HR & Administrative Associate

Work Location: Hybrid, must reside within 50 miles of San Rafael, CA

Status: Exempt/ 1.0 FTE (40 hours/week)

Starting Compensation: $70,310, non-negotiable

Posting Date: September 21, 2026

Application Closing Date: October 9, 2026

Reports to: Head of Administration

About iNaturalist

Protecting nature starts with noticing it. On iNaturalist, millions of people around the world share photos and audio recordings of the plants, animals, fungi, and more near them. After more than 18 years of noticing nature, the community has created one of the world’s largest open biodiversity databases — one that has informed over 8,000 scientific papers, supported on-the-ground conservation efforts, and connected people to the nature around them.

iNaturalist is an independent nonprofit with a mission to connect people to nature and advance biodiversity science and conservation. We believe anyone, anywhere can contribute — you don’t need to be an expert to make a difference — and that community science is critical to protecting global biodiversity. Our small, dedicated team builds technology to scale community science, with humans in the loop.

We’re growing, and we’re looking for people who want to help millions more around the world turn their everyday curiosity into lasting impact for nature!

Position Summary

Building a resilient, well-run organization takes care, coordination, and systems the team can rely on. As iNaturalist’s HR & Administrative Associate, you’ll help develop and maintain the foundation for a team connecting millions of people with nature.

This is a new role with a broad exposure to several parts of a growing nonprofit. Day-to-day, you will do things like help coordinate interviews for open roles, set up accounts for new team members, organize materials for a board meeting, and maintain our internal knowledge base. Alongside those day-to-day responsibilities, you’ll help spot opportunities to improve the processes behind them, making information easier to find, reducing repetitive work, and helping things run more smoothly.

Reporting to our Head of Administration, you will develop your skillset for balancing people-focused HR work with the administrative work that keeps an organization running smoothly.

You'll thrive in this role if you're detail-oriented and proactive, comfortable picking up new tools, and communicate clearly with people at every level of the organization. Priorities shift often in a growing nonprofit, and you adapt easily when they do — taking real satisfaction in helping others stay focused, organized, and prepared.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Human Resources Administration

• Serve as a point of contact for day-to-day HR inquiries, ensuring accurate guidance and timely escalation of sensitive cases.
• Assist hiring managers with recruitment, including publishing job postings, screening application materials, coordinating interviews, and communicating with candidates.
• Coordinate employee onboarding, offboarding, and change processes.
• Organize the performance review cycle, managing timelines, communications, and wrap up.
• Support benefits administration, including coordinating open enrollment periods, benefits communications, processing changes, and ongoing recordkeeping.
• Assist in the design and administration of employee engagement surveys.
• Facilitate the tracking of HR compliance requirements, including policy acknowledgments, harassment prevention training, and other required employee training and documentation.
• Maintain accurate and confidential HR records.
• Support multi-state payroll tax compliance by assisting with state and local payroll tax agency registrations and ongoing administration.
• Help improve HR efficiency and effectiveness by participating in workflow optimization and systems implementations.

Information Technology & Systems Coordination

• Serve as the primary Google Workspace and Slack Administrator, including user lifecycle management, shared drive governance, integrations coordination, and supporting security & compliance.
• Coordinate IT onboarding and offboarding, including systems access, ordering equipment for new hires, and collecting equipment at separation.
• Maintain a systems access matrix and organizational equipment tracker.
• Perform basic IT troubleshooting, and liaise with vendors as needed.
• Coordinate the build and maintenance of an internal knowledge base (e.g., Slab).
• Contribute to continuous process improvement by assisting the Head of Administration with workflow automation & optimization, policy creation & enforcement, and standard operating procedure documentation.

Board of Directors Administration

• Coordinate the scheduling of and logistics for quarterly board and committee meetings, including dinners & social events.
• In collaboration with the Executive Director, Head of Administration, and Board Chair, prepare board and committee meeting agendas and packets.
• Attend quarterly board meetings and prepare meeting minutes.
• Maintain governance records, including bylaws and amendments, resolutions, meeting minutes, and board roster, manuals, and policies.
• Ensure board compliance through the coordination of corporate officer and director elections, collection of conflict of interest disclosures, executive compensation approval, and monitoring of key deadlines.
• Assist Executive Director and Board Chair with recruitment, onboarding, and continuous engagement of board and committee members.

Team Collaboration & Leadership Support

• Lead the planning and coordination of the annual team retreat.
• Participate in regular Administrative team, supervisory, and full team meetings.
• Maintain the organization-wide calendar, schedule full team meetings, and coordinate team meeting decks.
• Monitor organizational voicemail and general email inbox.
• Pick up and scan mail at least twice per month.
• Process donation check deposits at least twice per month.
• Provide as-needed administrative support to the Leadership team, including calendaring, travel coordination, and meeting preparation.
• Support Bay Area fundraising events as needed.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice to support organizational needs.

