Associate, People Operations

Job Title: Associate, People Operations

Team: People & Operations

Location: In-Person in Newark (NJ), New York (NY)

Employment Type: Full-Time

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs Report.

About the Role: 

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring an Associate, People Operations to support the execution of core People Operations functions, with a primary focus on our non-exempt, part-time, and temporary staff who directly support Braven’s Leadership & Career Accelerator course (the Accelerator). The Associate will play a critical role in ensuring accurate and timely payroll processing, maintaining data integrity across our people systems, supporting onboarding and offboarding processes, and responding to routine requests from People Operations.

The Associate will independently manage routine operational tasks and processes, make recommendations to improve efficiency, and escalate exceptions or compliance risks as appropriate. The role regularly collaborates with internal stakeholders and our PEO/HRIS provider (ex. TriNet) while following established policies and guidance.

This role is part of the People & Culture team and reports to the Director, People Operations.

What You’ll Do 

People Systems, Data & Operations 40%

• Execute onboarding and offboarding processes for non-exempt and temporary staff (interns, graders, substitute leadership coaches, coaching partners):
• Onboarding: preboarding communications, preparation of offer letters, background checks,  I-9 verifications in E-Verify, and collaboration with IT on equipment provisioning.
• Offboarding: Process terminations and collaborate with IT on equipment returns.
• Serve as the first point of contact for incoming People Operations requests related to non-exempt and temporary staff, ensuring timely execution in partnership with the Associate Director and according to established service level agreements (SLAs) in our People Operations portal (Jira). 
• Maintain staff personnel records and collect all required forms and documentation.
• Maintain and update people systems (TriNet, personnel records) to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Maintain Braven’s organizational chart. 
• Conduct data audits, changes, and reporting for our people systems (TriNet) and external Google Sheets, including our quarterly TriNet audit and our monthly pay change audit for our Head of People. 
• Support process documentation and incremental efficiency improvements, with guidance from the Director. 

Payroll & Timekeeping 35%

• Prepare and execute the full-cycle biweekly payroll preparation process and serve as the primary escalation point for payroll concerns.
• Coordinate payroll reminders and communications for hourly teammates and their managers.
• Maintain payroll notes; document pay adjustments and leave of absence calculations.
• Upload all submitted timesheets to the payroll grid.
• Ensure a timely process of payroll activities in accordance with compliance requirements, including hourly employee management. 
• Collaborate with external professional employer organization (PEO) team members (TriNet) and Finance, including payroll contacts, and ensure accuracy in processes and data input for employee population. 
• Manage timekeeping initiatives and requirements, including reporting on paid time off (PTO), sick time, and in-office attendance for all staff.
• Increase efficiencies throughout payroll preparation: communications to staff and managers, TriNet submission processes, payroll meetings, and payroll changes documentation with support from the Director and Associate Director, People Operations. 
• Develop and maintain resources for Braven staff about timekeeping, the payroll process, scheduling, systems, and training. 
• Coordinate and track payments for employees while on various leaves of absence in partnership with our TriNet leave of absence team and Sparrow. 

General Support and Other Duties 25%

• Communicate and socialize company-wide People Operations updates and content to staff.
• Collaborate with the Associate Director and Senior Coordinator, People Operations, to effectively complete team goals (OKRs). 
• Identify and mitigate risk in people operations processes, and independently escalate critical compliance issues as needed.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree 
• 1-2 years of People Operations/HR experience
• 1-2 years of experience managing people systems (PEO, HRIS)

Preferred Qualifications

• 1-2 years experience running and managing payroll
• Genuine passion and love for People work and deep understanding that it is a vital part of any organization
• Excellent capacity to independently discern what work is most important and take responsibility for actions, tasks, and deadlines
• Proven ability to adapt, effectively manage time, meet deadlines, and manage competing priorities
• Ability and comfortability with building and iterating; capable of crafting innovative solutions while continuously refining and improving existing processes. 
• Growth mindset with a focus on continuous learning, embracing mistakes and failures as learning opportunities
• Dedication to maintaining confidentiality and professional integrity
• Proactively communicates with manager and peers to maintain workflows and inform stakeholders
• Strong appetite for professional development, passionate about learning new things, and not afraid to admit when you don’t know something
• Excellent attention to detail
• Experience working cross-functionally to build relationships, influence peers, and collaborate 
• Ability to effectively give and receive positive and corrective feedback
• Proficiency in G-Suite (especially Sheets), Slack, Jira, People systems
• Experience working with a PEO provider (such as TriNet) preferred, but not required
• Exemplification of Braven’s core values
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population. 

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Newark or New York
• Ability to travel roughly 4 times per year for team meetings

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Compensation and Benefits

The salary for this position, which depends on prior work experience and our assessment of your demonstrated fit for the role, will likely be between $56,900-$71,100. This is a full-time regular, exempt, and benefits eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity. Braven offers competitive base salaries based on the midpoint of the market among not-for-profit organizations of similar size, with opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly in relation to each other, their qualifications, and their impact on behalf of the organization, and take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead each salary offer is determined carefully using external and internal benchmarking. You will have an opportunity to discuss salary in more detail after you begin the application process.

Braven also provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Unlimited vacation time in addition to org-wide holidays and week-long shutdowns in July and the end of the calendar year (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)

• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health

• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave 
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of New York, NY or Newark, NJ. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.  We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.