People Operations Lead
At a glance
Senior People Operations & HRIS role at Kernel. San Francisco · full-time · $150,000–$230,000 base.
hrroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Guide employees from accepted offer through departure, handling onboarding, I-9s, equipment, and policy sign-offs
- Run payroll, benefits, and 401(k) administration through the HRIS and payroll systems
- Keep employment practices compliant across California, New York, Ohio, and states where remote staff live
- Create a handbook, leveling and compensation bands, plus a simple performance and feedback process
- Advise employees and managers on policies, benefits, and employee relations, while shaping team rituals and offsites
What you bring
- At least four years in HR or people operations, ideally as an early hire at a fast-growing startup
- Hands-on responsibility for payroll, benefits, and an HRIS; Rippling is a plus
- Practical knowledge of U.S. employment rules across multiple states
- Sound judgment and discretion when handling sensitive employee matters
Who this fits
This is a senior, hands-on individual contributor role and Kernel’s first People team hire, suited to someone comfortable building processes while running the day-to-day work. You’ll be based onsite in San Francisco and support a team across San Francisco, New York, Cincinnati, and remote locations.
From the employer
About Kernel
Kernel provides crazy fast, open source infrastructure for AI agents to use the internet. Our API allows developers to instantly spin up secure browsers and automate anything on the web. We handle all the hard problems of running browser-based agents in production: agents x user credentials, autoscaling, bot detection, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
We’re used by teams at Cash App, Vercel, Framer, Rye, and over 5000 developers for tasks like QA automation, RPA, virtual assistants, and CUA RL environments. We've raised $22M from Accel, YCombinator, Vercel, Paul Graham, Solomon Hykes (Docker), David Cramer (Sentry), Charlie Marsh (Astral), and more.
About the role
Kernel is making its first People team hire: an experienced generalist who will own HR and people operations end-to-end for a ~30-person team across San Francisco, New York, Cincinnati, and remote.
This is a hands-on, individual contributor role. You’ll run the day-to-day yourself, including onboarding, payroll, benefits, compliance, and employee relations, and build systems appropriate for our stage and then scale them as the team grows. You’ll work closely with the recruiting team on offers and onboarding.
What you'll do
Own the employee lifecycle from signed offer to offboarding, including onboarding, I-9s, equipment, and policy acknowledgments
Run payroll and benefits administration in our HRIS and payroll systems, including our 401(k)
Keep us compliant across states (CA, NY, OH, and anywhere remote teammates live) including registrations, state-mandated benefits, and required trainings
Build just enough playbooks and structure: handbook, leveling, comp bands, and a lightweight performance and feedback cycle
Be a trusted resource for employees and managers on policies, benefits, and employee relations
Help shape culture across offices: team rituals, offsites, and how we work as we grow
Use AI and automation to handle the busywork so you can focus on the work that needs a human
What we're looking for
4+ years in people operations or HR, ideally as an early people/HR hire at a high-growth startup
Hands-on experience running payroll, benefits, and an HRIS (Rippling a plus)
Working knowledge of multi-state US employment compliance
Strong judgment and discretion with sensitive topics
A builder's mindset: you know when process helps and when it gets in the way
Startup experience: you've built fast, worn multiple hats, and figured things out without a playbook
Excited to grow into building a team as Kernel scales
Hiring process
30-min intro call with our Chief of Staff
30-min conversation with our CEO
On-site interviews (can do video conference as needed), including a 60-minute working session to walk through a few realistic scenarios
Offer!
People Operations & HRIS work from LinkedIn, X, Reddit and Upwork, in one list.
Each morning you get everything that fits, strongest first.
People Operations & HRIS$150k+
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