Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Mercato is a healthcare nutrition company providing medically tailored groceries, meals, and nutrition benefit solutions. The Senior People Operations Manager will build and operate the people function, owning the employee lifecycle, HR systems, benefits, recruiting operations, compliance, employee relations, performance processes, and people metrics for a distributed workforce.
Responsibilities
- Own the employee lifecycle end to end — offer, onboarding, job changes, and offboarding — with clean documentation and consistent execution across salaried, hourly, and consultant populations
- Administer and continuously improve the HRIS as the single source of truth for headcount, org structure, compensation, and reporting; eliminate manual tracking through automation and systems design
- Manage benefits administration and open enrollment, and partner with Finance on payroll accuracy, PTO accrual, and headcount cost reporting
- Own multi-state employment compliance — wage and hour, leave administration, I-9/E-Verify, EEO reporting, and required postings — across every state where Mercato operates and hires
- Support healthcare-specific workforce compliance, including OIG/SAM exclusion screening, HIPAA and security awareness training completion, background checks, and license and credential tracking for clinical staff
- Run recruiting operations for open requisitions — req intake, sourcing coordination, structured interview design, scheduling, and offer preparation — partnering with hiring managers rather than replacing them
- Build the performance and goal-setting cadence, including support of Mercato’s Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) rollout: scorecards, role clarity, and quarterly reviews
- Serve as the first point of contact for employee relations, handling sensitive matters with discretion, sound judgment, and appropriate documentation
- Establish and report people metrics leadership can act on — time-to-fill, turnover, hourly-workforce attrition, training completion, and engagement
- Maintain and evolve the employee handbook, policy set, and people operations standard operating procedures
- Complete an audit of current HR systems, personnel files, policies, and compliance exposure; deliver a prioritized risk-and-gap list to the COO
- HRIS cleaned and reconciled against payroll and the org chart; handbook and core policies updated; recruiting intake process live for all open requisitions
- A documented People Operations roadmap with an automation plan, a rolling compliance calendar, and a baseline people metrics dashboard feeding the COO’s operating review
Skills
- 5+ years in People Operations or Human Resources, including hands-on ownership of HRIS, benefits, and multi-state compliance at a company under 500 employees
- Demonstrated ability to build the function rather than administer an existing one — you have written the policy, configured the system, and run the process yourself
- Working command of multi-state employment law, with comfort operating on routine matters without in-house counsel
- Experience supporting an hourly, shift-based workforce (call center, logistics, field, or clinical) alongside a salaried corporate team
- Strong systems and automation instinct; you reach for a workflow before you reach for a spreadsheet
- Sound judgment and absolute discretion with confidential and sensitive information
- Clear, executive-ready written communication
- Remote within the United States
- Travel of approximately 10–15% for onboarding, site visits, and company meetings
- Healthcare, health plan, Medicaid, or other regulated-industry experience
- Familiarity with HIPAA workforce requirements, exclusion screening, and clinical license and credential tracking
- Experience operating in an EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) environment
- SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP or PHR/SPHR certification
- Experience standing up or migrating an HRIS
- Based in the Las Vegas, NV metro area
Benefits
- Annual performance bonus of up to 10% of base
- Participation in the company equity plan
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Paid time off
- Remote within the United States
Company Overview