Senior HR Ops Specialist

Job description

## **Why work at Higgsfield AI?** Higgsfield AI is the fastest-scaling generative AI company in history, hitting $500M in annual revenue run rate, 25M+ users worldwide, 6M+ generations per day, and powering 390 of Fortune 500 brands. We're building at the absolute frontier of AI-powered video creation and next-generation creative tools. Joining Higgsfield means becoming part of a high-impact team shaping the future of AI-native experiences, at a company that isn't just moving fast, but rewriting what fast looks like. ## About the Role We’re looking for an HR Operations Specialist to help build and scale the people infrastructure behind a rapidly growing, global organization. This role sits between day-to-day HR administration and HR Operations leadership. While our HR Coordinator supports routine administrative tasks and employee requests, the HR Operations Specialist will own more complex operational workflows, HR systems, benefits and payroll coordination, compliance processes, and process improvement. You’ll work closely with HR, Finance, Legal, IT, and external partners to ensure our People operations are accurate, scalable, and built to support continued growth. We’re looking for a strong operator who can take ownership of a problem, understand how the pieces connect, and build a better process—not someone who simply follows an existing checklist. ## What You’ll Do ### HR Operations & Employee Lifecycle - Manage more complex employee changes, including compensation updates, promotions, employment status changes, transfers, and organizational changes. - Partner with managers and cross-functional teams to resolve employee lifecycle issues and operational escalations. - Develop scalable workflows, documentation, and controls as the company grows. ### HR Systems, Data & Automation - Design and improve workflows, automations, permissions, custom fields, reporting, and system configurations. - Maintain strong data integrity and establish processes for regularly auditing employee information. - Build reporting and dashboards for headcount, employee changes, benefits, and other People metrics. - Identify manual processes that can be automated or eliminated. - Partner with IT, Finance, and other teams on integrations and system improvements. ### Finance Partner and Benefits Operations - Partner with Finance and payroll providers to ensure employee changes are accurately reflected in payroll. - Support the administration and ongoing improvement of employee benefits programs. - Coordinate open enrollment, qualifying life events, employee eligibility changes, and carrier/vendor processes. - Manage operational relationships with benefits and HR vendors and help troubleshoot escalated issues. - Build processes and controls that improve payroll and benefits accuracy as headcount grows. ### Compliance & Global Operations - Support HR compliance requirements across the employee lifecycle, including required documentation, recordkeeping, and employment changes. - Partner with Legal and external advisors on HR compliance initiatives. - Support state registrations and other operational requirements associated with employing people across multiple jurisdictions. - Help manage operational processes for international employees, contractors, and global employment partners. - Maintain organized, audit-ready HR records and documentation. - Identify compliance or process risks and escalate them appropriately. ### Process Design & Operational Excellence - Build and maintain HR playbooks, SOPs, workflows, and internal documentation. - Evaluate existing processes and redesign them to be more efficient, scalable, and employee-friendly. - Establish clear ownership and handoffs between HR, Recruiting, Finance, IT, Legal, and managers. - Create controls and checkpoints for high-risk HR processes. - Use data and operational trends to identify recurring issues and recommend solutions. - Take ownership of HR Operations projects from problem identification through implementation. ## What We’re Looking For - 3–5+ years of experience in HR Operations, People Operations, or a similar role. - Strong working knowledge of core U.S. HR operations, including payroll, benefits, onboarding/offboarding, employee changes, and compliance. - Hands-on experience administering and improving an HRIS; experience with Rippling is a plus. - Experience building or improving HR workflows rather than solely executing established processes. - Strong systems orientation and comfort working with HR data, reporting, and automation. - Exceptional attention to detail, particularly when working with payroll, compensation, benefits, and employee data. - Strong project management and organizational skills. - Ability to independently investigate issues, identify root causes, and drive them through resolution. - Strong judgment and discretion when handling sensitive employee information. - Comfortable working in a fast-growing environment where processes are still being built. [**Overview**](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/higgsfieldai/0051d261-ad33-4e75-be07-506042b71894)[**Application**](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/higgsfieldai/0051d261-ad33-4e75-be07-506042b71894/application) **Why work at Higgsfield AI?** Higgsfield AI is the fastest-scaling generative AI company in history, hitting $500M in annual revenue run rate, 25M+ users worldwide, 6M+ generations per day, and powering 390 of Fortune 500 brands. We're building at the absolute frontier of AI-powered video creation and next-generation creative tools. Joining Higgsfield means becoming part of a high-impact team shaping the future of AI-native experiences, at a company that isn't just moving fast, but rewriting what fast looks like. **About the role:** Higgsfield is seeking an Associate General Counsel, Commercial to serve as a senior legal leader and strategic business partner supporting our rapidly growing global commercial organization. Reporting to the General Counsel, you will own the company's commercial legal function, partnering closely with executive leadership across Sales, Partnerships, Product, Finance, Security, and Operations. You will lead the legal strategy behind complex enterprise transactions, help shape go-to-market initiatives, and build the legal infrastructure necessary to support