Required Qualifications, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Associate’s degree and at least two (2) years of professional human resources or administrative/operations experience.
• Demonstrated success in managing a diverse workload through superb organizational and prioritization skills.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace and Slack, with a proven ability to quickly master and integrate new technologies.
• Self-starter with high dependability, meticulous attention to detail, and strong problem-solving skills.
• High degree of professionalism, independent judgement, and adaptability, enabling effective collaboration internally and externally.
• Excellent customer service and communication skills.
• Capable of comfortably fielding employee inquiries regarding HR policies and procedures with tact and consistency.
• High level of integrity with an ability to maintain the highest level of confidentiality.
• Ability to communicate effectively in English sufficient to convey information and instructions to colleagues, vendors, and board members.
• Reside within 50 miles of San Rafael, CA and have reliable transportation for travel to iNaturalist’s San Rafael office at least twice per month and to attend quarterly board meetings, typically held in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Willingness and ability to travel outside of the San Francisco Bay Area on occasion (e.g., annual staff retreat, which may be international).

Preferred Qualifications, Knowledge, and Abilities

• College-level coursework in human resources administration or related certification.
• Familiarity with HR/payroll platforms (e.g., Gusto).
• Experience serving as a Google Workspace/Slack, or similar productivity & collaboration tools, administrator.
• Knowledge of nonprofit governance or experience serving as a liaison between leadership and a board of directors.
• Experience working in a nonprofit.
• Interest in nature and commitment to environmental conservation.

Why it’s Great to Work at iNaturalist

A mission that matters.

You’ll play a pivotal role in a mission-driven organization. With species going extinct daily, the need to protect and document biodiversity has never been more essential. iNaturalist has become the go-to data source to measure biodiversity conservation and protection.

Growth.

Be part of a growing organization with opportunities for professional and personal development.

A great team.

Smart, hard-working nature lovers make up our small team. We are committed to collaborating, supporting, and learning from and about each other.

Flexible work.

We are predominantly a virtual team, and while most of this position’s work can be performed from home or wherever you are comfortable with a strong internet connection, you do need to reside within 50 miles of our office in San Rafael, CA to effectively support operations. Relocation assistance not provided.

Competitive pay.

The starting compensation for this position is $70,310 per year, non-negotiable.

Great benefits.

We offer a pretty awesome benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, plus an employer-funded health reimbursement account and employee-funded flexible spending accounts. There is also a 401k plan with up to a 5% match, an employee assistance plan, and a work from home stipend. This position is eligible for unlimited personal time off, and unlike some tech organizations, we really mean it – everyone is expected to take a minimum of three weeks a year off.

Additional Information

Because this role involves access to sensitive information, a background investigation is required prior to employment for applicants who receive a conditional offer of employment. Applicants given a conditional offer of employment will be required to sign authorization and release forms enabling such an investigation.

How to Apply & Timeline

We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive in this role to apply, even if they do not meet all the qualifications outlined above.

To apply, click on this link. Instead of a traditional cover letter, we ask that you respond to a short set of questions designed to assess your experience and interest. Responses are initially reviewed (by real people, not AI) without names and independently in order to reduce bias. Application materials submitted outside of Applied (e.g., via email) will not be considered.

Applied asks for your demographic information, but we never see it in association with you. It is used only in aggregate reporting to assess the overall demographics of the candidate pool.

Hiring Process Timeline:

The application period will close no later than noon PST on October 9, 2026. We may close it early after receiving 150 applications. In this case, we will notify anyone who has started the application that they have 48 hours to complete it.

After initial review of applications, advancing candidates will be asked to answer a few more questions before candidates are selected for interviews.

• Initial Application Review: Oct 13, 2026 - Oct 16, 2026
• Written Follow Up: Oct 19, 2026 - Oct 22, 2026
• Interviews and Reference Checks: Oct 26, 2026–Nov 4, 2026
• Offer: Early November 2026
• Ideal Start Date: Late November 2026

iNaturalist is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law.

iNaturalist is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities during the hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, please contact Head of Administration Adrienne Pettit at adrienne@inaturalist.org

Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, plus an employer-funded health reimbursement account and employee-funded flexible spending accounts. There is also a 401k plan with up to a 5% match and an employee assistance plan. This position is eligible for unlimited personal time off, and unlike some tech organizations, we really mean it – everyone is expected to take a minimum of three weeks a year off.

Ability to communicate effectively in English sufficient to convey information and instructions to colleagues, vendors, and board members.