People & Talent Operations Lead

ABOUT US Foundry Robotics is building an AI-native robotics manufacturing company focused on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. Basically, we're building robots that build robots. Our mission is to rebuild the American manufacturing industry as an AI-first, assembly-focused, dual-use contract manufacturer. As a founding member of our team, you will have a direct and significant impact on our product, culture, and ultimate success. This role is 100% in-person at our office in Emeryville, CA.   THE ROLE Recruiting is a leaky bucket if the thing we hire people into does not hold them. Filling the top of the funnel is wasted motion when onboarding is an admin spreadsheet, and the people systems are just a checking box exercise and not seen as what they are: a Data goldmine for high performance. This is a systems job for someone who loves efficiency. We want the person who automates the recurring work rather than staffing around it and who runs Rippling as a real operating system rather than a filing cabinet. It also owns the mechanism that makes our hiring philosophy real: we say values drive performance and hiring decisions, and we say interview quality is part of how people here are evaluated. Neither is true until someone builds the system that makes it true - so we want someone that wants to be amazing systems with Ashby, Rippling and other AI tools. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Own the infrastructure — onboarding, HRIS, payroll (in conjunction with finance), benefits, leave, immigration, and multi-state compliance — for salaried technical and commercial staff and an hourly, shift-based shop floor. - Run Rippling as the system of record and get real leverage out of it: workflows, approvals, automated onboarding and offboarding, app and device provisioning, and reporting people actually use. - Automate relentlessly. Every recurring manual process is a candidate for elimination, and AI tooling is fair game for drafting, analysis, policy summarization, and triage. We would rather you build the workflow than staff the workaround. - Own people data end to end: headcount, attrition and retention by manager, span of control, flight risk, etc. - Quantify what a bad hire actually costs Foundry — salary, ramp, manager hours, team churn, and the opportunity cost of the seat. We need this number and do not have it. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Founder mentality: We love people who build like it’s their own company. You move fast, take ownership, and find a way through when the path isn’t obvious. You have the drive to make big things happen and the judgment to take smart risks along the way. If you prefer a clearly defined lane, a predictable pace, and all the answers before you start, there’s nothing wrong with that—but Foundry might not be the right fit. - Hands-on Rippling experience is required. You have configured it — workflows, permissions, reporting, integrations — not just clicked through it as an end user. - 5+ years in People Operations, including real experience supporting an hourly or shift-based workforce. Office-only backgrounds will struggle here. - Extremely organized. Nothing falls through. You run a clean system and people can feel the difference. - Data-driven by instinct. You build the dashboard rather than answer the same question five times, and you can analyze attrition, retention, and span of control rather than just report them. - AI-efficient. You use AI tooling to eliminate manual work and can show us specifically what you have automated and what it saved. - High discretion. You will hold comp data, performance records, investigations, and departures. This is table stakes and we will reference-check it. - You understand multi-state employment, wage and hour, and the compliance surface of a production environment —and you can tell a senior leader something they do not want to hear, without drama. - American Citizen Required NICE TO HAVE (NOT REQUIRED) - You have built a performance cycle from nothing and can say credibly what calibration requires in order not to become theater. - ITAR, export control, or cleared-program people infrastructure. - Safety and OSHA-adjacent compliance in a production environment. - Experience using Ashby Straight Talk About this Role We practice ethical hiring - A meaningful share of this job is unglamorous infrastructure: payroll corrections, benefits enrollment, timekeeping disputes, I-9s. You will automate a lot of it, and what is left is still yours. - You are asked to be the compliance function and the culture function at once, and those pull against each other more often than anyone admits. - Some of what you inherit is spreadsheets and tribal knowledge. The first months involve find out where things are (if they exist) before they involve architecture. WHY JOIN US? This is one of the only places where world-class manufacturing operators, mechanical engineers, robotics researchers, and software engineers sit in the same room — building production systems together. We are committed to being deeply embedded in the U.S. industrial base. Our focus is simple: build adaptive robotic assembly systems that make American manufacturing scalable, resilient, and competitive again. If you want to run a mature, well-defined commercial org, this may not be the role. If you want to build the commercial engine that brings AI-driven manufacturing to every industrial and energy customer in America — this is it. The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of Emeryville is: $140,000 - $175,000 USD Compensation packages at Foundry Robotics for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Foundry Robotics employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, and generous PTO. Foundry Robotics is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.