Total Rewards & People Experience Manager

Welcome to Jackrabbit Technologies.

Jackrabbit Technologies is the leading provider of software and services that help youth activity centers -- gymnastics, dance, cheer, swim, music, childcare, and others -- grow and operate efficiently. We are an entrepreneurial-minded, rapidly growing SaaS company that has been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in North Carolina and one of North Carolina’s Top Industry-Driven Technology Companies. Jackrabbit Technologies’ SaaS solution powers over 7,000 clients in 35 countries around the world.

Our culture empowers YOU.

We hire people passionate about what they do, provide them with the tools to succeed, and then get out of their way! Living our vision, mission, and values, our people are what make Jackrabbit Technologies an awesome place to work. And that “awesome place” is virtual -- all of our employees enjoy the privilege of working remotely. We always have and always will. So, you must have reliable high-speed internet access. We are interested in speaking to qualified candidates who are authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship. Jackrabbit is not able to sponsor employment visas for this position.

What you'll do.

The Total Rewards & People Experience Manager is a senior, hands-on People & Culture professional responsible for designing, implementing, administering, and continuously improving programs that help Jackrabbit attract, reward, develop, support, and retain employees. This role combines deep Total Rewards expertise with broad HR management capability and serves as a trusted operational partner to employees, managers, and leaders across the organization.

The role has primary ownership for compensation, benefits, recognition, career development frameworks, work-life and wellbeing programs, leaves of absence, and workplace accommodations.

In addition to its Total Rewards specialty, this role functions as a hands-on HR Manager and day-to-day business partner, working closely with the Director, People & Culture to support employee relations, performance management, manager coaching, learning and development, onboarding and offboarding, employee experience, and HR operations. The Manager also serves as a knowledgeable backup for payroll and helps build durable People practices, systems, vendor relationships, and operating processes that can scale with Jackrabbit’s growth.

Success in this role requires someone who can move comfortably between program design and hands-on execution. The right person will be equally willing to build a new program, analyze data, coach a manager through a difficult employee situation, administer a leave, lead an employee communication, or troubleshoot an HR process. This is a high-trust role requiring sound judgment, strong business partnership, attention to detail, and a genuine commitment to a thoughtful employee experience.

Key Responsibilities:

Total Rewards Strategy, Compensation & Job Architecture

• Partner with the Director, People & Culture and company leadership to develop and continuously evolve a Total Rewards approach that supports Jackrabbit’s business strategy, culture, talent needs, and financial priorities.
• Build and maintain Jackrabbit’s compensation infrastructure, including job architecture, salary grades, market-based salary ranges, leveling guidelines, and career ladder and lattice frameworks.
• Establish practical compensation governance, including processes for job evaluation, market benchmarking, new-hire offers, promotions, internal equity reviews, salary adjustments, and periodic range maintenance.
• Lead compensation benchmarking and market analysis, using reliable external data and internal workforce information to develop clear, data-informed recommendations.
• Support the design and administration of annual compensation processes, including merit planning and other company-approved pay programs.
• Partner with Finance and leadership to evaluate compensation costs, pay positioning, internal equity, and the business impact of proposed changes.
• Maintain accurate compensation documentation, job data, and decision records and help ensure practices comply with applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
  

Benefits, Wellbeing, Leave & Accommodations

• Own the day-to-day administration and ongoing evolution of employee health, welfare, retirement, and related benefit programs, serving as a knowledgeable resource for employees and leaders.
• Lead benefits renewal and open enrollment activities, including plan evaluation, implementation, employee communications, education, system configuration, and post-enrollment follow-through.
• Partner with brokers, carriers, administrators, vendors, Finance, and internal stakeholders to implement and maintain benefit plan structures, resolve issues, monitor service, and support accurate administration.
• Evaluate benefit utilization, employee feedback, market practices, cost trends, and program effectiveness and recommend changes that balance employee experience, competitiveness, compliance, and responsible cost management.
• Administer and continuously improve work-life and wellbeing programs that support employees in a fully remote environment.
• Manage leaves of absence and workplace accommodation processes from intake through return to work, engaging in the interactive process and coordinating with employees, managers, vendors, and other partners as appropriate.
• Maintain strong working knowledge of applicable benefits, leave, disability, accommodation, and related employment requirements across the jurisdictions in which Jackrabbit employs people.

