About the Company

We are a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

The company is a public benefit corporation headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, university endowments, and private investment offices. We operate as an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas change the company’s direction on a regular basis.

About the Job

We are developing a core technology that will operate in the worst conditions the world’s oceans have to offer for years at a time without human maintenance or intervention. As Senior Program Manager, People Operations & Systems, you will build and own the operational infrastructure behind our total rewards programs. This is a senior individual contributor role responsible for designing, strengthening, and scaling the systems, workflows, and controls that support payroll, benefits, leave administration, compliance operations, reporting, and related employee transactions.

This role is for someone who has built and run these systems before and knows what excellent looks like. You are comfortable stepping into a fast-growing environment, identifying what needs to be built or tightened, and putting practical, durable processes in place without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

You have likely been the operational backbone of a People function before, whether as an HR department of one or as the senior operator behind total rewards, payroll, systems, compliance, and reporting. You know how to build processes that work now and scale as a company grows from a few hundred employees to several thousand.

Payroll is a critical part of this role, but it is only one part. This role sits at the intersection of accuracy, compliance, and scale. As the company grows, the quality of these systems directly impacts employee trust, financial accuracy, and our ability to operate without disruption

Responsibilities

Total Rewards Systems Ownership

• Build and own the systems, workflows, controls, and documentation that support total rewards operations
• Design and improve scalable processes across payroll, benefits, leave, reporting, and related employee transactions
• Identify process gaps and implement practical improvements that strengthen accuracy, efficiency, and scale
• Serve as a senior thought partner on how total rewards operations should evolve as the company grows

Payroll Administration

• Own end-to-end payroll administration and ensure timely, accurate processing
• Partner with Finance on payroll review, reconciliations, reporting, and year-end activities
• Maintain payroll records, deductions, earnings, tax setup, and related controls

Benefits and Leave Administration

• Own benefits administration operations, including enrollments, qualifying life events, deductions, audits, and reconciliations
• Administer leave programs, internal tracking, documentation, payroll coordination, and related operational support
• Oversee company-specific paid leave programs and ensure appropriate controls and documentation are in place

Systems, Compliance, and Reporting

• Serve as primary administrator for HRIS, ATS, and related people systems
• Own workflows, permissions, data integrity, integrations, and system maintenance
• Prepare recurring and ad hoc reporting, reconciliations, and audits for leadership, Finance, and external partners
• Build controls that improve quality, consistency, and risk management across people operations

Required Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in payroll, total rewards operations, HR operations, people systems, or related roles
• Proven experience building, improving, and running systems and processes across payroll, benefits, leave, and related operations
• Deep experience with HRIS, payroll, and people systems administration, including building workflows, maintaining data integrity, and improving operational scale
• Strong experience in Rippling or a comparable HRIS/payroll platform, with a clear preference for candidates who have built and operated workflows in Rippling
• Experience in a high-growth startup or scaling organization
• Strong knowledge of payroll, benefits, and leave administration
• Strong systems thinking and the ability to quickly learn new tools, understand downstream impacts, and build scalable, well-controlled processes
• Strong attention to detail, judgment, and discretion with sensitive information
• Comfort operating in environments where systems are evolving and not all inputs are fully defined, with the ability to bring structure without over-engineering
• Ability to operate as a senior individual contributor and thought partner in a fast-growing environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Greenhouse or a comparable applicant tracking system
• Experience improving integrations and workflows across HRIS, ATS, payroll, benefits, and reporting tools
• Experience serving as an HR department of one or as a senior operational owner across payroll, systems, compliance, and reporting
• Experience in a high-growth startup or scaling organization
• Experience supporting multi-state payroll and employment administration
• Familiarity with compliance requirements across payroll, leave, benefits, workers’ compensation, and personnel records
• PHR, SHRM-CP, CPP, or related certification
• Experience implementing or optimizing HRIS, ATS, payroll, or benefits systems

The above qualifications are desired, not required. We encourage you to apply if you are a strong candidate with only some of the desired skills and experience listed.

Compensation & Benefits

If hired for this full-time role, you will receive:

• Cash compensation of $140,000 – $175,000
• Equity in the company. We’re all owners, and if we’re successful, this equity should be far and away the most valuable component of your compensation.
• A benefits package that helps you take care of yourself and your family, including:
  
  
• Flexible paid time off
• Health insurance (the company pays 100% of gold level PPO plan for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
• Dental insurance (the company pays 100% for full-time employees and 100% for their partners and dependents)
• Vision insurance (the company pays 100% for full-time employees, their partners, and dependents)
• Disability insurance (the company pays 100% for a policy to provide long-term financial support if you become disabled)
• Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA
• Relocation assistance to facilitate your move to Portland (if required).

Location

This is an on-site position. Our offices, lab, and shop are located in Portland, Oregon.

