Senior People Ops Manager - Payroll & Systems

About this role

About Convergent Research

Convergent Research is a nonprofit science studio best known for pioneering the Focused Research Organization (FRO). We architect critical infrastructure that removes bottlenecks to breakthrough scientific research.

FROs are mission-driven, time-bound organizations built to solve important scientific and engineering bottlenecks. Convergent secures funding and provides the operational backbone that allows scientists and engineers to move quickly, from legal formation and governance to hiring, finance, communications, and operational systems. We’ve taken 14 FROs from idea to operating entity, including four launches in 2026.

About the Role

Payroll probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think about breakthrough science. But scientists can’t do their best work if they aren’t paid correctly, benefits aren’t working, or their organization isn’t set up to employ them.

That’s where you come in.

We’re looking for a Senior People Ops Manager - Payroll & Systems to own the people ops infrastructure that keeps Convergent and our FROs running smoothly. You’ll make sure our employees get paid accurately and on time, our policies and systems keep pace with our growth, new FROs become functioning employers, and organizations completing their missions can wind down responsibly.

This is a senior, hands-on expert role. We’re looking for someone who knows parts of this work better than we do. Someone who doesn’t just identify problems but brings recommendations, builds solutions, and sets the standard for how we operate. You’ll have significant autonomy to make decisions within your domain, with the Head of People providing final approval on decisions that impact company-wide strategy or multiple teams.

You’ll report to our Head of People and work closely with our People Ops Manager – Employee Experience, who owns recruiting, onboarding, and internal communications, and our Sr. HRBP, who serves as the primary point of contact for FRO employees. You’ll also partner with our Launch team, which coordinates the many moving pieces involved in getting a new FRO off the ground or winding one down. As we grow, there may be an opportunity to add a coordinator to support routine administrative work.

A quick note on payroll: We use TriNet as our US PEO and Rippling for UK payroll. Our providers handle tax calculations and filings, but that doesn’t mean we’ve outsourced accountability. You’ll own the accuracy of the inputs, review the outputs, and make sure issues get resolved. A second member of People Ops will provide an independent pre-run review.

This role will initially be approximately 60% hands-on execution and 40% policy development, infrastructure building, and continuous improvement. We need someone who enjoys both.

You Will (Duties)

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Own payroll and make it bulletproof. You'll manage US and UK payroll end to end, including timesheets, payroll changes, initial review, and accuracy. We use TriNet (US) and Rippling (UK), so providers handle tax calculations and filings, but accountability stays with you. You'll build and maintain controls for input validation, independent pre-run review by another People Ops team member, pre- and post-run reconciliation, change approvals, and audit trails. You'll document processes so someone else can run payroll safely and push providers to fix gaps when needed.

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Keep benefits, retirement, and leave running smoothly. You'll own benefits administration, COBRA, open enrollment, US 401(k) and UK pension administration, including contributions, records, and provider coordination. You'll also manage leave administration in our HRIS and workers' compensation, partnering with the Sr. HRBP when accommodations or employee-specific issues arise.

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Make our people systems work for us. You'll own our HRIS architecture, configuration, integrations, data integrity, governance, and reporting, including source-of-truth rules, field ownership, and auditing. You'll troubleshoot escalated issues, manage vendor relationships and platform performance, and recommend when to build, buy, change, or simplify systems, with costs and risks clearly laid out.

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Keep our policies and compliance ahead of our growth. You'll partner with the Head of People to write and maintain compliant policies across US federal and state jurisdictions, the UK, and EOR-covered countries, with a jurisdictional compliance matrix, version control, and review dates. You'll also own the people compliance calendar, covering filings, renewals, notices, audits, and policy reviews, with clear owners and lead times. You'll know when to involve outside counsel, while the Head of People retains final statutory policy approval and decisions with company-wide strategic implications.

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Coordinate immigration and compensation processes. You'll facilitate FRO introductions to immigration counsel, coordinate vendors, track timelines, and provide HRIS documentation (not manage substantive immigration cases). You'll support reporting for compensation reviews, while the Head of People owns compensation strategy.

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Help new FROs become functioning employers. You'll stand up the people infrastructure for each new FRO, including entity and EOR setup, payroll and benefits activation, policies, and a usable Notion workspace. You'll coordinate the people workstream within the broader plan owned by the Program Launch Manager, managing dependencies such as TriNet and Rippling onboarding timelines and flagging risks early.

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Help FROs wind down responsibly. Because FROs are designed to be time-bound, finishing well matters. You'll own the operational side of wind-downs, including individual terminations, jurisdiction-specific final pay, benefits termination, platform and entity closure mechanics, and records retention. You'll partner with the Sr. HRBP on transition planning and employee communications, and with the Head of People on severance and counsel-involved matters.

In Six Months,…