People Operations Generalist

About Clay

Our mission is to help organizations turn any growth idea into reality.

We see growth as a creative practice, not a formula. Finding and reaching your best-fit customers takes unique ideas and constant iteration. As AI makes execution faster and tactics easier to copy, creativity is the only lasting advantage. We're already helping thousands of customers — including Anthropic, Waste Management, Figma, and Ramp — go to market with unique data, signals, and AI research.

In 2025, we crossed $100M in revenue and raised a $100M Series C at a $3.1B valuation, backed by world-class investors including Sequoia, CapitalG, and First Round. We also completed our first first employee tender offer and launched a community equity round, for our customers, agency partners, and club members.

Some things to know about us:

• Our community includes 11,000+ customers, 150+ integration partners, 125+ agencies, 50+ Clay clubs, and 30k members on Slack.

• Our culture is unique inside and outside of work. Our team members are also DJs, activists, writers, clowns, marathoners, skydivers, psychedelic therapists, social workers, and more.

• All employees can work for free with world-class coaches who specialize in creativity, management, and more.

• Our operating principles — including negative maintenance and non-attached action — guide our work. Read more about them here.

• Read about us in the NYT, Forbes, First Round Review, and more.

Hear from our employees directly on our Glassdoor page!

People Operations Generalist

At Clay, People Operations is about creating the environment where people can do the best work of their careers. In this hands-on role, you'll own our People Operations infrastructure from the ground up: HRIS administration, employee lifecycle workflows, benefits programs, and compliance frameworks.

This year, Clay is growing rapidly and expanding globally. In this role, you’ll build streamlined, technology-driven systems that can support this growth while keeping the unique culture that makes Clay successful. You'll need to know when to automate and when to keep things human, when to add structure and when to stay flexible, when to build for scale and when to prioritize the now.

In this role, you’ll build your own roadmap in an ambiguous environment. You’ll get comfortable creating structure where none exists, while also appreciating that too much structure too soon might disrupt the clay magic. How you communicate change will matter as much as the change itself, because rolling out new processes requires bringing people along, not just implementing systems.

What You'll Do

Build Processes that Remove Friction

• Design and implement end-to-end employee lifecycle processes that balance consistency and automation with a human touch.

• Develop globally-inclusive approaches to leave management, immigration, employment classification, and core policies/programs.

• Evaluate clay’s current tech stack. Identify gaps and build a comprehensive systems strategy that prioritizes cohesion and data integrity.

Design Benefits That Actually Benefit People

• Own the full benefits lifecycle, from vendor management and negotiation to comprehensive program review, ensuring offerings remain competitive, aligned with employee needs, and reflect Clay’s commitment to supporting our people.

• Design and deliver benefits communications that are clear, accessible, and helpful.

• Build scalable benefits processes that work across multiple states and countries, partnering with Finance on budget planning and cost analysis.

Champion Compliance Without Bureaucracy

• Manage leave of absence programs (parental leave, medical leave, disability) with empathy and attention to the human on the other side of the process.

• Build and streamline compliance and operational workflows by proactively monitoring federal, state, and international regulatory requirements.

• Manage statutory compliance requirements and ensure all documentation, audits, and reporting are up to date.

• Build compliance infrastructure for international employment classification as we expand globally.

Scale Globally, Think Locally

• Support global expansion while maintaining the unique cultural DNA that makes each Clay office special.

• Navigate benefits compliance and employment regulations across different countries and jurisdictions while ensuring equitable experiences for all employees.

What You'll Bring

Experience & Expertise

• 8-10 years in core People Operations or Generalist roles, with significant benefits administration and compliance experience.

• Deep expertise with Rippling (or similar HRIS platforms) and knowledge of the current HR systems ecosystem.

• Experience managing programs end-to-end, including strategic design, internal stakeholder management, implementation, and employee communications.

• Previous success building (and/or significantly improving!) People Ops infrastructure at a scaling startup (ideally 200-1000+ employees).

• Vendor negotiation and onboarding

Core Competencies

• Exceptional stakeholder management skills — you can work with everyone from employees navigating complex benefits questions to Finance partners managing budgets.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with attention to detail (critical for benefits compliance and data accuracy).

• Bias toward action balanced with strategic thinking.

• Comfortable with building accessible and delightful documentation.

• Intellectually curious about the intersection of technology, operations, and human experience.

• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.