Senior People Operations Manager

About us Re-architecting Engineering for the Age of Intelligence PhysicsX is the physics AI company for industrials. The company’s mission is to accelerate hardware innovation by overhauling what industrial engineering and manufacturing look like today. PhysicsX is building a new simulation software stack to deliver deep physics AI enablement across the entire engineering lifecycle. The company partners with leading organisations in aerospace & defence, automotive, semiconductors, materials, and energy & renewables, supporting them on some of their most critical and complex challenges. PhysicsX is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with offices in London, New York, and Singapore and an expanding presence in the Bay Area. About the Role We're looking for a People Operations Specialist to provide day-to-day People Ops support for our US team — currently our second-largest hub and growing quickly. Reporting to our London-based Head of People Ops & Data, you'll be the main point of contact for everything from onboarding and offboarding to benefits and compliance for our North America colleagues. You'll work alongside a colleague from our People Partnership team who previously held this role, so you won't be starting from scratch. This is a hands-on, high-autonomy role. You'll run US People Ops day-to-day, plug into broader People Ops projects as our team scales, and have support from the wider global People team whenever you need it — we operate as one team, not in regional silos. We're a fast-growing company, not yet a large, fully specialised corporate People function — which means this role, and the way it's scoped, will evolve as our needs change. You should be genuinely comfortable with ambiguity, happy to build process as you go rather than inherit a finished playbook, and energised by the idea of taking on new areas of ownership as the company grows. If something isn't working as well as it could — a process, a system, a workflow — we want someone who takes the time to understand what's already there and why, then brings solutions rather than just flagging the problem. What You'll Do Onboarding & Offboarding • Own onboarding end-to-end for US new hires — from offer acceptance through day one and beyond — partnering with the wider People team and other functions to make sure every new joiner has a great, consistent experience • Manage offboarding for departing US employees, coordinating exit interviews, documentation, and access removal Employment Documentation & HR Administration • Prepare and issue employment contracts, amendments, and verification letters • Support payroll processing by keeping employee data accurate and up to date • Support relocations into the US Visa & Immigration • Manage visa and immigration processes for US-based employees, including work authorisation applications and renewals, working with external immigration providers as needed Benefits • Own the US benefits programme end to end — enrolment, renewals, open enrolment, and broker relationships • Be the go-to person for benefits questions, and help keep our offering best-in-class as we grow Legislation, Policy & Compliance • Keep on top of US federal and state employment legislation, flagging changes and helping shape policy in response • Keep our US policies, employee handbook, and internal documentation accurate and current • Maintain compliance with US employment law, including state-specific requirements • Maintain right-to-work and I-9 records Data & Reporting • Keep US employee data clean and accurate in our HR system • Produce regular US reporting to support wider People reporting Performance Cycles & Projects • Support our bi-annual performance review cycles • Get involved in broader People Ops projects as we cont