---
title: 'People Operations Manager at Kaizen Labs'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-manager-kaizen-labs-new-york-8tdwkre5m5sp'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-04'
---

# People Operations Manager at Kaizen Labs

- **Company:** Kaizen Labs
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-08-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-04
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kaizenlabs/e1b1e438-d68c-486f-a4c2-4d85a7d82020

## Job description

Government technology has failed citizens, public servants, and service members for decades.

Kaizen powers America’s application layer. We replace the legacy systems federal agencies run on with modern software, built with craft. The ticketing platform a resident uses to visit a presidential library. The marketplace DoW uses for counter-drone procurement to protect lives and critical infrastructure. The system a Veteran uses to access benefits. We build systems of record, of national consequence. Our AI-native modules and harness allow us to do so in weeks and months, not years.

This year, our revenue has grown 35x. Next year, our software will serve over 100 million Americans across dozens of federal agencies.

Founded in 2022 and based in New York City and DC, Kaizen has raised $35 million from NEA, a16z, Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital.

## THE ROLE

The Kaizen team is growing and the back-office and people infrastructure that got us here (onboarding, payroll, benefits, compliance, office ops) is ready to scale. This is the first dedicated People Operations hire at Kaizen. You'll take ownership of the function, build the processes that grow with the company, and be the person employees and managers turn to across every stage of the employee lifecycle.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

- Own onboarding and offboarding end-to-end: offer letters, I-9 verification, background checks, tools provisioning, system access setup, HM coordination, 30/60/90 check-in process, and a clean, documented exit process every time
- Run payroll operations - adding new employees, processing changes, troubleshooting issues, and ensuring every run is accurate and on time
- Manage the benefits program day-to-day: open enrollment, carrier coordination, employee questions, a potential PEO migration, stipend maintenance, usage tracking, and feedback loops
- Own people compliance across all active states: SOS registrations, unemployment insurance, quarterly and annual filings, employee records, handbook maintenance, and working fluency with tools like Mosey, Corpnet, and AbstractOps
- Own employee engagement including pulse surveys, feedback initiatives, and sentiment tracking across a distributed team. Surface themes to leadership and turn feedback into actionable improvements
- Support performance management cycles: mid-year and end-of-year reviews, manager check-ins, scorecard coordination, and keeping feedback loops tight without adding unnecessary process
- Coordinate and manage office gatherings, employer branding events, and more intimate team outings
- Spearhead future office relocation efforts including broker relationships, touring spaces, coordinating buildouts, and ensuring seamless move-in processes
- Administer equity in Carta, partnering with the CoS and Finance on option grants, termination processing, and cap table hygiene
- Partner with COO and Recruiting Lead on headcount planning, leveling, and compensation frameworks
- Partner with Recruiting Lead on candidate experience and recruiting operations including interview coordination, offer letter workflows, ATS hygiene, and keeping the recruiting-to-people handoff clean
- Use AI tools actively to automate repetitive workflows, draft communications, and build more scalable processes — this is an expectation, not a nice-to-have

## WHAT YOU'LL BRING

- 4+ years of experience in People Operations, HR Operations, or related program management roles
- Experience at one or more scaling startups where you operated without a full HR team behind you
- Hands-on fluency with the core People Ops toolset: Gusto or Rippling, Carta, PEOs such as Sequoia or equivalent, and compliance platforms like Vanta, Mosey, or AbstractOps
- Ownership mentality: you've run a people ops or back-office function yourself, not just supported someone who did
- Comfort operating across people, finance, and admin functions without needing clean lane boundaries — this role crosses all three
- Clear, direct communicator who can navigate sensitive employee and manager conversations with judgment and empathy
- Fluency with AI tools as a genuine part of your workflow. you use them to move faster, write better, and build processes that don't require headcount to scale

STRONG CANDIDATES MAY ALSO...

- Have supported or led a PEO migration
- Have familiarity with federal contracting compliance from a people/HR perspective
- Have worked with SOC 2 or similar security frameworks in a people ops context

DON'T APPLY IF...

- You've only worked in large orgs with a full HR team.
- You're a strategist who hands off execution. At Kaizen, you define the process and then you run it.
- You can't get excited about the mission. The agencies on our platform serve tens of millions of people. The infrastructure you build here matters to them.
- You need a detailed ticket to know what to work on next
- You get overwhelmed when the path forward isn't clear
- You think AI tools are a productivity gimmick rather than a core part of how modern operators work

## WHAT KAIZEN OFFERS

Health & Insurance

- 100% coverage across the board: medical through Oxford/United (Gold and Platinum PPO plans), dental through Guardian PPO, and vision through Beam — all fully covered for employees, with 100% coverage for dependents.
- $100,000 in fully paid life insurance. FSA and Dependent Care FSA.
- One Medical membership, on us — same-day primary care, 24/7 virtual visits, and offices all over the city.
- Fertility and family-building support through Carrot.
- 401(k) through Guideline, with a 2% company match.

Family & Time Off

- 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for birthing parents. 10 weeks fully paid for non-birthing parents.
- Unlimited PTO, with a two-week minimum (we mean it when we say take time off!)
- Closed for all federal holidays.
- Company-wide winter break the week of Christmas.
- Company offsites throughout the year.

