People Operations Partner

Whatnot · Consumer · New York, NY · People

This role is for a People Operations Partner at Whatnot, a livestream shopping platform. The focus is on building and scaling HR infrastructure, including compliance, auditing, reporting, payroll, and core HR operations. The ideal candidate will have experience in People Ops or HR operations, be a Workday expert, and enjoy process improvement and project management in a fast-growing environment.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead core People Ops operations. Own and execute key operational processes across the employee lifecycle, including job changes, departures, and compensation updates, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.
  2. Drive compliance and audit readiness. Maintain accurate records and documentation, support internal and external audits, and strengthen processes to ensure ongoing compliance with policies and regulations.
  3. Partner on payroll and time & attendance operations. Work closely with Finance and Total Rewards to support payroll processes, time tracking systems, and issue resolution, ensuring accuracy, strong controls, and a high-quality employee experience.
  4. Build and scale reporting & analytics. Develop and maintain Workday reports and dashboards that provide actionable insights and support business and operational decision-making.
  5. Lead cross-functional People Ops initiatives and projects. Drive complex, cross-functional work from problem definition through execution, ensuring alignment, clear milestones, and measurable outcomes.

Skills

Required

  • 3–5+ years of experience in People Ops, HR operations, or a similar role
  • Workday power user
  • Experience with compliance, audits, payroll, and/or time & attendance systems
  • Systems thinking and process improvement
  • High degree of autonomy and project leadership
  • Organized, proactive, and detail-oriented
  • Clear and thoughtful communication
  • Ownership and follow-through

Nice to have

  • Experience in a fast-growing environment
  • Familiarity with Google Workspace, Slack, Zendesk, Culture Amp, Navan, and Slab or Notion

What the JD emphasized

  • building scalable, compliant, and data-driven People Operations infrastructure
  • accuracy, audit readiness, and operational excellence
  • compliance, auditing, reporting, and core HR operations
  • accurate, scalable, and efficient operations
  • quickly understand existing workflows, identify gaps, and drive improvements with minimal guidance
  • turning complex, messy processes into streamlined systems and leading projects from start to finish
  • Lead core People Ops operations
  • Drive compliance and audit readiness
  • Partner on payroll and time & attendance operations
  • Build and scale reporting & analytics
  • Lead cross-functional People Ops initiatives and projects
  • Manage People systems and data integrity
  • Drive process improvement and systems design
  • Improve the People Ops helpdesk
  • Support the team and ensure continuity across People Ops workflows
  • Workday power user, comfortable handling transactions, building reports, and proactively identifying data issues
  • experience with compliance, audits, payroll, and/or time & attendance systems
  • Think in systems and enjoy improving processes
  • comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy and driving projects end-to-end in ambiguous environments
  • organized, proactive, and detail-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities
  • Take ownership and follow through