People Operations Generalist

Who We Are

Salient Motion designs, manufactures, and supports advanced motion control and actuation systems for aerospace, defense, and robotics applications. We're a fast-growing, venture-backed startup building the next generation of intelligent motion systems, partnering directly with leading organizations to bring new technology from concept to deployment.

About the Role

This is the first dedicated People Ops hire at Salient Motion. You are coming in at a moment when the company is scaling fast enough that we need someone who can build and own the operational infrastructure that keeps everything running: onboarding, compliance, HRIS, payroll and benefits (and more). You will also support recruiting operations as we build out the talent function, which means you will touch the full employee lifecycle from candidate to day one and beyond.

A couple other things:

We are open to relocating you

We have great benefits

We are well funded, and generating revenue

We just moved into a new large HQ in Hawthorne, CA, with presence still in Torrance, CA

We need folks onsite, but provide a lot of flexibilty

What you'll do:

People Operations

HRIS administration in Rippling: employee records, workflows, onboarding automation, and data integrity

Onboarding end to end: pre-boarding, Day 1 coordination, and 30/60/90 day check-ins in partnership with managers

Benefits administration: open enrollment, carrier coordination, employee questions, and day-to-day benefits support

Compliance: I-9 management, employment law adherence (California and federal), required policy maintenance, and ITAR documentation at offer stage

Visa and immigration coordination in partnership with outside counsel: includes preparing job descriptions and role documentation for petition support, coordinating the recruiting process to meet visa timeline requirements, managing case tracking and document collection, and serving as the internal point of contact between employees, managers, and counsel throughout the process

Payroll support: first point of contact for employee questions and discrepancies related to payroll. You are not running payroll, but you are making sure issues get resolved and managers are approving timesheets before processing deadlines

Culture and engagement: own the cadence of pulse surveys and engagement check-ins, synthesize results into actionable insights for the Head of People and leadership, and serve as a visible, approachable presence on the floor. You are the day-to-day read on how the team is doing, what is working, and what is not

Company policy ownership: employee handbook, PTO policy, code of conduct, and required state and federal postings

Recruiting Support

Job posting management: publish and maintain open roles on the Salient Motion careers page and LinkedIn, keep postings current, and ensure all listings include required ITAR and location language

Interview coordination: schedule 1:1 interviews across all active reqs and coordinate post-interview roundtable discussions where interviewers align on candidate feedback before a decision is made

Candidate experience: serve as the primary point of contact and host for all onsite candidates. You are the first face they see when they walk in and the last when they leave. Own everything in between: greeting, logistics, escorting between interviews, and making sure the day runs on time and feels organized. The candidate experience is a direct reflection of who we are as a company

Offer routing: manage the offer workflow end to end in Greenhouse: routing for approval, generating offer letters, managing DocuSign, and tracking acceptance

Juicebox administration: support the Recruiting team in managing outreach agent briefs, monitoring sequence performance, and keeping candidate data clean

Greenhouse hygiene: stage updates, candidate disposition, background check coordination via Checkr, and pipeline reporting support

What you need:

Experience matters less than how you operate. Here is what we actually value in this role.

You can hold a lot at once. This role lives at the intersection of People Ops and recruiting, and the context switches constantly. One hour you are resolving a payroll discrepancy, the next you are hosting a candidate onsite, the next you are updating a job posting. You do not drop things when the day changes direction

You learn fast and go deep. You do not need to be an employment lawyer to understand California compliance, but you are not afraid to dig in until you do. Same with systems. Rippling, Greenhouse, Juicebox: you get your hands on a tool and you master it. You do not stay at the surface level

You move before you are asked. You see around corners. You spot the timesheet that has not been approved before payroll closes, the compliance requirement coming before it becomes a problem, the candidate who has been waiting too long for a follow-up. You bring solutions, not just observations. This is core to who we are as a company and we expect it from everyone on the team

3-5 years in a People Ops, HR Generalist, or HR Coordinator role is a reasonable baseline

ITAR-eligible (U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) and onsite in Hawthorne are both required

Rippling, Greenhouse, Juicebox, and or other (HR/Recruiting tools) experience are a strong plus

What we have to offer:

We are a small, technical team building hardware that flies. The people who thrive here are builders: people who take ownership, move without waiting to be asked, and hold a high bar for their own work. We also care deeply about what it feels like to work here. This role has a real hand in shaping that. If that sounds like you, we want to talk.

Salary Range: $100,000-$130,000, plus equity and benefits at a well-funded, fast-moving startup

Mission-driven work at the intersection of aerospace, defense, and robotics innovation

Exceptional healthcare benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision) - Medical is 100% covered by the company

2x salary Life Insurance - 100% covered by the company

Flexible PTO Policy

401K

More to come!