Role Summary

The People & Payroll Generalist is responsible for executing day-to-day human resources and payroll operations across Clear Group. This role ensures that employees are properly onboarded, supported, compensated, enrolled in benefits, informed of company policies, and held to consistent standards throughout their employment lifecycle.

This is an execution-focused role under the direction of the Director of People. The People & Payroll Generalist does not set company strategy, HR policy, or administrative policy architecture, but is responsible for implementing, communicating, tracking, and documenting HR programs, payroll, employee policies, and compliance requirements.

The People & Payroll Generalist serves as the primary point of contact for employees on day-to-day HR, payroll, and benefits questions.

The People & Payroll Generalist works primarily in our Santa Barbara office but will require occasional travel to our Ventura office and project properties.

Core Responsibilities

Policy Communication, Acknowledgement, and Enforcement Administration
- Own employee communication, acknowledgement tracking, and documentation for all employee-facing policies, regardless of originating department.
- Responsibilities include:
  - Communicate all employee-facing policies issued by Human Resources, Administration, IT, Safety, and other departments as applicable
  - Manage policy acknowledgment workflows, including:
    - New hire acknowledgements at onboarding
    - Annual acknowledgements, including the Employee Handbook
    - Policy-specific acknowledgements as required
  - Track completion status for all employees
  - Follow up with employees who are missing required acknowledgements
  - Maintain organized, auditable records of all signed acknowledgements
  - Administer enforcement processes and escalate non-compliance to the Director of People or appropriate department leader when required
  - Partner with the Director of People on enforcement escalation when required
- Structural Clarification
  - Creation, revision, and content ownership of non-HR operational policies remains with the originating department.
  - The People & Payroll Generalist does not own HR or operational policy design or enterprise policy architecture.
  - The People & Payroll Generalist owns employee-facing communication, acknowledgement tracking, documentation integrity, and enforcement administration.
Employee Handbook Administration
- Administer the Employee Handbook under the direction of the Director of People, including:
  - Maintaining current handbook content
  - Coordinating updates as policies or laws change, for review and approval by the Director of People
  - Distributing the handbook annually
  - Securing signed acknowledgements from every employee
  - Tracking completion and maintaining documentation
  - Escalating non-compliance as required
Benefits Administration and Compliance
- Administer the employee-facing execution and compliance of all benefit programs
- Enrollment, Offers, and Eligibility
  - Ensure that all employees are properly enrolled or formally offered coverage and documented as declining within the required time periods designated by each benefit offering, including:
    - Medical
    - Dental
    - Vision
    - Life insurance
    - 401(k)
  - Manage all acknowledgements and declinations
  - Maintain complete enrollment documentation
- Tracking, Timing, and Documentation
  - Responsible for all benefits-related tracking, timing, follow-up, and documentation organization
  - Maintain accurate enrollment records across systems
  - Serve as the primary employee point of contact for benefits questions
- Payroll Withholding Accuracy
  - Calculate ongoing premium withholdings
  - Identify missed, delayed, or inaccurate deductions
  - Calculate retroactive adjustments
  - Communicate all adjustments directly to affected employees
  - Coordinate with Finance and Accounting to implement corrections
- Carrier Billing Discrepancy Workflow
  - Director of Administration reviews carrier bills and identifies retroactive billing discrepancies.
  - People & Payroll Generalist (once discrepancies are identified) calculates employee-level financial impact, communicates adjustments to employees, implements corrections through payroll, and documents all changes.
Workplace Safety Communication (Administrative Scope Only)
- Responsible for communicating Administration-owned workplace safety policies to employees at onboarding and annually.
- Track employee acknowledgements or required completion of office/shop safety training.
- Excludes:
  - Construction jobsite safety training, field compliance programs, and project-level safety enforcement, which are managed by the Director of Field Operations.
- Structural Note
  - Director of Administration owns the workplace safety compliance framework and standards.
  - People & Payroll Generalist owns employee communication and acknowledgement.
Recruiting and Hiring
- Coordinate full-cycle recruitment, including job postings, sourcing, screening, and interview coordination
- Support hiring managers and the Director of People in drafting job postings and job descriptions
- Maintain applicant tracking systems and internal job boards
- Ensure a consistent, professional candidate experience
Onboarding and Offboarding
- Coordinate onboarding logistics, including offers, background checks, new hire paperwork, orientation, and HR compliance
- Maintain onboarding and offboarding templates and checklists
- Conduct exit interviews
- Manage offboarding documentation
- Coordinate system and access deactivation with IT
Payroll Processing and Coordination
- Process payroll as required, including biweekly payroll, off-cycle payroll, bonuses, and corrections
- Review timekeeping records and resolve discrepancies with employees and managers before each payroll run
- Process garnishments, deduction changes, and final pay in compliance with applicable timing requirements
- Reconcile payroll registers and coordinate payroll tax filings and year-end W-2 processing with Finance and the payroll provider
- Apply wage and hour requirements accurately across jurisdictions and escalate compliance questions to the Director of People
- Process payroll adjustments and special compensation items as approved by the Director of People
Leave Management
- Administer and support CFRA, FMLA, PDL, ADA, military leave, SDI/PFL, and other required leave programs
- Coordinate documentation, notifications, tracking, and payroll impacts
- Administer COBRA and coordinate benefit payments with Finance
HRIS and Personnel Data
- Maintain accurate employee data across all HR systems
- Maintain organized digital personnel files
- Support HRIS upgrades or implementations (without owning system architecture)
- Produce HR metrics and reports as required
Employee Relations and Performance Management
- Serve as first point of contact for employee concerns
- Document employee issues and support investigations led by the Director of People
- Support managers with corrective action documentation
- Apply HR policies consistently across all entities
- Coordinate performance reviews, goal setting, feedback processes, and Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
Workforce Planning
- Track headcount across entities
- Support the Director of People in coordinating staffing needs with entity directors
- Provide headcount and workforce data to support workforce planning
HR Operations and Continuous Improvement
- Maintain repeatable HR workflows and documentation
- Assess workload and system effectiveness
- Flag workload or capacity concerns to the Director of People
- Contribute to process and system improvements

