People Operations Partner at Blank Street in New York City, New York

Job description

• Add a Spark to the Ordinary…
• The People Operations Partner, Field is a trusted partner to our field organization, helping drive a high-performing, people-first culture during a period of growth at Blank Street. This role supports a high-volume, multi-unit food & beverage business across multiple markets.
• This role supports stores across multiple markets, partnering closely with General Managers, Shift Leads, and Operations Managers to strengthen teams, elevate performance, and support the employee experience.
• This role blends strategic partnership with hands-on execution, helping field leaders navigate employee relations, performance, engagement, staffing, and talent development while proactively identifying trends and opportunities across the business.
• This is a highly field-facing role, with regular time spent in our stores and across the markets you support. The ideal candidate is energized by fast-paced, customer-facing environments and enjoys building relationships close to the operation.
• This role is based in-person out of our Brooklyn, NY office, reports to the HRBP Manager, and requires frequent travel across the markets and stores you support.

Responsibilities

• Hire → Get the right people in
• Partner with Talent Acquisition and Operations Managers on hiring strategy, interview calibration, and workforce planning across your markets.
• Support strong hiring decisions by assessing talent quality, team fit, and long-term potential.
• Ensure new hires have a smooth and consistent onboarding experience from offer acceptance through ramp-up.
• Proactively identify hiring gaps, staffing risks, and organizational needs within your markets.
• Partner with field leaders to understand workforce needs and translate operational priorities into people strategies.
• Develop → Make people better
• Coach and support GMs, Shift Leads, and Operations Managers on performance management, accountability, feedback, and team dynamics.
• Drive execution of People programs including performance coaching frameworks, engagement action planning, and policy rollouts.
• Support internal promotions, succession planning, and leadership development across your markets.
• Help leaders navigate difficult conversations confidently, fairly, and consistently.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen leadership capabilities and improve team effectiveness.
• Retain → Keep great people
• Lead employee relations matters and investigations from intake through resolution with strong documentation, judgment, and professionalism.
• Identify trends in turnover, attendance, engagement, and performance — partnering with Operations to take proactive action early.
• Act as a trusted resource for employees and managers, balancing employee experience with business needs.
• Build strong relationships across your markets to maintain a clear pulse on team health, morale, and operational challenges.
• Use employee feedback, people data, and relationships with field leaders to identify opportunities to improve retention and engagement.
• Protect the Business → Make the business run and grow smoothly
• Partner cross-functionally with TA, Payroll, Training, Finance, and Operations to support smooth business operations.
• Advise field leaders on People policies, compliance, documentation, and risk.
• Use people data, operational trends, and feedback to identify risks, recommend solutions, and support business decision-making.
• Help ensure People practices are applied consistently across markets while accounting for the realities of each store and team.

Requirements

• You have experience supporting frontline, hourly, or field-based teams — ideally within food & beverage, hospitality, retail, or another high-volume, customer-facing environment.
• You’re an expert at handling employee relations issues and can navigate them with sound judgment.
• You’re comfortable partnering with leaders who manage teams across multiple locations and understand the unique challenges of field operations.
• You’re confident coaching managers, not just giving advice, but helping others actually reach a solution and drive results.
• You have a strong grasp of People Ops fundamentals (onboarding, compliance, documentation, investigations) and know how to apply them in real situations.
• You understand the operational realities that impact people — including staffing, attendance, turnover, scheduling, and performance.
• You’re highly organized and detail-oriented.
• You’re responsive, action-oriented, and follow through.
• You’re comfortable with ambiguity, pivots, and fast pace.
• You’re a clear, thoughtful communicator through all mediums.
• You genuinely enjoy supporting people and making the job fun.
• 4+ years of HR or People Ops experience, with experience supporting frontline, hourly, or field-based teams; experience in food & beverage, hospitality, retail, or another high-volume customer-facing environment preferred.
• Working knowledge of labor laws and compliance requirements.
• Demonstrated experience coaching managers and partnering with leaders to navigate employee relations, performance, and team challenges.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a high-volume environment.
• Demonstrated ability to stay organized and detail-oriented across multiple workstreams.
• Comfortable using HR systems and tools (HRIS, ATS, Google Suite).
• Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and sound judgment.
• Ability to regularly travel to stores and across supported markets as needed.
• Must be based in NYC with flexibility to travel throughout the market as needed.

Skills

Required

• HR or People Ops experience
• Coaching managers
• Employee relations
• Performance management
• Organization and detail-oriented
• Travel flexibility

Benefits

• Benefits & Perks
• Blank Street, in good faith, believes that the posted salary range is accurate for this role in New York City at the time of posting. Our salaries are rooted in the desire to pay competitively relative to our organization size and industry, reflecting just one part of the total compensation package. Additional components include equity, healthcare benefits, paid time off and various work perks (commuter benefits, free coffee). Details will be discussed during the interview process. Blank Street may pay more or less than the posted range based on factors such as relevant experience and skills, qualifications and location, among others. This range may be modified in the future.
• Equity package
• 15 days of annual leave (on top of company-observed holidays and sick time)
• Three health plan options, with full coverage available for two employee-only tiers
• Commuter benefits
• Parental leave
• Bereavement leave
• Exclusive access to our coveted Regulars program – yes, that means free coffee, matcha and more! ☕️
• Regular social outings with the team
• Free Blank Street swag