Karman Space & Defense

Compensation

Full Description

SUMMARY The Human Resources Operations Manager leads the day-to-day HR operational infrastructure for a California based multi-site aerospace and defense manufacturing organization. This role owns scalable HR processes across the employee lifecycle, ensures compliance and documentation discipline, and improves employee and manager experience through clear workflows, effective HR systems, and strong service delivery. The role partners closely with HR business partners, payroll, benefits, talent acquisition, finance, IT, and legal, and supports requirements common to regulated environments including controlled information awareness, audit readiness, and consistent policy application. The role may supervise one to three HR operations team members or shared services resources, depending on structure. ABOUT US Karman Space & Defense provides concept-to-production solutions for mission-critical systems on spacecraft, launch vehicles, missiles, hypersonics, and integrated defense systems. We believe that solving the industry’s most complex and mission-critical challenges requires relentless determination and a willingness to push the boundaries of possibility. Karman Space & Defense brings to bear unparalleled production capabilities, unmatched engineering expertise, and unflinching analysis to render the impossible, possible. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS • Medical, Dental, Vision • Company Paid Life Insurance • 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan • Paid Time Off (PTO) • Paid Holidays • Tuition Reimbursement* TRAVEL: Up to 20% percent or as needed WHAT YOU WILL DO • Own end to end HR operational processes across the employee lifecycle including onboarding, job changes, transfers, leaves, and offboarding, ensuring accurate execution, timely communications, and consistent employee experience across sites • Maintain and improve California compliant HR policies, process documentation, and manager guidance, partnering with legal and HR leadership to reduce risk and ensure consistent application • Lead HR process architecture and continuous improvement by identifying bottlenecks, reducing manual steps, standardizing workflows, and implementing automation and self-service where appropriate • Serve as primary owner or super user for HR systems and service delivery tools as applicable, including HRIS transactions, data governance, reporting integrity, and case management practices • Develop and maintain HR knowledge resources including policies, SOPs, manager toolkits, and employee help to improve speed, accuracy, and consistency of HR support • Partner with payroll and benefits to ensure data accuracy, timely eligibility changes, compliant deductions, and strong controls for audits and reconciliations • Build operational reporting and dashboards that provide actionable insights on service volume, cycle times, employee experience touchpoints, compliance tasks, and workforce trends • Manage HR vendor relationships and operational budgets assigned, including renewals, invoices, SLAs, and review performance • Lead or support HR implementations and special projects such as new module rollouts, HR ticketing models, forms standardization, and cross functional process changes; apply structured change management to adoption • Support regulated environmental requirements by partnering with compliance, security, and operations on onboarding controls, documentation standards, and training completion tracking as applicable to the workforce and contracts • Supervise, coach, and develop HR operations team members as applicable; set priorities, establish quality standards, and ensure reliable service delivery during peak cycles WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR • Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field or equivalent practical experience. • 5+ years of progressive HR operations or people operations experience, including ownership of HR processes and systems. • Demonstrated experience working in California with strong working knowledge of CA specific compliance requirements. • Experience supporting payroll, benefits administration, and employee lifecycle operations in an on-site or manufacturing environment. • Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, index match, and data analysis • Strong documentation discipline and the ability to translate policy and process into clear manager and employee guidance. • Proficiency with HRIS systems, reporting, and data quality controls; ADP experience preferred if applicable. • HR certification preferred. PREFERRED EXPERIENCE • Experience in aerospace, defense, manufacturing, or other regulated environments. • Experience designing scalable self-service HR resources and improving HR service delivery models. • Experience leading cross functional HR process improvements and technology implementations with measurable outcomes EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. Karman is committed to equal employment opportunity. We will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on any legally recognized basis (“protected class”) including, but not limited to race; color; religion; genetic information; national origin; sex; pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; age; disability; citizenship status; uniform servicemember status; or any other protected class under federal, state, or local law. Our management is dedicated to ensuring the fulfillment of this policy with respect to hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, recruitment advertising, pay, and other forms of compensation, training, and general treatment during employment.