People Operations Manager

Overview

Manager, People Operations The Manager, People Operations serves as a high-impact leader and true strategic operator within the People organization. Reporting to the Vice President of People & Culture, this role acts as the engine behind the function—combining deep subject matter expertise with operational rigor to lead, optimize, and evolve Crescent’s People Operations capabilities across performance management, compensation, benefits, payroll, compliance, audit, social responsibility, and analytics.

This role ensures Crescent’s people programs are competitive, financially sound, and culturally aligned—contributing to the broader People Strategy and fostering a high-performing environment where all people can grow.

As both a builder and optimizer, this leader owns the operational foundation of HR—designing, implementing, and continuously improving processes and systems to establish scalable, consistent practices rooted in operational excellence. With a strong focus on employee experience, this role ensures the delivery of effective, seamless processes that support the full employee lifecycle. They deliver actionable reporting and analytics that inform strategic decision-making, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness, serving as a key enabler of data-driven insights across the business.

This is a hands-on leadership role at a pivotal stage of growth—ideal for someone who thrives in building from the ground up, creates order from ambiguity, and excels at developing scalable, sustainable systems. The successful candidate brings a balance of strategic thinking and executional discipline, with a strong orientation toward continuous improvement and employee experience.

This Manager of People Compensation and Benefits will operate as outlined in the Crescent Way - 3 P’s:

• Purpose
• Process
• People

While Building On Our Values Of

• Doing it Right
• Doing it Safe
• Doing it Well

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Finance, or related field.
• 7+ years of progressive HR leadership experience in compensation, benefits, compliance, payroll, and HRIS management.
• Professional certification (i.e. SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR, CEBS, CCP certification).
• Demonstrated experience partnering with Finance teams on budgeting, accruals, and fiscal reporting.
• Strong knowledge of payroll process compliance and federal/state labor laws.
• Proficiency in HRIS (e.g., UKG) and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Demonstrated leadership and coaching experience.
• Strategic leadership in anticipating and mitigating compliance risks while aligning People strategy with company goals.
• Experience in multi-state or multinational environments to manage diverse labor laws, social compliance, and payroll processes.
• Experience mitigating risks, implementing corrective action plans, and strengthening internal controls.
• Experience managing payroll automation and analytics dashboards.
• Experience overseeing compensation, benefits, payroll, and compliance programs for large, distributed organizations (500+ employees).
• Cross-functional experience partnering with Finance, Legal, and Operations teams to implement holistic compliance strategies.

• Preferred Qualifications include a Master’s degree in HR or related field, certifications (SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CCP, CEBS), experience with CSR initiatives, budgeting and reporting, Power BI, and advanced Excel skills.

• Safety:
  Support wellness programs, align People practices with Crescent’s safety strategy, and drive risk mitigation related to workers’ compensation and incident reporting.
• Quality:
  Ensure data integrity across HRIS, payroll, and benefits; maintain vendor relationships; develop and optimize People systems; deliver reporting; maintain data accuracy in UKG, Plan Source, and related systems; lead compliance and reporting processes.
• Productivity:
  Oversee benefits administration, ensure data integration across HR, Payroll, Accounting, and IT; analyze trends; manage budget performance; administer 401(k) and filings; optimize HRIS workflows.
• People:
  Serve as SME for compensation, benefits, and total rewards;…