Office & Remote Setup

- Up to $750 one-time home office or desk setup stipend for NYC-based employees. $500 for remote employees.
- $50/month commuter benefit (company contribution).
- Expensed lunch while in the office.
- Company-provided laptop of your choice.

Wellness

- Fully covered gym membership at Grindhouse https://grindhousemhttn.com/ — right across the street from our office at 47 W 17th St (and in Williamsburg). A $225/month value, on us. For remote employees, $100/month dedicated to gym or physical fitness reimbursement.

Stipends

- $100/month utility stipend.
- $500/year professional development.
- $250/year recreation.
- $300/quarter pet care stipend.

## About Kaizen Labs

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Kaizen Labs provides a modular, AI-native software platform that helps local, state, and federal government agencies modernize public services like recreation management, permitting, parking, transit, and payments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: New York, New York, USA
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Nikhil Reddy

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Government Technology (GovTech), Civic Technology, Public Sector Software
- **Target customers**: Local, state, and federal government agencies in the United States
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To strengthen trust in American public services by building technology that residents and public servants are proud to use.

## Products & Services
- **Kaizen Platform**: A modular, AI-native operating system for public services. It replaces legacy systems with a unified platform covering recreation management (reservations, memberships, point of sale), permitting and licensing, parking management, transit and fare management, tolling infrastructure, digital billing and payment collection, and case management. The platform is designed to be adopted in phases.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding of $35M raised across 2 rounds (Seed and Series A)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: NEA, a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Accel, 776, and Carpenter Capital
- **Growth Signals**: The platform already reaches 40 million residents across 50+ agencies in 17 states. The company has grown to 42 employees as of April 2026. It raised a $21M Series A in October 2025, signaling strong investor confidence and growth trajectory.

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-native platform**: Kaizen embeds AI into every interaction (from permit applications to benefits enrollment), differentiating it from legacy government tech vendors.
- **Modular, phased adoption**: Agencies can start with one service (e.g., recreation) and expand over time, lowering the barrier to entry for cash-strapped governments.
- **Design-first philosophy**: The company believes beautiful, intuitive software is how government technology earns trust, a stark contrast to the clunky, 90s-era systems residents are used to.
- **Breadth of coverage**: Already serves 40 million residents across 50+ agencies in 17 states, spanning local, state, and federal levels.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expansion across government levels**: Moving from its roots in outdoor recreation to a full-stack platform for local, state, and federal services.
- **AI-native development**: Embedding AI into every product interaction to make public services smarter and more efficient.
- **Scaling the platform**: Continuing to add modules and agency partners to become the "operating system for America’s public services."

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a team of "builders, designers, and operators" who are "change-seekers." The company emphasizes "Design is Everyone's Job" and "Collective Ownership" — every employee is accountable for the quality and trustworthiness of the product.
- **Work Model**: Hybrid. Employees work from home on Mondays and Fridays, and are in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday–Thursday) for intentional collaboration.
- **Location**: HQ in New York, NY. Some roles are listed as remote or hybrid.
- **Tech Stack**: TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, React, Next.js, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, AWS, Google Cloud, Vercel, GitHub, Linear, Slack, Salesforce, Outreach.
- **Notable Perks**: The company is building a culture of collective ownership and high design standards, with a focus on meaningful impact in the public sector.

## Sources
1. [kaizenlabs.co](https://www.kaizenlabs.co/)
2. [kaizenlabs.co/careers](https://www.kaizenlabs.co/careers/)
3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/kaizen-labs)
4. [tracxn.com](https://tracxn.com/d/companies/kaizenlabs/__4v0zyP-x3-EA2YdE8qp-2lRpYlAKgenz9fUD8HxFbDY)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kaizenlabs)

## Other roles at Kaizen Labs

- [Senior Product Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-designer-kaizen-labs-new-york-xpt986ddpwdn) — New York, NY
- [Head of Talent](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-talent-kaizen-labs-new-york-hghddqh370wh) — New York, NY
- [Senior Recruiter, GTM](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-recruiter-gtm-kaizen-labs-new-york-3jrcrygpsve4) — New York, NY
- [Founding Filmmaker & Video Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-filmmaker-video-lead-kaizen-labs-new-york-hgzk6y53d67g) — New York, NY
- [Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Cleared (TS/SCI)](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-software-engineer-cleared-ts-sci-kaizen-labs-washington-q5rzmst4hpws) — Washington, DC
- [Senior Cleared Software Engineer (TS/SCI)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-cleared-software-engineer-ts-sci-kaizen-labs-new-york-zejdkq2qr68b) — New York, NY
- [Digital Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/digital-designer-kaizen-labs-new-york-wp26n13897yp) — New York, NY
- [Government Contracts Administrator (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/government-contracts-administrator-contract-kaizen-labs-washington-gmga41wyywwp) — Washington, DC
- [Federal Growth Lead, DoW](https://feeny.ai/job/federal-growth-lead-dow-kaizen-labs-washington-gbvyf8fjk6yw) — Washington, DC
- [Federal Growth Lead, FedCiv](https://feeny.ai/job/federal-growth-lead-fedciv-kaizen-labs-washington-edvcaee4e5b5) — Washington, DC