Giga — Founding Senior HR Generalist / People Operations Lead

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA (Dogpatch, 5 days/week) Compensation: $160,000–$185,000 + Competitive Equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: None available Reports to: Not specified on role page

About Giga

Giga builds AI agents for the world's largest B2C companies — across voice, chat, and email — with customers including DoorDash, a top-200B telecom, the largest crypto trading platform, and a major alternative investment platform. The company recently closed a $61M Series A and was named #6 on Forbes' AI 50 Brink List. The team runs lean, ships fast, and is scaling toward becoming the enterprise standard for AI-powered automation.

Founded: 2024 | Team size: 11–50 | Total funding: $61M (Series A) Industry: AI Tools Website: gigaml.com Office: San Francisco (Dogpatch)

Why Candidates Should Join

• Greenfield first HR hire: Own and build the entire HR/People function from the ground up, with real ownership and a clear runway to grow as the company grows.
• High-momentum Series A AI company: $61M Series A, #6 on Forbes' AI 50 Brink List, enterprise customers including DoorDash.
• Build-then-broaden mandate: Set the operational foundations first, then expand into culture, manager enablement, and employee experience as the function matures.

Intake Call Summary

• No intake call transcript available on the role page. (An Intake Video is present on Contrario but not transcribed here — flag if you want it summarized.)

The Role

Giga is hiring its first dedicated HR professional to own and strengthen core HR operations as the company scales. The role is hands-on and execution-focused: own the day-to-day HR function with emphasis on employee lifecycle, compliance, and partnership with benefits providers and employment counsel. Build the operational foundations first; expand into broader people programs once fundamentals are in place.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the full employee lifecycle: onboarding end to end (equipment, accounts, orientation, first-week experience), role changes, offboarding, and terminations
• Maintain employment documentation and records (offer letters, employment agreements, separation materials)
• Keep Rippling clean, current, and accurate as the source of truth
• Serve as the primary internal owner for HR processes, including when working with external vendors and outside counsel
• Apply California employment law to guide HR decisions, especially around in-person workplace requirements
• Handle employee transitions, terminations, and severance with consistency, care, and sound judgment
• Own benefits administration (health, retirement) and manage relationships with brokers and providers
• Partner closely with Finance — sometimes leading — on payroll accuracy and compliance
• Build and document scalable HR workflows, introducing structure where processes are informal
• As the function matures, take on broader people programs (performance management, manager enablement, employee experience)

Systems: Rippling (HRIS)

Requirements

• 4–6 years HR (earlier career), first or second HR hire at a Series A or B startup
• California employment law fluency
• Rippling or equivalent HRIS
• Payroll fundamentals, Finance partnership
• Handles terminations and severance with judgment
• SF Dogpatch, 5 days in-person

Green Flags

• Multi-state or scaling-company employment exposure.
• Experience building or supporting performance management processes.
• Experience with broader People Operations initiatives (manager enablement, engagement, culture, employee experience)
• Strong appetite to invest in culture and people programs over time.

Red Flags

• Career HR at a large, structured team (Google, Meta, Amazon HR org types)
• No prior one-of-one HR ownership.
• Weak or no California employment law grounding.
• Not ready for the pace or the in-person model
• Currently at a Giga customer, especially smaller customers.

Role Details

Salary$160,000–$185,000EquityCompetitive (no % stated)On-site policyIn-person, 5 days/week, SF DogpatchVisa sponsorshipNone availableEmployment typeFull-timeLocationSan Francisco, CA

Benefits & Perks: Daily catered lunch · dinner stipend · $150 monthly wellness benefit · 401k plan · commuter benefits · medical, dental & vision coverage

Screening Questions

(Contrario "Required Candidate Q&A" — these are the role's form questions and double as call screening prompts.)

1. LinkedIn
2. Are you currently based in the United States?
3. Do you now, or will you ever, require employment sponsorship to work in the country where this job is located?
4. Are you able to work in-person in San Francisco, CA, five days per week in the office?
5. Are you prepared to work at a startup?
6. Have you worked on an HR/People Team that had less than three people?
7. Anything else important for us to know?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Application Review Stage 3 — Consideration Stage 4 — Intro Screen Stage 5 — Role Evaluation / Technical Interview Stage 6 — THT / Case Study Stage 7 — Onsite Stage 8 — Final Round (Executive) Stage 9 — Offer Extended Stage 10 — Candidate Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Ideal Candidate Profiles

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles. (Contrario labels this section "Ideal Candidates -- DO NOT CONTACT.")

• Avery W. — LinkedIn URL not captured in page HTML
• Isabella Spinozzi — LinkedIn URL not captured in page HTML
• David Lopez — LinkedIn URL not captured in page HTML
• Vivian Dang — LinkedIn URL not captured in page HTML

Rejected Candidate Feedback

• None on the role page.