Recognition, Career Development & People Experience

• Design, implement, and maintain scalable employee recognition practices that reinforce Jackrabbit’s values and provide meaningful ways to recognize contribution and impact.
• Build and maintain career development frameworks that create greater clarity around growth, progression, and career mobility, including career ladders, lattices, and role-level expectations.
• Partner with leaders and employees to connect career development frameworks with development planning and internal mobility, and provide tools and information that support broader succession and talent discussions led by the Director, People & Culture and company leadership.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the employee experience across key moments in the employee lifecycle, with particular attention to consistency, clarity, belonging, and connection in a fully remote environment.
• Use employee feedback, workforce data, program outcomes, and external practices to recommend improvements to People programs and the overall employee experience.

HR Business Partnership, Employee Relations & Performance Management

• Serve as a trusted day-to-day HR partner to managers, providing practical guidance on employee relations, performance, team effectiveness, policy interpretation, organizational changes, and people decisions within established People practices and decision-making authority.
• Manage employee relations matters within established People practices and decision-making authority, including coaching managers, conducting or supporting workplace investigations, assessing risk, maintaining appropriate documentation, and recommending fair and consistent actions.
• Partner with the Director, People & Culture on complex, sensitive, or higher-risk employee matters and escalate issues appropriately.
• Administer and help continuously improve Jackrabbit’s performance management practices in partnership with the Director, People & Culture, including goal setting, feedback, development planning, performance reviews, performance improvement, and manager capability.
• Coach managers on effective people leadership, difficult conversations, documentation, accountability, and consistent application of company practices.
• Build strong relationships across the organization and bring an HR business partner mindset that balances employee experience, compliance, business needs, and practical execution.

Learning, Onboarding, Offboarding & Manager Enablement

• Partner with the Director, People & Culture to identify learning and development needs and translate agreed-upon priorities into practical training, tools, and resources that strengthen manager and employee capability.
• Partner with the Director, People & Culture to develop and facilitate HR and manager training on topics such as performance management, employee relations, compensation practices, benefits, career development, and people leadership; independently develop and facilitate selected training within areas of expertise as appropriate.
• Support and continuously improve onboarding and offboarding practices to create a consistent, thoughtful, and scalable employee experience.
• Create manager-facing resources, guides, templates, and communications that make People practices easier to understand and execute consistently.

HR Operations, Payroll Backup & Scalable Practices

• Serve as a knowledgeable backup for payroll administration, including reviewing payroll inputs, employee changes, deductions, time-off impacts, and other payroll-related information, as needed.
• Partner closely with the Payroll Coordinator, Finance and payroll partners to support accurate, timely, and compliant payroll processes and resolve employee or system issues, as needed.
• Help establish and maintain scalable HR processes, controls, documentation, workflows, and service standards that reduce manual work, improve consistency, and strengthen the employee experience.
• Support HR technology, benefits administration, payroll, and other People-system implementations or transitions, including requirements gathering, testing, data validation, process design, employee communications, and change management.
• Manage and evaluate external HR vendors and partners within assigned areas, monitoring service quality, costs, capabilities, and opportunities for improvement.
• Maintain accurate employee records and People data and use HR metrics and reporting to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for improvement.
• Stay current on relevant employment laws, regulations, and HR practices; identify potential impacts, bring recommendations to the Director, People & Culture, and implement approved updates to programs, policies, processes, and manager guidance.
• Assume other People & Culture responsibilities as needed to support the team and business.

What you're about.

