People Operations Program Manager

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.

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:

The People Operations team builds the infrastructure that lets Hadrian scale. We think in systems, work like product managers, and put the people experience at the center of everything we do.

We are hiring a People Operations Program Manager to identify where our processes break down, build smarter workflows, and drive the strategic programs that shape the employee experience at Hadrian. You’ll be the person who looks at how we work and asks ‘how do we make this 10x better’—whether that means redesigning a process, introducing an AI-powered solution, or owning a company-wide people program end to end.

One quarter you’re standing up our tiered support model and mapping AI automation opportunities. The next you’re running the performance review cycle or turning engagement survey results into action. You are a strong project manager, a clear thinker, and a builder – and you thrive when the scope is broad and the work is meaningful.

What You’ll Do

• Diagnose manual, repetitive, or high-friction processes across the employee lifecycle and lead the end-to-end build of their redesign—scoping the solution, coordinating stakeholders, and driving implementation of AI-enabled improvements.

• Architect and implement our tiered People support model, ensuring employees get the right level of support at the right time—from self-service resources to specialist escalation—and that the model scales as we grow.

• Use Jira Service Management and People data to monitor operational performance, surface trends, and bring data-driven recommendations to People leadership on where to invest time and resources.

• Lead strategic People initiatives as they arise; acting as the program management engine for the team on high-priority projects that need structure, momentum, and an owner.

• Build and maintain internal People team resources – playbooks, SOPs, project trackers, and knowledge bases – so institutional knowledge is captured and operations run consistently at scale.

• Partner closely with People Partners, Recruiting, Engineering, and Finance to align People programs with business needs and ensure cross-functional dependencies are managed proactively.

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in People operations, HR consulting, program management, or a closely related field, with a track record of owning complex, cross-functional initiatives from scoping through delivery.

• Demonstrated experience with process improvement and operational design – you’ve looked at broken or inefficient workflows and built better ones, ideally with technology or automation as part of the solution.

• Familiarity with AI tools and automation platforms (Claude, Zapier, Workato, or similar) and genuine curiosity about how they can be applied to People operations.

• Strong project management fundamentals: you work from a plan, communicate proactively, manage dependencies, and don’t let things fall through the cracks.

• Comfortable with data – you can pull a report, interpret what it’s telling you, and translate it into a recommendation that a business leader can act on.

• High adaptability: you’re energized by a shifting scope, not unsettled by it, and you bring structure to ambiguous situations rather than waiting for it to be handed to you.

What Will Set You Apart

• You’ve worked in a high-growth, operationally intense environment—startup, manufacturing, defense, or similar—where you had to build programs while the business was moving at full speed.

• You have hands-on experience with Jira Service Management or a comparable service management platform, and you understand how to use it as a strategic operational tool rather than just a ticketing system.

• You’ve led an AI or automation implementation in a People or operations context – not just recommended it, but scoped it, rolled it out, and measured the impact.

• You’re an exceptional communicator who can write a crisp project brief for the CHRO and a clear how-to guide for a new hire on the factory floor—and you know the difference between the two.

• You see the People function as a lever for business performance, not a support function that reacts to requests.

Compensation

For this role, the target salary range is 155,000 – 185,000 (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 for Full-time Employees

• 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

• Equity

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.

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.