People Operations Specialist

Position Summary

MoPOP is seeking a dynamic and detail-oriented People Operations Specialist to join our community! This role is essential to the administration of the museum’s payroll, benefits, and leave programs. Reporting to the Associate Director, People + Culture, this culture champion will help staff navigate key aspects of their employment, guide them through People processes, and support the development of best practices in their area of expertise. The Specialist will work collaboratively across all levels of the organization, requiring tact, timeliness, and a high degree of discretion.

Essential Job Duties (other duties as assigned)

Onboarding + Offboarding:

• Coordinate onboarding processes, including new hire paperwork, background checks, and system access setup.
• Facilitate a welcoming and organized Day 1 experience in partnership with hiring managers and IT.
• Maintain accurate employee records in the HRIS and other internal systems.
• Manage offboarding logistics, including exit documentation, system access removal, final pay coordination, and exit interviews.

Benefits Administration:

• Serve as a point of contact for employee benefit inquiries and support, including health, dental, vision, life insurance, and retirement plans.
• Assist with benefits enrollments, changes, and terminations in accordance with plan guidelines and life events.
• Support annual open enrollment process and collaborate with benefits brokers and vendors as needed.

Payroll Support:

• Partner with teams to ensure timely and accurate processing of employee payroll.
• Maintain employee timekeeping and PTO records and resolve any discrepancies.
• Process changes related to compensation, deductions, and employment status updates.

HR Operations + Compliance:

• Maintain data integrity across all HR systems and support internal reporting and audits.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
• Support development and communication of HR policies and procedures.
• Respond to general HR-related questions with a solutions-oriented and customer service mindset.
   

MOPOP Community:

• Support our internal culture which inspires and empowers our staff to live our mission to its highest standards.
• Contribute to a consistent customer service standard across all departments.
• Work to ensure customer service is ingrained at the core of the team and is reflected outward to our guests and other staff.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications

You should possess a well-rounded set of skills that combine in-depth knowledge of employment laws, people-centered approach, analytical, and problem-solving abilities. You will play a pivotal role in maintaining positive employee experiences and resolving workplace challenges. The following qualifications are essential for success in this role:

• 2–4 years of experience in HR, people operations, or related administrative roles.
• Familiarity with HRIS and payroll systems (e.g., UKG, ADP, Paycom, BambooHR).
• Knowledge of ADA, EEO, OSHA, FMLA, and FLSA standards required.
• Demonstrating a genuine understanding of employees' needs and concerns, you actively listen, follow up, and ensure that every employee feels heard and valued.
• Ability to assess workplace situations and evaluate information critically will enable you to make informed decisions and design effective employee engagement strategies.
• Excel at building and maintaining positive relationships with employees and stakeholders, even during challenging conversations and demanding situations while maintaining professional boundaries.
• Strong decision-making ability to make well-considered decisions, especially when handling sensitive matters, demonstrates your ability to lead with confidence.
• Confidentiality: You understand the importance of maintaining strict confidentiality when dealing with personal and sensitive employee information.
• Excellent time management skills enable you to prioritize tasks, address urgent matters promptly, and manage a diverse range of employee-related issues effectively.

Benefits

This regular full-time position includes Medical/Vision insurance, Dental insurance, Life/AD&D/LTD insurance, 3.08 hours of accrued Vacation per bi-weekly pay period, Seattle Sick/Safe, 7 Floating Holidays (prorated first year dependent on hire date), 8 Company Holidays paid throughout the year, EAP, 401k plan with vested match schedule once eligible, and subsidized transportation benefits for Orca Pass or parking.
 

Why MOPOP?

We’re really glad you’re thinking about joining the team at MOPOP! We believe pop culture is a universal language capable of building connections across a range of people, no matter our differences in race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, education, socio-economic status, ethnicity, country of origin, or any other characteristic that makes us who we are. For more than twenty years, we have been showcasing how music, film, fashion, video games, sports, and more spark those connections and create a lasting cultural impact.

MOPOP provides both a physical space and an emotional and intellectual opportunity for people from any background to explore, find and build community, and recognize their own creative potential. This applies not only to our guests, but also to our staff — be it in designing an educational program to engage the next generation of creators, trying to reach a new audience with a marketing initiative, preserving an artifact in our collection, or providing excellent customer service to a visitor. If this sounds like something you’d be into, we’d love to hear from you!

MOPOP’s Mission and Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility 

Our mission is to activate the world-shaping power of pop culture through participative experiences, discovery, and play. We believe pop culture connects us, and that it is powerful, complex, alive and who we are. MOPOP is actively committed to ongoing learning in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). In partnership with our community, we hope to also develop safe spaces for their application. This includes taking steps to continue increasing our awareness of institutional “-isms,” as well as uncovering and undoing the ways they show up in museum culture. We recognize this is a process that requires intentionality, energy, and resources, and we are developing a DEIA framework that can cultivate a work environment and museum experience that is truly welcoming for all.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We believe that having staff, interns, and volunteers with diverse backgrounds enables us to better meet our mission and encourage BIPOC, women, and LGBTQIA2S+ individuals to apply. We acknowledge that our work to build safe spaces and better systems for traditionally marginalized groups is ongoing and will require constant vigilance and expect all MOPOP employees to be part of our DEIA journey.

Please email jobs@mopop.org if you need reasonable accommodations during the application or hiring process.