Human Resources Generalist

In a given week, you might run new hire orientation, coordinate an exit interview, follow up on a leave status, and help draft a job profile with Compensation. The work combines established processes with situations that require judgment.

You'll often be the first person a new hire meets and someone managers rely on when sensitive situations arise. The role requires discretion, sound judgment and care.

What you will do

• Own onboarding end to end: preboarding, orientation and 30- and 90-day check-ins.
• Run the offboarding process, from resignation through exit interviews, and identify themes in exit survey data for the HRBP team.
• Support employee relations casework alongside HR Business Partners: intakes, development plans, memos, and Performance Improvement Plans.
• Identify opportunities to improve HR processes and workflows, then help design and implement better ways of working.
• Actively use AI and other technology to improve how HR work gets done, from reducing manual steps and improving documentation to creating better tools and experiences for employees and managers.
• Participate in P&C projects that cut across HR and other functions, contributing both subject-matter knowledge and hands-on implementation support.
• Handle the details around restructurings, position eliminations and lab closures when they happen: talking points for supervisors, severance paperwork and clear, accurate communications.
• Be the point person for new job profiles, working with Compensation and P&C leadership from first conversation through approval.
• Coordinate benefits and leave questions with the Benefits team and HHMI's leave administrator, as well as retirement enrollment.
• Support recruitment activities in Workday and the performance review cycle, and build the checklists and SOPs that keep the rest of HR consistent.

What we are looking for

• Broad generalist experience. You've worked across onboarding, offboarding, benefits, compensation, leave and employee relations rather than within a single HR specialty.
• Judgment with confidential matters. You know when to escalate, how to maintain confidentiality and how to document sensitive matters clearly
• Able to manage competing priorities. You can manage multiple priorities without losing track of detail or follow-through.
• A process improvement mindset with strong technology fluency. You notice when a process is more manual or complicated than it needs to be and are comfortable using AI and other tools to improve it, with sound judgment around accuracy, confidentiality and risk.
• Comfort balancing projects with ongoing HR work. You can contribute to broader P&C initiatives, help move work from idea through implementation and still stay on top of the operational details that keep HR running.

Nice to have

• Experience with Workday specifically, not just an HRIS in general.
• Exposure to compensation, job architecture, benefits and leave administration work.

What this role is not

• This is not a purely administrative or forms-processing job. The role includes transactional work, but it also requires judgment.
• This is not a strategic HRBP role. You'll contribute through the issues, patterns and risks you identify and escalate, but the day-to-day work is operational.
• This is not a specialist role. You'll work across onboarding, employee relations and total rewards, often within the same week.

Practical details

This role is based in San Diego and follows a hybrid schedule. You'll report to an HR Business Partner. We're looking for three to five years of progressive HR experience, including at least two years in a generalist-type role, plus a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.