People Operations Manager

About the Job

We’re Echidna Giving, a vibrant, international team united in our mission to transform girls' education worldwide. We’re seeking a People Operations Manager to help support our Human Resources needs and strengthen the experience of our dynamic, growing staff. With team members in the U.S. and East Africa—and plans to expand further—this role will be central in developing equitable, supportive HR practices. We believe that HR practices and policies should be primarily designed to motivate and support the growth of high-performing team members, rather than focused on the rare non-performers.

Are you passionate about supporting employees and setting them up for success while also keeping our operational HR wheels turning smoothly? Excited to shape people policies for a diverse global team? Skilled at building strong relationships and solving complex challenges? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

About Us

At Echidna Giving, our mission is clear: getting more girls into better schools to create brighter futures. We believe investing in girls' education transforms lives and communities, making the world more equitable. As a leading private funder in international education, we're in a phase of exciting growth, expanding our annual grant budget from $50M to $200M over the next 5-7 years. (Learn more at www.echidnagiving.org)

Join our dynamic team of thirteen, and help us shape the future of girls' education. We take pride in our principles, teamwork, relationships, and ability to move quickly.

Responsibilities

Growth & Development (~20%)

Collaborate with managers to support individual growth, manager development, and team-wide learning opportunities.

• Maintain a curated list of global professional development resources and support staff in accessing relevant growth opportunities
• Develop role-specific learning paths in collaboration with Senior Management
• Support supervisors with their team's individual development and learning plans
• Recommend resources for training new managers
• Coordinate trainings for staff on new resources, policies, processes, software, etc.
• Monitor and encourage the utilization of annual individual employee development budgets

Talent & Employee Experience (~20%)

Manage the employee lifecycle and ensure a supportive and engaging employee experience.

• Collaborate with hiring managers to develop comprehensive recruiting materials, including job descriptions, interview guides, and case study exercises, ensuring a consistent and effective candidate experience
• Identify and manage recruiting partners
• Lead coordination and project management for recruiting and hiring
• Advise the hiring manager and/or Senior Management on selection decisions, and compensation design
• Manage onboarding and offboarding for individuals to ensure smooth transitions
• Manage the annual employee performance review process
• Administer employee engagement and pulse surveys, synthesize feedback for senior staff, and make recommendations to reinforce team well-being

Operations, Compensation & Compliance (~30%)

Maintain the systems, vendors, and processes that support a fair, accurate, and compliant workplace across the globe.

• Triage individual staff member HR inquiries and support resolution, serving as an intermediary between staff and PEO/EOR vendors
• Support the implementation of Echidna's compensation philosophy
• Support benefits administration, aiming for parity across geographies
• Gather data to support managers during the annual salary review process
• Liaise with external compensation/benefit research entities/databases, compile and provide data
• Support timely and accurate data entry for payroll processing in partnership with external vendors and internal stakeholders
• Monitor PTO and sick leave balances across teams, ensuring accuracy and consistency in leave tracking
• Liaise with HR vendors (PEO, EOR, 401(k) provider), accounting, etc. to ensure smooth coordination and responsive support
• Maintain and update employee handbooks
• Coordinate with 401(k) plan administrator, PEO, and accounting team to ensure compliance with plan requirements, timely and accurate processing of contributions and matches, and issue resolution
• Identify, assess, recommend, and onboard new HR-related vendors to meet evolving organizational needs

Culture & Learning (~30%)

We consider those closest to our team, their supervisors, the primary conveyers of culture. This HR role is responsible for helping supervisors foster a connected, inclusive, and continuously evolving workplace.

• Research, draft, and implement new people policies with guidance and support from senior management, ensuring alignment with Echidna's principles and compliance and parity across geographies, including but not limited to:
• Remote and in-office work policies
• Cross-time zone meetings and working hour policies
• Response time expectations and downtime policies
• Make recommendations to Senior Management and managers on ways to support milestone and individual accomplishment celebrations and acknowledgements collectively, in departments or sub-teams, and individually
• Support supervisors on team and sub-team gatherings, cadence, and culture-related elements of the agenda
• Make recommendations to Senior Management for ways the team could safely explore and discuss cultural blind spots, humor, feedback, communication, conflict, and hierarchy
• Contribute to designing experiences that connect staff to the work and impact of our grantees in the communities they serve
• Analyze asynchronous work collaboration tools/software, make recommendations, and develop use policies
• Help develop a yearly calendar of learning sessions with outside experts and speakers of interest

What we’re looking for

• 7-10+ Years Work Experience: Ideally you've had at least 7-10 years of work experience, including at least some experience in human resources or people operations, and at least 3-5 years supporting international teams
• People-Centric: You naturally put people first, enjoy problem-solving, and are energized by creating positive workplace experiences.
• Culture Enthusiast: You know the value of a connected, inclusive, and high-performing team. You’re ready to enable supervisors to nurture culture, celebrate milestones, and navigate challenges.
• Policy & Compliance Savvy: You’re confident navigating HR policies, 401k and other compliance requirements. You’re versed in compensation and benefit frameworks across multiple geographies.
• Learning & Development Enthusiast: You’re passionate about enabling colleagues to learn and grow.
• Global Team Player: You work seamlessly across time zones, balancing flexibility with the ability to create alignment across remote teams. You know when to bring other voices into the room to inform decisions.
• Organizational Wizard: You juggle multiple priorities effortlessly, managing projects, calendars, and initiatives with meticulous attention to detail.
• Flexible & Fun: You bring maturity, humor, and adaptability to every challenge, while supporting a vibrant and evolving team environment.
• San Francisco Office Ready: Ability to work from our San Francisco office two to three days a week, along with the rest of the San Francisco team.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary of $135,000-165,000 annually, commensurate with experience
• 401(k) match
• Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
• Up to $5,000 annually for professional development
• Charitable giving allowance with a match
• Generous Time Off
• Paid volunteer leave annually and sabbatical perks after 6 years
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave, plus a 2-week reentry support period
• Monthly phone/internet reimbursement up to a cap

Ready to Apply?

If you’re excited about making an impact at Echidna Giving, upload your resume and answer a few brief application questions at this link.

The application deadline is January 19th, 2026. While all applications received by the deadline will be reviewed and considered; applications received by January 9 may be prioritized – so early application is encouraged. The ideal candidate will be available to start by March 2, 2026.

Please note that the recruiter for this role is external to Echidna Giving. We know that hiring scams are common, so if you need to validate the hiring process, you can reach out to hiring@echidnagiving.org, using the subject line: People Operations Manager. Please note we cannot respond to individual candidate questions beyond validating the process.

Echidna Giving is an equal-opportunity employer and prides itself on embracing diversity in every hiring process step.

• Competitive Salary with 401(k) match
• Medical/Dental/Vision coverage
• Up to $5,000 annually for professional development
• Charitable giving allowance with a match
• Generous Time Off
• Paid volunteer leave annually and sabbatical perks after 6 years
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave, plus a 2-week reentry support period
• Monthly phone/internet reimbursement up to a cap