Business & People Operations Manager

About Athlete To Athlete

At Athlete To Athlete, we are building a more connected future for athlete development. We believe athletes grow best when they are supported by meaningful relationships, experienced mentorship, and communities that genuinely care about their success.

Athlete To Athlete is a human-first, tech-forward platform that connects young athletes with accomplished college athletes who are actively living the journey themselves. Since launching four years ago, we have worked with more than 35,000 athletes, grown more than 100% every year, and are on track to facilitate more than 100,000 mentorship sessions this year.

Why this role, why now

We have grown quickly, and the systems that support our team now need a dedicated owner.

You will be our first dedicated Business and People Operations hire. You will own the employee lifecycle, payroll, and our core People programs, keep our Santa Monica office running smoothly, and improve how all of it works as we grow. A single week might include a benefits renewal, a difficult employee conversation, a broken printer, and someone's birthday. None of them get dropped.

You will report directly to the COO and work closely with both founders.

Responsibilities

• Offer letters and offer packages for every candidate, including answering questions about offer terms and benefits
• Onboarding end to end: pre-start coordination, first-day logistics, documentation, our buddy program, and follow-up through each employee's first weeks
• Accurate and current employee records across our HR systems and internal files
• Partnering with Insperity on annual benefits review and renewal, open enrollment, and 401(k) administration, while owning the internal project management, employee communications, and follow-through
• Leaves of absence and accommodation requests, coordinated with Insperity
• Performance review cycles, policy rollouts, required training, employee surveys, and the communications that go with each
• Serving as the first point of contact for employees and managers on benefits, policies, and performance conversations, and knowing when to handle something directly, escalate it to the COO, or bring in Insperity or outside counsel
• Offboarding, including documentation, exit interviews for voluntary departures, and identifying recurring themes worth acting on
• Recruiting coordination during hiring ramps: interview scheduling, candidate communication, offer coordination, and a strong candidate experience throughout
• Employee experience and team rituals, including company events, celebrations, recognition, and the small details that make the office a good place to work
• Owning semi-monthly payroll processing and timekeeping in Insperity, accurate and on time every cycle
• Reviewing payroll inputs and catching discrepancies before payroll is submitted, then resolving anything that does come up quickly
• Maintaining accurate payroll records and coordinating changes across employees, managers, and Insperity
• Acting as the first point of contact for office needs, coordinating with vendors, building management, and internal teams
• Managing office supplies, equipment, services, and day-to-day workplace needs
• Setting up new hires with desks, badges, parking, and equipment so they are productive on day one
• Managing office security, access, visitor management, and workplace safety programs, including our Workplace Violence Prevention Plan and its required training
• Tracking office expenses, vendor contracts, insurance policies, and service agreements for cost, renewal dates, and compliance
• Maintaining organized People and business-operations records in Drive, with appropriate access and permissions
• Finding and fixing the operational issues that slow the team down, and taking on ad hoc projects from the CEO and COO

Required

• 4+ years across People Operations, HR, or business operations, with hands-on ownership rather than support of someone else's processes
• Direct experience running payroll. You have processed cycles yourself, caught errors before they became problems, and know how to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.
• Working knowledge of California employment compliance, including required trainings and notices, leave administration, and wage-and-hour basics
• Discretion and judgment. You will handle compensation, performance issues, and personal circumstances, and you know how to protect sensitive information and when something needs to go further.
• Clear writing and reliable follow-through. Much of this job is explaining things to employees and managers so they land the first time, with several unrelated priorities moving at once.

What will make you successful

• Payroll and employee records are accurate and on time
• New hires are fully prepared and ready to go on day one
• Benefits, reviews, trainings, and other recurring People processes happen on schedule
• Employee and manager questions are handled quickly, thoughtfully, and appropriately
• Compliance and workplace requirements are maintained without last-minute fire drills
• The office runs reliably without founders or functional leaders chasing operational issues
• Our recurring People and operations processes are documented well enough that they run the same way whether or not you are in the room
• People trust you. You may be the first person someone talks to about something difficult, and you are calm, discreet, and consistent in how you handle it. The same instinct shows up in the small things: payroll being right, a laptop being ready, a policy being explained clearly. Together they decide whether the company feels well run.
• You're a pathfinder. You look for the better version of a process rather than simply running the one you inherited, and you are comfortable making a call, documenting it, and improving it over time.
• You're coachable. You ask for feedback, take it well, and get better fast. This is one of our core values.
• You know when to escalate. Some questions are yours to answer and others belong with the COO, Insperity, or outside experts. Knowing the difference quickly matters more than knowing every answer yourself.

Nice to Have

• Experience working with a PEO, particularly Insperity
• Experience as the first dedicated People or Operations hire at a company
• Startup experience at a company that grew quickly
• Experience with recruiting coordination, benefits administration, or workplace operations

Why join

• You will own a function outright rather than execute someone else's process, with direct access to the COO and both founders
• You will build the People and operational infrastructure of a company still early enough for your work to shape how it operates
• You will have visibility across the entire business and work with every team in the company
• You will inherit enough infrastructure to be effective immediately, with real room to improve how things work
• The work is genuinely meaningful: you will build the internal systems that let a growing team stay focused on helping young athletes find mentors who can support them

Athlete To Athlete is committed to building with purpose and leading with humility. If you're passionate about mentorship, teamwork, and helping others rise, we'd love to build the future of athlete development with you.

Athlete to Athlete is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. We do not discriminate on the basis of legally protected characteristics under applicable federal, state or local law.

Athlete to Athlete is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified candidates and employees with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please let the recruiter know.