People Operations Manager

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

Qualifications

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 working 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:

• Master's degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field.
• Certifications: SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CCP (Certified Compensation Professional), or CEBS (Certified Employee Benefit Specialist).
• Experience leading corporate social responsibility and recovery-friendly workplace initiatives.
• Proven track record in managing HR-related budgets and performance reporting.
• CPA certification or coursework in accounting/finance is highly valued.
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel (e.g., macros, advanced formulas).
• Experience working with Power BI or other reporting tools to track, analyze, and present HR and financial data.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Safety

1. Support and advance wellness and well-being programs that positively impact employee health, safety, and overall experience.
2. Partner with EHS and Operations to strengthen alignment between People practices and Crescent's safety strategy.
3. Apply the Crescent Safety Playbook to ensure clarity, consistency, and effectiveness in communication and execution.
4. Drive risk mitigation efforts related to workers' compensation and incident reporting by:

• Ensuring accurate, timely documentation and compliance
• Identifying process improvements through a continuous improvement (CI) approach
• Supporting the development of scalable, proactive safety-related People processes

Quality

1. Ensure accuracy, integrity, and timeliness of HRIS, payroll, and benefits data through disciplined audits and reconciliation processes.
2. Maintain strong vendor relationships with brokers, carriers, and partners to ensure high-quality service delivery and continuous improvement.
3. Support the development and optimization of People systems, tools, and standardized processes (e.g., STAR framework).
4. Deliver accurate and actionable reporting on compensation, benefits, budgeting, and workforce metrics to support strategic decision-making.
5. Maintain and continuously improve data integrity across UKG, PlanSource, and related systems.
6. Lead compliance and reporting processes, ensuring alignment, accuracy, and transparency across all People data and dashboards
7. Ensure accurate and timely HRIS, payroll, and data including benefits, budgeting and People metrics, through ongoing audits and reconciliation, to support standard of excellence in data reporting and strategic decisions.
8. Support development and refinement of STAR processes and People Group tools.

Productivity

1. Oversee benefits administration to ensure accurate, efficient, and employee-focused delivery, including enrollment, eligibility, and vendor coordination.
2. Partner cross-functionally with Payroll, HRIS, Accounting, and IT to ensure seamless data integration and operational effectiveness.
3. Analyze compensation and benefits trends; develop cost models and insights to inform leadership decisions.
4. Partner with Finance to manage health & welfare accruals and monitor People Group budget performance.
5. Oversee 401(k) plan administration and support required filings in partnership with internal and external stakeholders.
6. Continuously improve HRIS workflows, systems, and reporting capabilities to enhance usability, accuracy, and scalability.
7. Lead process improvement initiatives that increase efficiency and reduce administrative burden across People Operations. Manage day-to-day benefits administration including enrollment accuracy, vendor file exchanges, eligibility, and troubleshooting escalated issues.

People

1. Serve as the primary subject matter expert for compensation, benefits, and total rewards strategy.
2. Advise and educate leaders and employees on compensation structures, benefits programs, wellness resources, and leave processes.
3. Lead annual compensation processes, including merit planning, structure reviews, pay equity analysis, and salary benchmarking.
4. Support incentive compensation planning, administration, and alignment with overall pay strategy.
5. Partner with leaders to design and maintain competitive, equitable compensation programs that attract and retain talent.
6. Support and promote Whole Person Well-Being initiatives to drive engagement and participation.
7. Oversee People Operations workflows and approvals to ensure accuracy, compliance, and alignment with policy and strategy.
8. Deliver regular reporting and insights through People dashboards, including key metrics such as retention, progression, and workforce trends.
9. Own and monitor the GoPTOMe process and People Group administrative workflows.
10. Review and approve People Group–related changes and actions (benefits enrollments, pay adjustments, HRIS changes) to ensure accuracy and alignment with policies.
11. Provide monthly updates on all People Dashboards
    • Progression, Retention, Promotion
    • People Metrics Dashboard

Customer Value

1. Ensure compensation and benefits programs reflect market competitiveness and alignment with Crescent Way values.
2. Build strong, trusted partnerships across Finance, Operations, IT, and business leadership.
3. Translate People data and insights into clear, actionable communication for leaders and employees.
4. Deliver a consistent, high-quality employee experience through effective program design, communication, and execution.

