People Ops Manager

About Profound

Profound is on a mission to help companies understand and control their AI presence. We’re creating a new category at the intersection of AI, search, and brand visibility — helping the world’s biggest brands measure and influence how they appear across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and beyond.

As Profound scales rapidly, we’re hiring a People Operations Manager to own people operations and the employee experience — from onboarding and manager enablement to performance conversations, benefits, and compliance.

This is a hands-on, builder role for someone who wants to be close to the business, help leaders and employees day to day, and build lightweight people processes that actually work at a fast-growing startup.

What You’ll Do

People Operations & Employee Experience

• Own and evolve people operations end to end — onboarding, performance processes, compensation cycles, benefits, and compliance.

• Be the primary point of contact for employees and managers on people-related questions.

• Support managers with feedback, performance conversations, and difficult moments (including exits and terminations).

• Help ensure a consistent, thoughtful employee experience as the company scales across teams and offices.

Onboarding, Performance & Manager Enablement

• Partner with Ops to build and iterate on onboarding, ensuring new hires feel oriented, supported, and effective quickly.
Help design and roll out lightweight performance review processes that give clarity without unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Support managers in setting expectations, giving feedback, and growing their teams.

• Create simple templates, guidance, and norms that make people management easier — not heavier.

Systems, Compliance & Operations

• Manage and optimize Rippling across payroll, benefits, devices, and system access.

• Oversee offer letters, commission agreements, and employment documentation.

• Work directly with legal partners on contracts, immigration, and compliance matters.

• Own benefits administration, renewals, and open enrollment.

• Bring people ops work currently handled by external partners in-house.

Who You Are

• 4–7+ years of experience in People Operations, HR, or a generalist people role at a fast-growing startup.

• Warm, pragmatic, and approachable — employees and managers trust you and come to you early.

• Comfortable handling sensitive conversations with judgment and empathy.

• Strong operator who can build systems, but knows when not to overbuild.

• Fluent in HR systems (ideally Rippling) and comfortable working with recruiters, finance, and legal.

• Low ego, high ownership — you care deeply about getting things right and helping the company scale well.

• Excited to be hands-on and close to the work, not a policy-first or overly corporate function.

Location

This is an on-site role based in our Union Square office, designed for builders who thrive on speed, iteration, and meaningful impact.

For this role, the expected base salary range is $130,000 – $190,000. Profound’s total compensation package is designed to be competitive and includes base salary, equity, and a full range of benefits and perks. Final compensation will depend on factors such as your skills, experience, qualifications, and location, and will be determined during the interview process. Our recruiting team will share more details about the full compensation package and benefits as you move through hiring.