People Operations Manager
About Skylight
Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.
We're at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.
If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we'd love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.
The work we do matters.
About the job
Since launching several years ago, our team has grown rapidly. We find ourselves in an exciting position to further deepen our partnerships within the government contracting space, to continue to attract and retain amazing teammates, and to scale our capacity to make an even bigger difference in the world.
Currently, our company is organized into three main groups: Executive Office (sets and operationalizes the strategic direction of the company), Federal Health & Civilian (focused on federal health and civilian missions), and Defense & Security (focused on defense, national security, and public safety missions).
As Skylight's People Operations Manager, you'll report directly to the Head of People Operations and play a vital role in running the people programs our team relies on every day. In this hands-on position, you'll focus on administering benefits and leave, managing the employee life cycle from onboarding through offboarding, and keeping our people systems, records, and policies accurate and current. The work you do will have a direct impact on our ability to attract, support, and retain amazing public interest technologists.
What you'll do
Benefits and leave
Administer our benefits programs end to end, including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, FSA, HSA, and 401(k)
Own the working relationship with our benefits broker and carriers, including renewals, plan design discussions, and issue escalation
Run annual open enrollment, from communications and employee education through system configuration and post-enrollment reconciliation
Administer all leaves of absence, including parental, medical, FMLA, short-term disability, and state paid family and medical leave programs
Maintain leave tracking and reporting so business unit leaders have the staffing visibility they need without exposing confidential detail
Partner with Finance on payroll inputs, leave-related pay adjustments, and benefits reconciliation
Employee lifecycle
Run onboarding end to end, including the preboarding checklist, new employee orientation, I-9 verification meetings, and E-Verify submissions, and coordinate with IT so system and equipment access is ready on day one
Run manager onboarding for employees stepping into people-management roles
Run offboarding end to end, including the checklist, exit surveys, and state compliant final pay and benefits steps, and confirm with IT that access is revoked and equipment is returned
Process role, project, and reporting-line transitions, keeping employee records and timekeeping assignments aligned and routing access changes to IT
Maintain employee data across our people systems, including address and status changes that carry tax or compliance implications
People systems and data
Serve as the administrator for our HRIS (Rippling), covering configuration, data integrity, reporting, and integrations with our timekeeping and payroll systems
Build and maintain automated workflows in the HRIS so routine people processes run without manual intervention
Run HRIS and people-system implementations and migrations, including vendor coordination, data validation, go-live readiness, and post-launch stabilization
Employee relations and performance
Support employee relations matters by conducting intake, maintaining documentation, preparing correspondence, and coordinating with the Head of People Operations and outside counsel where needed
Support managers through performance conversations and performance improvement plans, including template preparation, documentation standards, and follow-up tracking
Run the mechanics of our compensation and promotion cycles, including packet assembly, tracker maintenance, letter generation, and system updates
Policy, compliance, and communications
Serve as the first point of contact for employee questions on benefits, leave, pay, and policy, through our People Operations inbox and our internal request channels
Maintain our people policies and knowledge base, keep the policy backlog current, and flag where a policy is missing, stale, no longer compliant, or contradicted by practice
Deploy and track mandatory compliance training, such as anti-harassment and security awareness, and follow up on non-completions
Monitor multi-state employment compliance obligations and surface changes that affect our policies or practices
Write and publish company-wide people communications, including benefits deadlines, policy changes, and process updates
Maintain the SOPs, templates, and checklists behind our people workflows so the process survives any one person
Identify manual processes worth automating and use our tools, including AI, to reduce the administrative load on the function
Contribute to a work environment where people feel supported, informed, and treated consistently
What we're looking for
Minimum qualifications
Five or more years of progressive experience in an HR generalist, people operations, or benefits and leave role
Demonstrated ownership of benefits administration end to end, including broker management, renewals, and open enrollment
Demonstrated ownership of leave administration across multiple states, including interaction between company policy, federal leave law, and state paid leave programs
Experience supporting employee relations matters, including documentation, correspondence, and knowing when to escalate
Working knowledge of federal and multi-state employment law as it applies to leave, accommodation, classification, and pay practices
Sound judgment balancing transparency and visibility with confidentiality, privacy, and risk
Proven ability to collaborate across the business, partnering openly with leaders and teams rather than working in a silo
Hands-on administration of an HRIS, including reporting, configuration, workflow automation, and data integrity
Experience running onboarding and offboarding end to end, including I-9 and E-Verify compliance
Experience working with remote and distributed teams
Organized, detail-oriented, and quality-minded, with the follow-through to close items rather than route them
Superior written and oral communication skills, including the ability to explain a policy clearly to someone who is frustrated
Comfort working without a playbook, and the instinct to write one afterward
Passionate about creating better public outcomes through great government services
A mindset and work approach that aligns with our core values
Ability to travel for work from time to time
Nice-to-have qualifications
Experience with Rippling or a comparable HRIS
Experience in a government contracting, consulting, or professional services environment
Experience administering benefits and leave through a company's growth from roughly 100 to 300 employees
Experience implementing a leave management platform, a benefits administration system, or an HRIS migration
Experience deploying and tracking mandatory compliance training across a distributed workforce
Familiarity with government contractor compliance obligations, such as EEO reporting, affirmative action planning, or Service Contract Act requirements
Professional certification such as PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP
Don't meet 100% of the criteria but think you can do the job? We'd love to chat anyway! We're on a mission to build diverse teams, and studies have shown that women and marginalized folks are less likely to apply to jobs if they don't check every box.
Other requirements
All work must be conducted within the U.S.
You must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. now and in the future without sponsorship.
As a government contractor, you may be required to obtain a public trust or security clearance.
You may be required to successfully complete a company background check.
Position type
This is a full-time, exempt position.
Location
This is a fully remote position.
Care package
Salary
The salary range for this position is $100,000 - $130,000 based on experience and qualifications.
Benefits
Your well-being is important to us, so we focus on supporting you in a variety of ways:
Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
Short-term and long-term disability insurance
Life and AD&D insurance
Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
Paid time off, including 20 vacation days, 11 federal holidays, and flexible sick leave
Up to 12 weeks paid time off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
Business development / sales bonuses
Referral bonuses
Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good
Interview tips
Visit our join page to learn more about how our interview process works.
Check out our Career Pathways framework to learn more about the different roles within Skylight and the skills needed to do them.
If you'd like to request reasonable accommodations during the application or interviewing process, please contact our recruiting team at recruiting@skylight.digital.
We participate in E-Verify and upon hire, will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you're authorized to work in the U.S.
We're an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, age, pregnancy, disability, work-related injury, covered veteran status, political ideology, marital status, or any other factor that the law protects from employment discrimination.