People Operations Lead at Ginkgo Bioworks Inc.

Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.

Job Responsibilities

Set operational objectives and deliver high-impact results across the People function by leading end-to-end Workday transaction support, ensuring accuracy and compliance in employee lifecycle events including hires, terminations, promotions, compensation changes, and organizational moves.
Serve as a subject matter expert in People operations, applying deep functional expertise to optimize Workday processes, strengthen data integrity, and drive continuous improvement across HR systems and workflows.
Identify systemic gaps and proactively improve, redesign, or implement new methods and processes related to employee lifecycle management, ticketing workflows, reporting, audits, and compliance activities.
Lead and coordinate audits, ensuring risk mitigation and regulatory compliance while strengthening internal controls and operational rigor.
Own the strategic management of the Workday Help ticketing system, influencing stakeholders and resolving complex inquiries across Benefits, Compensation, Performance, Onboarding/Offboarding, Immigration, and broader People programs.
Deliver high-value reporting and workforce insights to business leaders, translating data into actionable information that supports decision-making and organizational effectiveness.
Oversee employment verifications, employment letters, and unemployment claims processes, enhancing service delivery standards and improving turnaround times through process refinement.
Lead People team operations for organizational restructures, including managing centralized tracking for involuntary terminations, preparing documentation, and coordinating communications with key stakeholders and impacted employees.
Support benefits administration and annual open enrollment by enhancing employee experience, streamlining communications, and strengthening cross-functional collaboration.
Drive execution of annual compensation programs (equity, salary refresh, promotion planning) by managing reporting requirements, ensuring data accuracy, and partnering cross-functionally to implement compensation changes in Workday.
Partner with the Senior Manager, People Systems and Strategy to conduct end-user testing for new configurations, influencing adoption of improved tools, concepts, and system enhancements.
Oversee People team vendors and contract lifecycles, lead renewal negotiations, and project manage RFP processes to introduce innovative partners and scalable solutions that elevate People operations.
Serve as the primary internal point of contact for employee immigration matters, partnering closely with external immigration counsel to coordinate case preparation, documentation, and compliance tracking.

Requirements / Who you are:

Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field with knowledge of HR practices and procedures.
8-10 years of HR experience.
You have a strong working knowledge of Workday HCM. Greenhouse Recruiting experience is a plus.
You have relevant experience in a People Operations role driving operational excellence.
You have strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and translate into actionable insight.
You are great at diagnosing problems, using your critical thinking skills to devise innovative solutions.
You take initiative, are an independent thinker with a can do attitude and strength in project management.
You have extensive experience in Workday, Greenhouse, G-Suite including Google Sheets and running google scripts.
Experience in Ironclad contract management tools is a plus.

The base salary range for this role is $158,200 to $237,400. Actual pay within this range will depend on a candidate's skills, expertise, and experience. We also offer company stock awards, a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental & vision coverage, health spending accounts, voluntary benefits, leave of absence policies, 401(k) program with employer contribution, 8 paid holidays in addition to a full-week winter shutdown and unlimited Paid Time Off policy.

Ginkgo has implemented a return to office policy effective October 1, 2025 with required in-office days 3x per week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Some teams may require to be onsite 4-5 days per week and this will be discussed as part of the interview process. This policy applies to all employees who live within 50 miles of Ginkgo’s offices in Boston, MA, Emeryville, CA and West Sacramento, CA.

It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.

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People Operations Lead

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