Payroll and Benefits Manager

About Avoca

Avoca is transforming how home service companies engage with their customers. Our AI-powered conversational agents handle every high-value inbound call, from booking jobs, qualifying leads, and driving higher revenue, all at a speed and consistency unmatched by human call centers.

We're a Series B startup backed by Kleiner Perkins, Meritech Capital, General Catalyst, and other top-tier investors, with $125M raised and a $1B valuation. We grew 10x in 2025 and have scaled to 130+ employees in under two years across our NYC headquarters and Santa Barbara office.

In a $1T+ market where 85% of missed calls go to competitors, we're building the category-defining platform for AI-driven customer engagement, serving the largest brands in home services. With high-energy, in-office teams in both locations, every hire here has an immediate and visible impact.

About the Role

As Avoca scales to 300+ employees and contractors globally, we need a dedicated owner for payroll, benefits, equity, and compliance. This role will ensure the fundamentals are flawless — accurate payroll, smooth benefits administration, clean equity tracking, and compliant filings across jurisdictions — while building scalable processes and controls for continued growth. This is a new role reporting to the People Operations Lead.

What You’ll Do

Own end-to-end payroll for U.S. and international employees and contractors

Manage employee compensation changes, including new hires, terminations, compensation adjustments, and off-cycle payments across currencies and time zones

Administer Carta equity workflows, including grants, vesting, exercises, terminations, and employee equity questions

Own multi-state and international compliance, including tax registrations, statutory filings, worker classification, wage and hour requirements, and equity-related regulatory requirements

Own benefits administration, including enrollments, qualifying life events, vendor coordination, employee questions, and compliance-related benefits processes

Monitor regulatory changes as Avoca expands into new states and countries, proactively identifying risks before they become issues

Reconcile payroll and equity with Finance monthly across all entities, and lead year-end compliance activities including W-2s, 1099s, and international equivalents

Serve as the primary point of contact for questions related to payroll, equity, and compliance

Build scalable processes and controls that can support 2-3x growth in headcount and geographic footprint

What You’ll Bring

5+ years of experience owning payroll, equity administration, and related compliance, ideally at a startup scaling across multiple states and countries

Direct experience managing payroll and worker-classification compliance across multiple U.S. states and at least one international market

Hands-on experience with Rippling and Carta, or comparable payroll, HRIS, and equity administration systems

Strong process-building instincts — you’ve created controls, workflows, and documentation from the ground up, not just operated within existing systems

Advanced Excel skills and a detail-oriented control mindset for reconciliations, audits, reporting, and payroll accuracy

Clear, calm, and empathetic communication style when supporting employees through sensitive payroll, equity, or compliance questions

Bonus: CPP certification, global payroll experience, or deeper exposure to international equity and compliance requirements

Who You Are

You’re meticulous, fast-moving, and trusted with sensitive details

You’re customer-obsessed and treat employees’ payroll, equity, and compliance questions with urgency, clarity, and care

You build order out of ambiguity by creating clear, repeatable processes

You’re proactive about risk and comfortable escalating issues early

You’re energized by working in person with a high-ownership team; this role is expected to be in office 5 days/week

Compensation: The expected hourly rate for this role is $75.00 - $90.00 with final compensation based on experience, skills, and qualifications determined during the interview process.

Why Avoca

At Avoca, you’ll be part of a team that’s building a category-defining company at the center of a massive market opportunity. We’re a fast-moving, collaborative team with a culture designed for builders who thrive on speed, iteration, and impact.

Avoca provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability.