People Operations Lead

ABOUT THE COMPANY Valon is the leading AI platform for mortgage servicing, building the AI-native operating system for regulated finance. Before providing the system of record that powers the entire industry, we built and ran our own mortgage servicer on it. That gave us a real regulated environment to prove our technology could replace the mainframe systems servicers have used for decades. Carrington acquired that servicer and adopted ValonOS as its core platform, allowing us to focus entirely on scaling our SaaS platform. ValonOS is now on track to power 1 in 6 U.S. mortgages across major mortgage servicers like Newrez, Carrington, and ServiceMac. Every process on the platform is structured and programmable, enabling our AI agents to perform core servicing work, like handling payments, escrow, and homeowner questions, directly within the system's controls. We recently raised a $150 million Series D at a $2.3 billion valuation by new investor Ribbit Capital, with continued support from existing backer a16z, amongst others. ABOUT THE ROLE We’re looking for a senior, systems-minded People Operations Lead to run and improve the processes that support our employees from signed offer through offboarding. This is a hands-on player-coach role. You’ll personally own critical People Ops workflows, coach and develop teammates, and use better systems, automation, and AI to make the function more scalable and effective. You’ll partner closely with the rest of the People team, including HR Recruiting and cross-functional partners like IT, Legal, Finance, and Workplace. WHAT YOU’LL OWN Employee lifecycle operations - Own onboarding from signed offer through a smooth new-hire experience. - Manage offboarding, transfers, leaves of absence, employment changes, contractor processes, and other lifecycle events. - Ensure employee data, documentation, and cross-functional handoffs are accurate and timely. - Build clear, consistent processes that work for employees, managers, and internal partners. HRIS, payroll, and people systems - Own Rippling as a source of truth for employee data and People Ops workflows. - Maintain HRIS data integrity, permissions, documentation, and operational reporting. - Own end-to-end multi-state payroll, including accurate and timely processing, payroll tax compliance, and management of state and local payroll tax registrations and accounts. Partner with Finance and payroll providers to resolve issues. - Identify opportunities to improve workflows, integrations, and self-service. - Maintain accurate records and audit-ready documentation. Benefits, leave, and workers’ compensation - Own day-to-day benefits administration, employee support, and vendor coordination. - Support renewals, open enrollment, plan changes, and ongoing benefits communications. - Coordinate leave-related processes and ensure employees receive timely, accurate guidance. - Partner with Total Rewards and external providers to resolve issues and improve the employee experience. - Manage workers’ compensation coverage, renewals, audits, and claims coordination with brokers, carriers, and internal partners. Immigration and work authorization - Coordinate immigration and work authorization processes with employees, outside counsel, and relevant vendors. - Track cases, deadlines, documentation, and employee communications. - Ensure processes are organized, timely, and handled with appropriate confidentiality. - Escalate legal questions to Legal or outside counsel rather than providing legal advice. Team leadership and roadmap - Set the vision and priorities for People Ops, aligned with company needs and the broader People team’s goals. - Build and execute a roadmap of programs and projects, translating priorities into clear owners, milestones, and measures of success. Adjust sequencing as business needs change. - Coach and develop People Ops teammates through regular feedback, training, quality review, and increasing ownership. - Create playbooks, operating standards, and quality controls that help the team work consistently. - Balance roadmap execution with day-to-day operations, ensuring clear priorities and reliable coverage. - Stay close enough to the work to handle complex issues and model excellent execution. Automation and continuous improvement - Identify repetitive or error-prone People workflows and redesign them. - Build and maintain automations using no-code, low-code, workflow, and AI tools. - Improve the connection between Rippling and other systems used by Recruiting, IT, Finance, and the People team. - Measure whether process improvements are reducing manual work and improving accuracy or employee experience. WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR - 7+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, or a related function. - Meaningful experience owning broad People Ops responsibilities in a scaling organization. - Deep, hands-on experience administering and optimizing Rippling. - Strong experience with benefits administration, renewals, enrollment, vendors, and employee support. - Experience coordinating immigration and work authorization processes with outside counsel or an immigration provider. - Hands-on experience owning end-to-end multi-state payroll, including payroll taxes, registrations, and account management. - Experience with HRIS data integrity, compliance, documentation, and employee lifecycle operations. - Demonstrated examples of building and implementing automation in People workflows. - Experience coaching or developing People Ops teammates. - Strong cross-functional judgment and communication skills. - High discretion, attention to detail, and comfort handling sensitive employee information. - A hands-on operating style: you enjoy improving the system while still doing the work. NICE TO HAVE - Experience supporting compensation or performance-cycle operations. - Compensation benchmarking, job architecture, or compensation administration experience. - Experience setting up and supporting international employees through an employer of record (EOR). - Multi-state compliance experience. - Experience building integrations, reporting workflows, or employee self-service tools. - Experience using APIs or more technical automation tools. BENEFITS - Compensation: competitive salary with a meaningful stake in the company via equity, and 401(k) plan. The base salary range reflects multiple levels. We assess level based on a combination of experience and interview performance. - Health & well-being: we’ll invest in your physical and mental well-being with comprehensive medical, dental, & vision benefits. - Free Food: daily lunch, and dinner provided through Forkable for in-office team members. - Commuter benefits: pre-tax deductions for public transit, rideshares, and parking to simplify your daily commute. - Grow together: company wide orientation for you to successfully onboard and other learning & development opportunities including regular review cycles that feature 360-degree feedback. - Play together: quarterly budgets for team and company outings. Use it for team swag, cooking classes, or team dinners. - Generous time off: flexible paid time off with no annual limit, sick days, and 11 company holidays. - Baby bonding time: 12 weeks of fully paid leave for both birthing and non-birthing parents, so you can spend uninterrupted time welcoming and caring for your newest family member. Throughout the interview process, please remember that emails will only be from valon.com http://valon.com email addresses. We will never ask for any personally identifiable information during the interview process itself. Please reach out to talent@valon.com if you have any requests to verify the authenticity of an outreach. Valon is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. Valon makes hiring decisions based solely on qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time.