Senior HR Manager

Reports to: Vice President of Operations

Location: Remote

Position summary: Serve as the company’s HR “architect” - diagnosing organizational people needs and translating them into practical, scalable solutions by building what makes sense internally and outsourcing the highest-leverage areas. Establish and manage a targeted partner ecosystem (e.g., Talent Acquisition, benefits administration, HRIS/payroll, compliance support) to extend capability without adding unnecessary overhead. Support a fully remote organization with employees across the U.S. and select international locations. For a growing organization of around 100 employees, ensure programs, policies, and practices address immediate priorities while building the foundation for future scale. Lead culture enablement with an emphasis on values-based onboarding and employee integration during the first year.

Career track: This organization, and this role, are on a growth track. Qualified applicants should be ready to grow with the company, have a self-starter mindset, and partner with senior leadership to accomplish organizational objectives.

Compensation: Compensation includes a base salary of $130,000 - $150,000 and participation in companywide profit-sharing plan.  The base salary may fall within the anticipated range based on factors such as the position's final location and the selected candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities. 

Who we are:

System Automation (SA) is a software vendor based in Columbia, Maryland, with a focus on providing systems that support government regulatory management operations.

Founded in the District of Columbia in 1968 and originally contracted to develop and support the US Army recruiting system (contract held for 42 years), SA has since become an industry leader in designing, developing, implementing, and maintaining comprehensive information management applications for government regulatory agencies across the country. Our licensure experience began in 1994, providing the Maryland Board of Nursing a licensing solution and has since evolved to support many regulatory needs, including licensing, permitting, enforcement, inspections, investigations, case management, online payments, public verification, robust reporting, online self-service for applicants and license seekers, and paperless regulatory operations. 

For nearly three decades, SA has built a solid track record of demonstrable success, delivering SaaS licensure and compliance solutions to government regulatory agencies. SA is currently supporting state government agencies, licensing boards, and other regulatory operations in 22 states for nearly 800 different professions, occupations, and industries. 

With SA’s current launch of Evoke, the only cloud-native, low-code application platform purposely designed for regulatory management, infusing SA’s decades of professional licensing expertise, it’s an exciting time for growth! 

Key Responsibilities:

• Diagnose organizational people and HR needs by partnering with leaders to assess structure, talent, leadership capability, culture, performance, and growth constraints; identify root causes and priority gaps.
• Design right-sized HR solutions that balance in-house delivery with selective outsourcing, developing pragmatic, scalable approaches aligned to company stage, budget, and future growth.
• Develop and maintain a scalable HR roadmap that meets immediate organizational needs while laying the foundation for growth beyond 100 employees.
• Identify, select, and manage external HR partners (e.g., outsourced Talent Acquisition, benefits administration, HRIS/payroll, compliance or investigations support), including requirements definition, vendor evaluation, implementation oversight, and ongoing relationship governance.
• Serve as the primary owner of the HR partner ecosystem, ensuring vendors deliver high-quality service, align with company values and culture, and evolve as organizational needs change.
• Lead culture enablement efforts, embedding company values into employee experiences, leadership practices, and ways of working across a distributed and growing workforce.
• Design and operationalize values-based onboarding, with a specific focus on the employee’s first year (beyond orientation), including manager enablement, integration milestones, and early feedback loops.
• Enable leaders and managers with tools, frameworks, and guidance to support effective hiring, onboarding, performance conversations, and team development.
• Oversee core people processes (performance management, employee engagement, workforce planning) at a strategic and governance level, ensuring they are fit-for-purpose, lightweight, and aligned with business priorities.
• Provide HR governance, compliance, and risk oversight, partnering with internal stakeholders and external experts to ensure policies, practices, and employee relations matters are handled appropriately and consistently.
• Act as a trusted advisor to leadership, translating people data, insights, and observations into clear recommendations and decision support.
• Ensure a strong employee experience through a combination of self-service resources, HR systems, and partner support, personally handling escalations and sensitive matters as needed.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Comfort operating as the primary internal HR leader in a lean environment, leveraging systems and partners for scale.
• Exceptional organizational skills and proven ability to balance multiple concurrent priorities.
• Organizational diagnosis methods (listening plans, data interpretation, root-cause analysis).
• Consulting-style influence (facilitation, exec-ready recommendations).
• Strong leadership skills and ability to effect organizational change. 
• Agile, with the ability to shift from tactical execution to strategic thinking.
• Ability to work effectively with a wide range of personalities and perspectives.
• Outstanding verbal communication/listening skills: Ability to give full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting.
• Excellent writing skills, with proven experience authoring effective company-wide policies and communications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field; Master’s degree preferred
• At least three years of experience serving in an HR Manager capacity; at least seven years of combined HR experience.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or SPHR certification highly preferred.
• Experience supporting H-1B lottery processes and employment visa administration is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience designing HR solutions from diagnosis through implementation.
• Experience leading values-based onboarding beyond orientation (first-year integration).
• Experience selecting and managing outsourced HR providers (TA, benefits, HRIS/payroll, compliance).

Why Join Us?

• Agile team working in a fast-paced environment, solving complex problems with high customer impact
• A mission-driven GovTech company delivering real-world results
• Uncapped PTO + flexible work environment
• Health and Welfare options to include (medical, dental, and vision) health savings account with company contributions, medical flexible spending, and dependent care.
• 401(k) with company match
• Continuing education program 

What to Expect: 

Hiring Process:

Application review -interviews and technical assessment - conditional offer

Security Screening:

Due to the sensitive nature of IT systems and data access, final candidates will receive a conditional employment offer contingent upon successful completion of a drug screening and a fingerprint-based background investigation.

At System Automation, we are focused on making peoples’ lives in the cloud easier through innovative products built by passionate employees. We are looking to add talented, motivated people to our team to help achieve this mission through the engineering, support, and delivery of our revolutionary Evoke platform.

If you want to help innovate and streamline usage of the newest tech in the cloud, you’ve come to the right place. Apply below and we’ll be in touch shortly!