California. Familiarity with high-growth startup or aerospace and technology environments is listed as a basic qualification.
From the employer
Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab) is pioneering new ways to explore and operate on distant planetary bodies. We are singularly focused on designing, building, and operating a fleet of multi-purpose commercial planetary rovers to extend and enhance humanity’s presence in the solar system. We are seeking motivated, creative, and exceptional people to join our world-class team.
This position combines strategic partnership with hands-on execution. The ideal candidate is comfortable in ambiguity, managing complex employee relations matters, improving processes, coaching leaders, and helping build a high-accountability, high-performance culture during a critical stage of company growth.
The Sr. People Operations Business Partner plays a key role in supporting the full employee lifecycle while helping leaders scale teams’ responsibility, compliantly and efficiently. Strategic Partnership & Manager Support
This position combines strategic partnership with hands-on execution. The ideal candidate is comfortable in ambiguity, managing complex employee relations matters, improving processes, coaching leaders, and helping build a high-accountability, high-performance culture during a critical stage of company growth.
The Sr. People Operations Business Partner plays a key role in supporting the full employee lifecycle while helping leaders scale teams’ responsibility, compliantly and efficiently. Strategic Partnership & Manager Support
- Serve as a trusted People Operations partner to managers and employees across technical and operational organizations
- Coach managers on performance management, employee development, organizational effectiveness, communication, accountability, and team dynamics
- Partner with leaders to support organizational scaling, workforce planning, team structure and succession readiness
- Help leaders navigate challenging people matters with sound judgment, confidentiality, and compliance awareness
- Provide practical, business-focused People Operations guidance in a fast-moving engineering and manufacturing environment
- Manage employee relations matters promptly, fairly, and professionally, including investigations, conflict resolution, corrective actions, and performance concerns
- Identify workplace risks proactively and recommend solutions before issues escalate
- Support the development of a respectful, inclusive, high-performance culture aligned with Astrolab’s mission and operational goals
- Build credibility and trust with employees at all levels of the organization
- Partner cross-functionally to improve employee engagement, retention, communication, and workplace effectiveness
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws, with strong emphasis on California labor law compliance
- Support compliance efforts related to wage and hour practices, leave administration, accommodations, investigations, employee documentation, and policy implementation
- Assist in developing, improving, and scaling People Operations policies, SOPs, and internal processes
- Maintain accurate and compliant employee records and HR documentation practices
- Partner with payroll, benefits, recruiting, EH&S, and leadership teams to ensure operational alignment
- Support and improve onboarding, offboarding, internal transfers, promotions, and employee development processes
- Partner with Recruiting and hiring managers to ensure a strong new hire experience and effective organizational integration
- Drive performance management processes including calibration discussions, employee feedback cycles, and development planning
- Support workforce changes, organizational restructuring, and scaling initiatives as the company grows
- Lead and contribute to cross-functional People Operations initiatives and special projects
- Help build scalable infrastructure, programs, and workflows that support company growth
- Analyze trends and provide recommendations related to retention, engagement, turnover, and organizational health
- Utilize HR systems and reporting tools to improve efficiency and decision-making
- Support implementation and optimization of HRIS, performance management, and employee engagement platforms
- 6+ years of HR or People Operations experience, including experience supporting technical, engineering, manufacturing, or operational teams
- Experience in high-growth, fast-scaling startup or aerospace/technology environments
- Experience and knowledge in California employment law and HR compliance practices
- Experience managing complex employee relations matters and workplace investigations
- Experience coaching managers through difficult conversations, performance management, and organizational challenges
- Experience supporting both exempt and non-exempt employee populations
- Experience using HRIS and performance management systems such as Lattice, Rippling, ADP Workforce Now, Insperity, BambooHR, or similar platforms
- Experience supporting aerospace, advanced manufacturing, hardware engineering, robotics, automotive, defense, or other highly technical industries
- Experience supporting rapid headcount growth and organizational scaling
- SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification
- Experience partnering with engineering leadership, program management, production teams, and executive leadership
- Experience with government contracting environments or compliance-driven organizations is a plus