Financial

1. Partner with Finance to support compensation planning, benefits forecasting, and accrual management.
2. Monitor cost performance across compensation and benefits programs; identify risks and opportunities for optimization.
3. Lead analysis supporting annual benefits renewals and compensation structure decisions.
4. Contribute to the development of financial models related to staffing, compensation, incentives, and benefits.
5. Drive continuous improvement and leverage technology to reduce cost, increase efficiency, and enhance operational effectiveness.
6. Embrace CI and technology solutions to reduce administrative burden and waste.

Cultural Competencies 

Do It Right

Doing what is right for our customers, doing what is right for our company and doing what is right for our People. Continually improving the quality of our products and services. Monitoring and measuring every key ingredient which could negatively impact our quality. Doing it Right ensures we are always becoming a Premier Service Provider.

• Identifies and counters resistance to change
• Advocates continuous improvement
• Forges teams and provides direction
• Provides constructive performance feedback
• Willingly adjusts the make-up of the team
• Plans, delegates, and follows up
• Guides others to improve collaboration
• Entrepreneurial initiative

Do It Safe

Creating a safe environment and supporting our People to reach their highest potential. A safe environment where all forms of risk are assessed and controlled. A safe environment open to new ideas, where our people's opinions and overall well-being count. A diverse environment where everyone fits and can be successful.

• Self-assured yet humble
• Able communicator—good clarity, balanced talker and listener
• Patient
• Effectively assertive and able to handle conflict and confrontation
• Solution vs. blame oriented
• Mixture of firmness and flexibility
• Has energy and enthusiasm
• Holds self and others accountable
• Willing to take calculated risks

Do It Well

Optimizing all our resources to efficiently and effectively perform all tasks well. Our overall productivity as a company is a reflection of the thousands of activities performed well each and every day by everyone.  At Crescent, our ability to Do it Well is a real source of pride valued by our customers.

• Systematic trainer, willing and able to develop people
• Good work ethic, task focused and willing to extend extra effort
• Able to follow structure where it exists and create structure where it does not
• Resilient—able to deal with the unexpected, not easily flustered
• Maintains sense of urgency
• Follows up to ensure quality task completion
• Disciplined Self Starter

Work Environment / Physical Demands

• Dynamic, fast-paced environment requiring adaptability to changing business and customer needs.
• Ability to frequently sit, stand, walk, reach with hands and arm's length, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, and crouch.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with competing priorities.
• Ability to travel occasionally for audits, leadership meetings, and external compliance reviews, about 30% of travel required annually.
• Ability to sit, stand, and lift/move materials as needed (up to 25 pounds).

Management Reasoning and Organizational Skills

• High average to above average general intelligence, good common sense and an ability to learn and apply lessons from direct experience
• Practical problem solver
• Ability to anticipate and look ahead
• Mental agility and the capacity to handle an up-tempo work pace
• Idea generator
• Has viable administrative, organizational and time management skills
• Can shift focus as needed
• Thorough, accurate, detail-oriented
• Effective time management and ability to prioritize
• Exhibits big picture thinking and a combination of Short-term and Long term (Strategic) thinking

Systems Usage

• UKG
• Comp Analyst
• Benefit provider portal navigation
• Office Suite (i.e., Outlook, Excel, and Word)
• Fax Machine
• Telephone
• Scanners and Printers
• Greenhouse
• Hire Credit
• Quick Base
• Everify
• Help Hotline
• Intranet

Performance Metrics and Trends

• Safety
• Quality
• Productivity
• People
• Customer Value
• Financial
• Ontime reporting, useability of reporting, corrective actions from reporting

We will absolutely know the Manager- People Operations is successful if they can:

• Deliver accurate and timely completion of compensation cycles and benefits processes
• Achieve high leader satisfaction with compensation and benefits support
• Increase participation in well-being and benefits programs
• Improve understanding of compensation and benefits value across the organization
• Provide reliable reporting, clean audits and effective budget partnership