People Operations Generalist

About Tempo Energy

Located in San Diego, Tempo Energy develops thermochemical energy storage systems that enable cost-competitive electrification of high-temperature industrial heat. The company’s platform converts electricity into high-temperature thermal energy, delivering continuous, combustion-free heat for industrial processes and supporting scalable deployments across hard-to-electrify industrial sectors.

Tempo Energy is backed by leading climate and energy investors, including Prelude Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Job Description

As the People Operations Generalist, you will own the day-to-day engine of People Operations while serving as a strategic partner across the business. You will support company goals, by building a high-performance culture, and giving leaders the coaching, tools, and data they need to lead effectively. You will own people processes from architecting automated onboarding, managing HRIS and data integrity, navigating complex employee relations with discretion to driving full-cycle recruiting for critical roles. You will be a hands-on builder who combines operational rigor with high-touch partnership to ensure every experience across the employee lifecycle is consistent, compliant, and set up for scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the daily execution of People Operations in a senior capacity, including onboarding/offboarding, benefits administration, payroll liaison, and leaves of absence. This person will ensure that every administrative touchpoint is handled with professional precision with depth and specialization.
• Be a strong internal resource for difficult employee and manager related issues, maintaining professional relationships and fostering healthy performance, growth, and employee life cycles with full management visibility.
• Assist in recruiting high talent, maintaining compliance, managing offer negotiations and final conversations, and being the culture representative for all candidates that pass through.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for employee inquiries regarding benefits, policies, and workplace tools. Resolve issues with a focus on high-quality service and professional empathy.
• Upgrade and manage the onboarding experience that integrates new hires into our culture and systems quickly, ensuring they have everything they need to be productive from day one.
• Maintain, enforce, and update internal policies to ensure we are fully compliant with federal, state, and local regulations as we expand into new markets.
• Manage the HRIS, ensuring that all employee data is accurate. Provide regular reports on key metrics such as headcount, turnover, and diversity to help inform management decisions and lead productive discussions.
• Constantly evaluate our current People Operations workflows to identify bottlenecks. Implement automation and improved documentation to ensure our People function scales as fast as our headcount.

Qualifications

• 5 years of People Operations experience within a high-growth or tech environment, specifically having navigated the transition from a small team to a mid-sized organization.
• Direct experience in a fast-paced environment where you have built processes from the ground up rather than managing existing ones.
• Advanced experience with multiple modern HRIS platforms (Rippling, Justworks, BambooHR, etc.) and a strong command of Excel.
• Deep understanding of labor laws and a commitment to staying current on changing regulations.
• Experience working in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment with a high degree of discernment under pressure.
• Comfortable switching between areas of expertise from benefits, leave administration, HRBP duties, compensation, and recruiting.
• Strong employee relations experience, a must have.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• PHR or SHRM qualifications, highly preferred.
• Experience with Justworks, BambooHR, Google, and Greenhouse, highly preferred.
• Payroll experience, a plus.

Compensation Range

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $103,250 to $135,000 equity benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, location, and relevant education or training.

Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity or benefits.

Tempo Energy is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to employing a diverse workforce, including, but not limited to, minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans.