{"id":2969908,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kernel-people-operations-lead","title":"People Operations Lead","company":{"id":50861,"name":"Kernel","domain":"kernel.sh","url":"https://alion.io/company/kernel-sh","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-22T06:10:10Z"}},"role":"HR","role_family":"HR","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States","New York, United States","Seattle, United States","Cincinnati, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":150000,"max":230000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":230000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Docker","optional":false},{"name":"Framer","optional":false},{"name":"Human-in-the-Loop","optional":false},{"name":"Sentry","optional":false},{"name":"Vercel","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-20T22:50:41Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-20","last_verified_at":"2026-10-22T10:35:42Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"About Kernel\nKernel provides crazy fast, open source infrastructure for AI agents to use the internet. Our API allows developers to instantly spin up secure browsers and automate anything on the web. We handle all the hard problems of running browser-based agents in production: agents x user credentials, autoscaling, bot detection, and human-in-the-loop workflows.\nWe’re used by teams at Cash App, Vercel, Framer, Rye, and over 5000 developers for tasks like QA automation, RPA, virtual assistants, and CUA RL environments. We've raised $22M from Accel, YCombinator, Vercel, Paul Graham, Solomon Hykes (Docker), David Cramer (Sentry), Charlie Marsh (Astral), and more.\nAbout the role\nKernel is making its first People team hire: an experienced generalist who will own HR and people operations end-to-end for a ~30-person team across San Francisco, New York, Cincinnati, and remote.\nThis is a hands-on, individual contributor role. You’ll run the day-to-day yourself, including onboarding, payroll, benefits, compliance, and employee relations, and build systems appropriate for our stage and then scale them as the team grows. You’ll work closely with the recruiting team on offers and onboarding.\nWhat you'll do\nOwn the employee lifecycle from signed offer to offboarding, including onboarding, I-9s, equipment, and policy acknowledgments\n\nRun payroll and benefits administration in our HRIS and payroll systems, including our 401(k)\n\nKeep us compliant across states (CA, NY, OH, and anywhere remote teammates live) including registrations, state-mandated benefits, and required trainings\n\nBuild just enough playbooks and structure: handbook, leveling, comp bands, and a lightweight performance and feedback cycle\n\nBe a trusted resource for employees and managers on policies, benefits, and employee relations\n\nHelp shape culture across offices: team rituals, offsites, and how we work as we grow\n\nUse AI and automation to handle the busywork so you can focus on the work that needs a human\n\nWhat we're looking for\n4+ years in people operations or HR, ideally as an early people/HR hire at a high-growth startup\n\nHands-on experience running payroll, benefits, and an HRIS (Rippling a plus)\n\nWorking knowledge of multi-state US employment compliance\n\nStrong judgment and discretion with sensitive topics\n\nA builder's mindset: you know when process helps and when it gets in the way\n\nStartup experience: you've built fast, worn multiple hats, and figured things out without a playbook\n\nExcited to grow into building a team as Kernel scales\n\nHiring process\n30-min intro call with our Chief of Staff\n\n30-min conversation with our CEO\n\nOn-site interviews (can do video conference as needed), including a 60-minute working session to walk through a few realistic scenarios\n\nOffer!","description_format":"text","description_chars":2777,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Developer Tools"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-21T01:48:55Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":1,"expected_fill_days":30,"reasons":["conf:2","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-22T06:10:10Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":230000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/kernel-people-operations-lead","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/kernel-people-operations-lead.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-22T14:11:10Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":13713,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-23T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":50861},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=50861"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fkernel-people-operations-lead"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fkernel-people-operations-lead"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fkernel-people-operations-lead"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/kernel-people-operations-lead\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fkernel-people-operations-lead"}]}