About the Company

Panthalassa is a renewable energy and ocean technology company committed to rapidly developing and deploying technologies that will ensure a sustainable future for Earth by unlocking the vast energy potential of its oceans. Our focus is on capturing civilizational levels of ultra-low-cost renewable energy for applications including computing and affordable renewable fuels delivered to shore.

We are headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and operate as a public benefit corporation backed by leading venture capitalists, philanthropic investors, and university endowments. Our team includes individuals with experience at SpaceX, Tesla, Apple, Blue Origin, the U.S. military, research universities, and mission-driven startups. We operate as an idea meritocracy—where the best ideas win, and we’re building the most capable engineering and operations team on the planet.

About the Role

As Configuration Architect, you will be responsible for designing and implementing the infrastructure, processes, and tools that support Panthalassa’s engineering release systems and broader digital thread. This includes building the foundation for a world-class, model-based engineering environment and accelerating our ability to release, manufacture, and scale products efficiently and accurately.

We’re looking for someone ready to roll up their sleeves and take us from where we are today to an implementation that is outstanding in the field. You are hands-on, pragmatic, and deeply motivated by building systems that scale. You understand the foundational importance of getting engineering release right—and you see the impact of doing so across the full product lifecycle.

You’ll work closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, and Business Operations to improve the performance of current systems while designing and executing a long-term roadmap that supports production rates as we scale. This is a builder role with high impact and high visibility. You’ll help define how we build the systems to support mass production and the delivery of ocean-based renewable energy at global scale.

Responsibilities

• Own the efficiency and accuracy of the engineering release process and associated infrastructure
• Design and lead the implementation of Model-Based Definition (Digital Product Definition) practice
• Address immediate process and tool gaps to support engineering release velocity
• Ensure PLM data and infrastructure are tightly integrated with the broader digital thread and scale initiatives
• Partner across teams to align configuration management practices with design, manufacturing, and business needs
• Build documentation, training, and governance practices to support adoption and compliance
• Proactively identify opportunities to streamline and modernize tools, workflows, and system integrations
• Work hand-in-hand with the CAD (NX) process specialist and administrator to ensure seamless CAD–PLM workflows.
• Manage relationships with vendors and external consultants, driving successful implementations and customizations.
• Provide technical leadership while remaining hands-on with PLM system administration, customization, and API-level development.
• Own the long-term PLM roadmap as part of the broader digital thread and enterprise architecture, ensuring alignment with business needs, scaling requirements, and the company’s digital transformation strategy.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience administering and supporting PLM systems in high-consequence industries (e.g., aerospace, defense, energy, automotive)
• Experience architecting and maintaining configuration management systems for production environments handling many thousands of configuration items
• Deep knowledge of configuration management standards and frameworks (e.g., CMII certification or equivalent experience)
• Strong technical foundation in engineering, computer science, or information systems
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or equivalent demonstrated experience
• Track record of hands-on implementation and improvement of release processes and PLM integrations

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience with Siemens Teamcenter PLM system
• Experience deploying model-based definition in a production environment
• Familiarity with digital thread strategy, including ERP, MES, and CAD system integrations
• Experience working at early-stage or rapidly scaling hardware companies
• Teamcenter administration, customization, and integration experience.
• Familiarity with NetSuite ERP (or similar ERP platforms) and ERP–PLM integrations.
• Proficiency with scripting languages such as Python, JavaScript, or shell scripting.
• Experience working with REST APIs and GraphQL for system-to-system integrations.
• Experience with enterprise integration platforms (e.g., Boomi, MuleSoft, T4EA, etc.).
• Knowledge of cloud deployment models and DevOps principles (CI/CD, containerization, infrastructure as code).

The above qualifications are desired, not required. We encourage you to apply if you are a strong candidate with only some of the desired skills and experience listed.

Additional Requirements

• Travel to vendors and test sites as needed
• Intermittently able to work longer hours and weekends to support critical needs. While we expect a lot of each other, we also offer a high degree of autonomy and work-life balance, including unlimited PTO and flexible working hours.

Compensation and Benefits

If hired for this full-time role, you will receive:

• Cash compensation of $175,000 - $245,000
• Equity in the company. We’re all owners and if we’re successful, this equity should be far and away the most valuable component of your compensation.
• A benefits package that helps you take care of yourself and your family, including:
  • Flexible paid time off
  • Health insurance (the company pays 100% of gold level PPO plan for full time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Dental insurance (the company pays 100% for full time employees and 100% for their partners and dependents)
  • Vision insurance (the company pays 100% for full time employees, their partners, and dependents)
  • Disability insurance (the company pays 100% for a policy to provide long term financial support if you become disabled)
  • Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA
• Relocation assistance to facilitate your move to Portland (if needed).

Location

On-site, our offices, lab, shop, and manufacturing facilities are located in and near Portland, Oregon.