People Operations Coordinator

Location:  Washington, DC (hybrid, 3 days/week in office)

Type:  Full-time

Reports to:  COO

Team:  ~15 and growing

About Schemata

Schemata is a spatial intelligence company applying AI to the physical world. Our flagship product is a virtual training platform for frontline personnel: our proprietary reality-capture technology quickly converts 2D images into photorealistic 3D models, and our AI-powered scene understanding automatically generates training content, dramatically reducing training time and improving operational readiness. We currently support multiple Department of War (DoW) branches and are expanding into commercial applications. We’re venture-backed, having raised from prominent firms such as a16z.

The Role

We are hiring our first dedicated People Operations Coordinator to take ownership of the back-of-house work that keeps the company running. This is the person who makes sure people get paid correctly, new hires start smoothly, the founders' time is protected, and the small operational fires get put out before they spread.

This is a broad, hands-on generalist role, not a narrow HR specialist seat. You will spend part of your week on HR and compliance, part on recruiting, part supporting the executive team directly, and part on everything else that a growing 15-person company needs but has not yet built. If you like variety, take pride in running a tight ship, and want real ownership at an early-stage defense tech company, this is a rare opportunity to build the people and operations function from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities

People Operations and HR

• Run day-to-day HR administration: onboarding and offboarding, employee records, PTO tracking, and benefits enrollment.
• Administer payroll and benefits through our existing systems (Rippling, Human Interest 401(k)), and serve as the first point of contact for employee questions.
• Maintain and improve HR policies, the employee handbook, and compliance across a multi-state workforce.
• Coordinate performance review cycles, feedback surveys, and other people programs as we scale.
• Keep us compliant with federal and state employment requirements, and flag issues to the founding team early.

Recruiting

• Assist team managers with hiring: job postings, sourcing support, scheduling interviews, candidate communication, and moving people through the pipeline.
• Manage offer letters, background checks, and the handoff into onboarding.
• Help build a repeatable, professional hiring process as headcount grows.

Executive and Administrative Support

• Provide direct support to the executive team, including calendar management, travel booking, expense processing, and meeting coordination.
• Prepare and organize materials, track action items, and keep the leadership team on schedule.
• Handle sensitive information with discretion and sound judgment.

Internal Events

• Plan and run team events and gatherings across our DC and SF offices.

General Operations

• Manage office logistics, vendors, supplies, and facilities coordination.
• Own miscellaneous back-of-house tasks and projects.
• Build the systems and documentation that let us stay organized as we grow.

What We're Looking For

Required

• 2+ years in a people operations, HR, office management, operations, or executive support role.
• A baseline working knowledge of HR fundamentals: payroll, benefits, onboarding, and basic employment compliance.
• Exceptionally detail-oriented.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to juggle many different tasks without dropping details.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• High discretion and comfort handling confidential information.
• A bias toward action and a willingness to own whatever needs owning, including work outside a formal job description.
• Based in the DC metro area and able to work on a hybrid schedule (3 days/week in office).

Nice to Have

• Experience with Rippling, Human Interest, Notion, or comparable HR and operations tools.
• Exposure to a defense, government contracting, or regulated environment.
• Recruiting coordination or full-cycle recruiting experience.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. security clearance (U.S. citizensh