one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world. This role requires an experienced commercial attorney who combines exceptional legal judgment with strong business acumen. You should be equally comfortable negotiating high-value strategic agreements, advising executives on novel business initiatives, and designing scalable legal processes that enable growth without sacrificing appropriate risk management. As the company continues to scale, you will play a critical role in developing the commercial legal function, mentoring future team members, and helping define how Legal partners with the business. **What you'll do:** **Lead Strategic Commercial Transactions** - Serve as the senior legal advisor for complex commercial transactions, including enterprise SaaS agreements, API and developer platform agreements, strategic partnerships, technology licensing, channel partnerships, procurement, and other high-impact commercial matters. - Structure and negotiate commercial arrangements involving API access, developer platforms, AI infrastructure, model licensing, usage-based pricing, and other emerging AI products, partnering closely with Product and Engineering to support evolving offerings. - Lead negotiations for the company's most strategic customers and partners while balancing legal risk with business objectives. - Partner directly with executive leadership to accelerate revenue generation and enable commercial growth. - Advise on international expansion, evolving go-to-market models, pricing strategies, and new business initiatives. - Provide practical, business-oriented guidance on complex legal issues in a rapidly evolving AI landscape. **Advise Company Leadership** - Partner closely with executive leadership to evaluate strategic opportunities, assess legal risk, and develop commercially pragmatic solutions. - Counsel cross-functional leaders on legal considerations relating to AI, enterprise software, data, intellectual property, digital media, advertising technology, and emerging regulations. - Support corporate initiatives that require sophisticated commercial legal guidance, including strategic partnerships, new product launches, and expansion into new markets. - Act as a trusted advisor who proactively identifies legal risks and opportunities before they become business challenges. - Advise Product, Engineering, and GTM teams on legal considerations related to API products, developer ecosystems, AI model access, platform integrations, and evolving commercialization strategies. **Build and Scale the Commercial Legal Function** - Design and continuously improve scalable commercial contracting processes that support significant transaction volume without sacrificing quality. - Develop negotiation playbooks, approval frameworks, contract templates, fallback positions, and internal guidance that empower the business while maintaining appropriate legal controls. - Partner with Operations and Enterprise Systems to optimize contract lifecycle management, reporting, and legal workflows. - Help establish the long-term structure, processes, and best practices for the commercial legal organization as the company continues to scale. - Mentor and provide guidance to more junior legal professionals as the team grows. **Drive Cross-Functional Partnership** - Collaborate closely with Sales, Partnerships, Product, Security, Privacy, Finance, and Operations to enable efficient decision-making across the organization. - Translate complex legal issues into practical business recommendations for stakeholders at every level. - Support special projects, strategic initiatives, and other high-priority matters that arise in a hypergrowth environment. - Stay ahead of legal and regulatory developments impacting AI, enterprise software, privacy, digital media, content generation, consumer protection, and related technologies. **Requirements:** - J.D. from an accredited law school and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar. - 10+ years of legal experience, with significant experience leading sophisticated commercial transactions for high-growth technology companies. - Combination of top-tier law firm and in-house experience strongly preferred. - Demonstrated experience serving as a strategic legal advisor to executive leadership and senior business stakeholders. - Deep expertise negotiating complex enterprise SaaS agreements, API and developer platform agreements, technology licensing, strategic partnerships, and other sophisticated commercial transactions. - Experience supporting AI, cloud infrastructure, APIs, developer platforms, or other highly technical software products is strongly preferred. - Strong understanding of legal issues affecting AI, software, data, intellectual property, privacy, and emerging technologies. - Exceptional business judgment with the ability to provide practical, risk-balanced advice in ambiguous situations. - Proven ability to build scalable legal processes, improve operational efficiency, and support rapidly growing commercial organizations. - Experience mentoring attorneys or legal professionals and helping build high-performing legal teams. - Outstanding drafting, negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills. - Highly collaborative, low ego, execution-oriented, and comfortable operating independently in a fast-paced, high-growth environment where priorities evolve quickly. - Ability and willingness to travel once per quarter, including two annual trips to San Francisco and two annual trips to Kazakhstan **Compensation & Benefits:** - **Base Salary:** The anticipated salary range for this role is **$100,000 – $125,000**, depending on experience, skills, scope, and location. - The opportunity to work on ambitious AI products alongside a highly experienced, fast-moving, and international team. - Significant ownership, direct impact, and opportunities for professional growth as the company scales. This is a **hybrid role based in the San Francisco Bay Area**. Team members are expected to work from our San Francisco office **three full days per week**, with the remaining days worked remotely and are expected to be available during agreed working hours and to maintain sufficient overlap with the relevant team’s time zone. We value in-person collaboration, active communication, responsiveness, and close partnership across teams. *Higgsfield AI is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.*