People Systems Product Manager at Hadrian Automation

Hadrian - Manufacturing the Future Hadrian is building autonomous factories that help aerospace and defense companies manufacture rockets, satellites, jets, and ships up to 10x faster and up to 2x cheaper. By combining advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we are reinventing how America produces its most critical parts. Valued at $1.6B, we’re accelerating our mission with the launch of Factory 3 in Mesa, Arizona, a 290,000-square-foot facility creating 350 new jobs. We are expanding rapidly to support thousands of future hires, launching Hadrian Maritime to expand into naval production, and introducing a Factory-as-a-Service model that delivers complete systems instead of individual parts. Hadrian is backed by leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and Andreessen Horowitz, our fast-growing team is united around reindustrializing American manufacturing for the 21st century and beyond. The Role: At Hadrian, we’re not just building autonomous factories — we’re building the teams, systems, and culture that will power the future of aerospace and defense manufacturing. As we scale, the People team plays a critical role in shaping how we attract, enable, and retain world-class talent across both engineering and advanced manufacturing. Working on the People team at Hadrian means designing and operationalizing the foundation of a company that blends cutting-edge robotics, AI, and precision manufacturing — while supporting a workforce that spans software engineers, machinists, program managers, and everything in between. We’re looking for builders: thoughtful, action-oriented team members who care deeply about people, process, and performance — and who want to help create a company culture that’s as strong as the infrastructure we’re deploying. If you're energized by complexity, mission-critical work, and the chance to shape the trajectory of a generational company from the inside out, we’d love to hear from you. As our People Systems Product Manager, you'll be the architect of our People technology stack - setting the roadmap, shaping how our platforms evolve, and making the configuration and integration decisions that determine how effectively our organization runs. You'll work closely with People, Finance, and IT leadership, translating business strategy into scalable systems and turning our people data into a reliable source of truth the business can act on. You'll drive how we leverage Rippling across every module, define where automation can replace manual processes at scale, and build the governance frameworks that keep our data clean as we grow. You'll own the vendor relationships, scope the integrations, and set the standards. We're looking for someone who thinks in systems, operates with a high degree of ownership, and gets excited by the leverage that comes from building infrastructure that scales. If you want to build something that outlasts you and shapes how a high-growth company operates at its core - this is the role. What You’ll Do - Own People systems end-to-end - serve as the internal product owner across all People systems and modules across our HRIS (Rippling), managing the roadmap, driving configuration decisions, and ensuring platforms scale with the business - Audit where we're under-leveraging native capabilities, surface quick wins, and build out the automation workflows that eliminate manual People processes across onboarding, offboarding, approvals, and compliance - Own our People data integrity - Build the processes and governance structures that keep our people data clean over time with repeatable standards that scale with the business - Identify where native system capabilities end and integrations are needed, scope those requirements clearly, and manage any consultants or vendors brought in to execute - Partner cross-functionally with People Operations, Recruiting, Finance, IT, and department heads to align on priorities, manage competing demands, and communicate tradeoffs in plain language - Build and maintain foundational people reporting - establish the recurring reports and dashboards that give People and leadership a reliable, accurate view of the workforce - Own and actively manage all people system vendor relationships - pushing forward our internal roadmap through platform enhancements and enablement What We’re Looking For - 6+ years owning or deeply administering an HRIS - Rippling experience strongly preferred; comparable platforms (Workday, BambooHR, HiBob) considered - Hands-on experience building workflow automations within an HRIS - not just configuring fields, but designing logic, testing edge cases, and maintaining rules at scale - A track record of owning data quality in a fast-moving environment - you've cleaned up a messy system and built processes to keep it clean - Translate business requirements - you translate complex People and business needs into clear system configuration and custom solutions - Process analysis and design - you map, document, and optimize People workflows (onboarding, payroll, performance management, etc.) and create supporting SOPs - Experience scoping integration requirements - you know enough to write a clear brief, manage a vendor, and QA the output, even if you didn't build the pipelines yourself - Strong analytical instincts - you define what a dashboard needs to answer before you build it, and you catch data problems before they become leadership problems - A bias toward action and ownership - comfortable operating independently in a hyper-growth startup environment What Will Set You Apart - Direct Rippling implementation or re-implementation experience at a scaling company Exposure to people analytics tools (ChartHop, Visier) or BI tools (Tableau, Looker, Power BI) - Familiarity with APIs or data pipelines to scope engineering work and validate delivery - Experience building a people systems function during a high-growth period - Experience supporting both exempt and non-exempt populations in manufacturing, defense, or similarly complex environments Compensation For this role, the target salary range is $95,000 - $150,000 (actual range may vary based on experience). This is the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee's pay position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs. BENEFITS - Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees - 401k - Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need. - Flexible vacation policy ITAR Requirements To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here [Upgrade to PRO to see link] Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity Employer It is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.