Required:

• 10+ years of progressive Human Resources experience with meaningful depth in Total Rewards and broad hands-on experience across multiple HR disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and administering compensation programs, including market benchmarking, salary structures, grades and ranges, job evaluation, and internal equity analysis.
• Experience building or materially evolving job architecture, career levels, career ladders, lattices, or comparable career development frameworks.
• Strong benefits experience, including plan administration, renewals, open enrollment, vendor or broker partnership, employee communications, and compliance considerations.
• Demonstrated experience managing leaves of absence and workplace accommodations and applying sound judgment to complex or sensitive situations.
• Strong employee relations and performance management experience, including manager coaching, investigations, documentation, and performance improvement.
• Experience operating as an HR business partner or HR Manager supporting leaders and employees across a range of people matters.
• Experience developing and facilitating practical manager or employee training and enablement resources.
• Working knowledge of payroll processes and the ability to serve as an effective payroll backup after appropriate training on company systems and practices.
• Experience building, implementing, or scaling HR programs and processes in an organization where infrastructure is still evolving.
• Strong knowledge of U.S. employment laws and multi-state HR compliance, including wage and hour, leave, accommodation, benefits, and employee relations considerations.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to interpret compensation, benefits, workforce, and program data and translate findings into clear recommendations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex People topics clearly to employees, managers, and senior leaders.
• High degree of judgment, discretion, empathy, and comfort handling confidential and sensitive information.
• Ability to independently prioritize and execute multiple complex workstreams while remaining responsive to day-to-day employee and manager needs.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Must have reliable high-speed internet access.

Preferred:

• Experience working in a small or mid-sized, high-growth organization where HR professionals operate as both specialists and generalists.
• Experience supporting a fully remote and geographically distributed workforce.
• Experience with HRIS, payroll, benefits administration, and compensation technology implementations or transitions.
• Experience partnering directly with brokers, carriers, payroll providers, retirement plan partners, and other HR vendors.
• Experience supporting retirement plan administration and related compliance activities.
• Professional HR or Total Rewards certification such as SHRM-SCP, SPHR, CCP, or CEBS.
• Experience in SaaS, technology, professional services, or another multi-state knowledge-worker environment.

Core Competencies:

1. Business Insight - Understands how People programs, employee experience, cost, risk, and business performance connect and uses that context to make practical recommendations.
2. Decision Quality - Uses data, sound judgment, legal and policy considerations, and business context to make thoughtful recommendations and day-to-day People decisions within the scope of the role.
3. Manages Complexity - Navigates competing priorities, sensitive employee matters, evolving programs, and multi-state requirements without losing sight of execution.
4. Plans and Aligns - Turns People priorities into practical plans, processes, timelines, ownership, and measurable outcomes.
5. Collaborates - Builds trusted partnerships with employees, managers, leaders, Finance, and external partners and works effectively across functions.
6. Communicates Effectively - Explains complex compensation, benefits, employee relations, and People topics clearly and adapts communication to the audience.
7. Ensures Accountability - Creates clarity around expectations, follows through on commitments, and helps managers apply People practices consistently.
8. Instills Trust - Handles sensitive information with discretion, follows through reliably, and builds credibility through fair and consistent judgment.
9. Nimble Learning - Quickly learns new systems, regulations, business needs, and HR practices and applies that learning to improve programs and processes.
10. Optimizes Work Processes - Builds practical, scalable approaches that improve consistency, reduce unnecessary complexity, and strengthen the employee and manager experience.

What you will love about us.

• Our Culture! Check out our mission, core values and the many awards we have received as a growing business and employer of choice.
• We work remotely. We always have - we always will!
• Our Health and Wellness Benefits. Medical, Dental, Vision, Flexible Spending, HSA, and Dependent Care Accounts.
• We help you with the unexpected. Company-Paid Disability and Life Insurance. Opportunity to elect Critical Illness and Accident Insurance. Plus confidential access to legal and life counseling and mental health support available 24/7.
• Your future looks bright at Jackrabbit. 401(k) with a generous company match, access to financial planning.
• We pay you to play, rest, recharge, and balance your life. Paid Time Off, Paid Parental, Paid Caregiver, and Sabbatical leaves.
• You will grow your skills with us. Annual allowance for professional development.
• We give back. Paid Time to volunteer in your community.

Jackrabbit is committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination or harassment. We expect every member of the Jackrabbit team to do their part to cultivate and maintain an environment where everyone has the opportunity to feel included and is afforded the respect and dignity they deserve.

Decisions related to hiring, compensating, training, evaluating performance, or terminating are made fairly, and we provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified candidates and employees. We examine our unconscious biases and take responsibility for always striving to create an inclusive environment that makes every employee and candidate feel welcome.