Talent and People Operations Manager Full Time NEW

About ProEquip. ProEquip is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that civilization can withstand and recover from severe biological crises, such as AI-enabled engineered pandemics. ProEquip models biological threat scenarios and then delivers the capabilities to withstand them, including crisis preparedness and response infrastructure, and highly effective protective equipment, centered on respiratory protection.

About the role. We’re hiring our first dedicated Talent and People Operations Manager to own how ProEquip finds, hires, and welcomes the people behind our mission. You’ll run full-cycle recruiting end-to-end and handle a small but important slice of People Operations, with support from leadership and our PEO (Justworks).

This is a build role. We don’t have an ATS yet, and our recruiting process relies mostly on internal experience — you’ll set up the systems and shape how ProEquip hires from the ground up.

The role starts at ~90% recruiting and ~10% People Ops. Over time, the People Ops scope will expand into performance, employee experience, and broader HR strategy. If you want to start hands-on in recruiting and grow into a broader People role, this is that path.

You’ll report to the VP of Finance and Operations and partner closely with hiring managers across the org.

What you’ll do:

Recruiting (≈90% to start)

• Run full-cycle recruiting for every open role — intake, sourcing, screening, scheduling, debriefs, references, offer, and close.
• Be the face of ProEquip to candidates. Hired or not, every candidate should leave with a high opinion of us.
• Stand up our recruiting infrastructure from scratch: select and implement an ATS, build templates and workflows, and put the foundational toolstack in place.
• Build sourcing pipelines: outbound, referrals, talent communities, and partnerships with relevant networks.
• Design our interview process — scorecards, structured questions, hiring manager calibration — so decisions are consistent and evidence-based.
• Track and report funnel metrics (time-to-hire, pass-through, source-of-hire, offer acceptance, candidate NPS) and use them to find what to fix next.
• Coach hiring managers on how to interview, debrief, and close.
• Run a tight, warm onboarding experience that gets new hires productive quickly.

People Operations (≈10% to start)

• Own day-to-day People Ops in partnership with Justworks: onboarding/offboarding, employment paperwork, I-9s, and basic benefits questions.
• Keep us compliant on the basics: required postings, mandatory trainings, record-keeping, and core federal/state/local employment law, escalating to leadership when needed.
• Be a friendly first point of contact for employees on People questions — benefits, pay, time off, where-do-I-find-this.
• As recruiting infrastructure stabilizes, take on broader People work — handbook and policy, performance, employee experience. 

What we’re looking for:

• 5+ years of full-cycle recruiting experience, ideally at a startup or small/mid-size org where you owned the whole process.
• A track record of closing strong candidates across a range of role types.
• Real fluency with sourcing and funnel metrics — you can show your numbers.
• Bias to build: you write the first version of a missing process instead of waiting for one. You’re excited that the ATS doesn’t exist yet because you get to pick it.
• Strong written communication. Your emails should make people want to take the call.
• Comfort with the basics of People Ops: you’ve worked alongside an HRIS or PEO (Justworks, Rippling, Gusto, TriNet, or similar) and aren’t afraid of the paperwork side.
• Sound judgment with sensitive information and situations.

Nice to have

• Experience setting up an ATS or recruiting function from scratch.
• Experience hiring for technical engineering/research and operational roles.
• Prior experience with Justworks.
• Familiarity with HR compliance fundamentals; certification (PHR, SHRM-CP, etc.) is a plus, not required.
• Experience at a mission-driven or nonprofit organization.

What success looks like:

• First 30 days: You’ve met every hiring manager, audited open roles and pipelines, and have an ATS selected based on pricing, timeline, and day-one config.
• First 60 days: ATS is live as the source of truth. You’re running active searches with a documented process, and hiring managers know what’s expected at each stage.
• First 90 days: We’re consistently closing the candidates we want. New hires report a great onboarding experience. People Ops basics are buttoned up, and we’ve started a conversation about which broader People programs to build next.

Logistics:

• Location: Remote
• Compensation: $100k to $150k depending on location and experience.
• Benefits: Health/dental/vision, flexible PTO, 401k plan, etc.