Success Looks Like

All employees are properly onboarded, enrolled, and documented
Policies are communicated, acknowledged, and enforced
Benefits are administered accurately with no unresolved discrepancies
Payroll is processed accurately and on time, and withholdings are correct and transparent
Employee records are complete, organized, and auditable
Managers are supported with clear HR processes
Compliance risk is minimized

Experience and Capabilities

2-4 years of experience in HR and payroll, including hands-on California payroll processing
Working knowledge of California and federal employment law, wage and hour rules, and benefits administration
Proven ability to manage compliance-heavy workflows
High attention to detail and follow-through
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Technologically proficient across HRIS and payroll systems (experience with Rippling a plus)
HR (PHR/SHRM-CP) and Payroll (FPC/CPP) or certification preferred
Bilingual – Spanish preferred

Personal Attributes

Comfortable enforcing standards
Organized, methodical, and reliable
Balances empathy with accountability
Handles sensitive information with discretion
Operates calmly in high-friction situations
Values clarity and consistency over improvisation
Strong ability to multi-task, work under pressure and deadlines

Why This Role Matters

Clear Group operates across multiple entities, offices, job sites, pay structures, and benefit plans. As complexity grows, people-related risk grows with it, which shows up as payroll errors, missed enrollments, inconsistent policy enforcement, poor documentation, and compliance exposure.

The People & Payroll Generalist helps prevent that breakdown.

This role provides the operational discipline behind the employee lifecycle, ensuring every employee is properly onboarded, documented, enrolled in benefits, informed of policies, and managed under consistent standards. It turns HR from reactive problem-solving into a structured system that protects both the company and its employees.

By executing compliance tasks and maintaining documentation integrity, payroll and benefits accuracy, and consistent policy administration, this role reduces legal and financial risk, supports managers, and frees leadership from day-to-day personnel administration. This role makes scaling possible without multiplying people-related chaos.

Travel Time Required

10-20% (this is an estimated amount)

Physical Job Description

Must be physically able to operate various machines and equipment, including computers, office equipment, telephone, etc. Physical demands are essentially those of sedentary work. Tasks may require extended periods at a keyboard or workstation.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Typical Working Conditions

The typical working conditions for this role involve standard office hours, Monday through Friday, with occasional flexibility based on business needs. You will be stationed at a desk in a well-equipped office space, utilizing modern technology and software to perform administrative tasks. The role requires you to engage in regular communication with team members, clients, and external partners via phone, email, and in-person interactions. Expect a fast-paced and dynamic work environment, where you'll be handling various responsibilities simultaneously. The need for confidentiality is paramount, given the nature of managing sensitive information related to company operations and personnel.

Equipment

Computer, telephone, calculator, printer

Statement of Employer's Rights

This job description does not list all of the duties of this position. You may be asked by management to perform other duties. You will be evaluated in part based on your performance of the tasks listed in this job description.

Clear Construction has the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment, and either you or the Company may terminate employment at any time, for any reason.

ABOUT US

Our mission is to Be Better.

We achieve this through being a vertically integrated company that values attention to detail and sophistication unmatched by competitors. With strategic operational systems in place, our approach sets us apart: it’s the invaluable difference that comes with thoughtful, personalized collaboration. We are a team of hardworking and communicative professionals who take pride in understanding our clients’ desires and making them a reality – trust is just one of the things we build well.

Core Values

Must be able to exhibit and continuously demonstrate our Company's core values in any situation.

Passion - Care for our clients, our work, and our company.

Brilliance - Be bright, be positive, be exceptional.

Precision - Absolutely no detail is too small or unimportant.

Persistence - The greater the pressure, the brighter the diamond.

BENEFITS

Insurance (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life)
401(k) with company match
Paid time off and sick pay
Mileage, tool, cell phone reimbursement
Referral program
Competitive pay with yearly reviews
Opportunity for Growth
Tuition Reimbursement

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Human Resources Generalist

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