Manager, People Operations

About Us:

The Donovan’s Venom is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on curating universal accessibility to fine arts and music education for all. We are passionately dedicated to ensuring that everyone, regardless of financial circumstances, has access to high-quality music education, performance opportunities, and fine art. We aim to inspire, empower, and uplift communities by fostering a love for music and the arts through our commitment to education, inclusivity, diversity, and social impact, which drives us to expand our reach continually and enrich the lives of those we serve.

Manager, People Operations

Position Overview

We are looking for a hands-on Manager, People Operations to lead a team of four and help build, strengthen, and scale the operational foundation of our People & Culture function.

This volunteer role is a highly visible leadership opportunity for someone who enjoys building systems, leading teams, improving processes, leveraging technology, and creating an exceptional volunteer experience.

You will own the day-to-day People Operations function across the volunteer lifecycle, including onboarding, transitions, offboarding, People systems, records, workflows, documentation, and operational support. You will also play a key role in modernizing how we work by identifying opportunities to simplify, automate, and improve our People processes.

Our goal is not to automate the human experience. It is to automate the repetitive work so our People team has more time for the conversations, relationships, coaching, and support that matter most.

This volunteer role is ideal for a People Operations professional who wants the opportunity to lead a team, build infrastructure, introduce new technology, develop scalable processes, and leave a meaningful mark on a growing organization.

This opportunity is open to anyone in the US, Canada, or the United Kingdom only.

What You'll Lead

People Operations Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, develop, and support a People Operations team of four.
• Establish priorities, assign work, and create clear ownership across the team.
• Provide guidance, feedback, and development opportunities for team members.
• Review key deliverables to ensure quality, accuracy, and consistency.
• Remove roadblocks and help the team resolve operational challenges.
• Create a collaborative, accountable, and solutions-oriented team environment.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for People Operations questions and issues.

Volunteer Lifecycle Experience

Own and continuously improve the operational experience across the full volunteer lifecycle.

• Oversee onboarding, role changes, transfers, leaves, and offboarding.
• Ensure volunteers receive a consistent, organized, welcoming, and professional experience.
• Develop and improve onboarding and offboarding workflows, checklists, communications, and resources.
• Partner with managers to ensure required actions, approvals, documentation, and system updates are completed.
• Identify gaps or friction points in the volunteer journey and develop practical solutions.
• Ensure important lifecycle moments maintain an appropriate human touch, even as processes become more automated.

Automation & People Technology

Help us build a modern and scalable People Operations function.

• Identify repetitive, manual, or administrative work that can be automated, simplified, or eliminated.
• Build automated workflows for reminders, approvals, notifications, documentation, data updates, reporting, and other repeatable processes.
• Evaluate technology and tools that can improve efficiency, accuracy, visibility, and the volunteer experience.
• Partner with People leadership to implement scalable People Operations tools and solutions.
• Determine where automation is appropriate and where human judgment, empathy, conversation, or relationship-building should remain central.
• Monitor automated processes and continuously improve them when they create unnecessary friction.
• Help build a culture of continuous improvement, experimentation, and smarter ways of working.

People Systems, Records & Data

• Own the accuracy and integrity of People Operations data and records.
• Maintain and improve HRIS and other People systems.
• Establish standards for data entry, documentation, file organization, and record maintenance.
• Conduct regular audits to identify missing, incomplete, or inaccurate information.
• Ensure volunteer changes are reflected accurately and promptly across systems.
• Strengthen data quality so People leadership can rely on accurate information for reporting and decision-making.
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality, privacy, and access controls for People information.

Process Design & Operational Excellence

You will have the opportunity to help build the People Operations infrastructure that supports the organization's growth.

• Design, document, and continuously improve People Operations workflows.
• Develop SOPs, templates, checklists, playbooks, trackers, and self-service resources.
• Standardize recurring People processes to improve consistency and scalability.
• Identify bottlenecks, duplicate work, unclear ownership, and unnecessary administrative steps.
• Establish clear workflows, responsibilities, service expectations, and escalation paths.
• Create processes that balance efficiency, accountability, automation, and human connection.
• Use feedback and operational insights to continuously improve how People Operations works.

Volunteer & Manager Support

• Ensure volunteers and managers receive timely, accurate, thoughtful, and consistent People Operations support.
• Partner with managers to reinforce People processes, expectations, responsibilities, and timelines.
• Identify recurring questions and create resources, templates, FAQs, self-service tools, or automated solutions.
• Recognize when a personal conversation is more appropriate than an automated response.
• Help create a People experience where volunteers feel supported, informed, and connected.
• Ensure operational efficiency never comes at the expense of the human experience.

What You'll Have the Opportunity to Build

In this role, you will help create:

• A scalable end-to-end volunteer lifecycle.
• A modern People Operations operating model.
• Automated onboarding, offboarding, reminders, approvals, and recurring workflows.
• Strong HRIS and People data practices.
• People Operations SOPs, playbooks, templates, and service standards.
• Manager and volunteer self-service resources.
• Better visibility into People workflows, outstanding actions, and operational priorities.
• A responsive, organized, and people-centered support experience.
• A high-performing People Operations team.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who combines strong People Operations knowledge with a builder mindset.

You may be a great fit if you have:

• Experience in People Operations, HR Operations, HR Administration, Employee Experience, or a related People function.
• Previous experience leading, mentoring, supervising, or coordinating a team.
• Strong understanding of onboarding, offboarding, employee or volunteer lifecycle processes, records management, and HR systems.
• Experience creating or improving processes, workflows, SOPs, or operating procedures.
• Interest or experience in HR technology, automation, AI, workflow tools, or process optimization.
• Strong organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and follow work through to completion.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Sound judgment when handling confidential or sensitive People matters.
• A collaborative, service-oriented, and solutions-focused approach.
• Comfort operating in an evolving environment where processes and infrastructure are still being built.

You'll Thrive Here If You...

• Love turning ambiguity into structure.
• See a manual process and immediately wonder how it could be better.
• Enjoy both leading people and getting into the details.
• Are energized by building something rather than simply maintaining what already exists.
• Believe technology should make work easier without making the People experience impersonal.
• Take ownership and follow through.
• Enjoy developing others and helping a team succeed.
• Are comfortable working in a collaborative, mission-driven environment.
• Want your work to have a visible and meaningful impact.

Why This Opportunity Is Different

This is not simply a role focused on processing People transactions.

You will have the opportunity to help design how People Operations works.

You will lead a team, influence our People technology strategy, improve the volunteer lifecycle, automate administrative work, establish scalable systems, and help create an operating model that can grow with the organization.

If you are a People professional who enjoys being a leader, builder, problem-solver, and process innovator, we would love to hear from you.