HR (People) Generalist

About the Role

We are seeking a proactive, motivated, and highly trusted People Generalist to join our Houston, TX office. As part of our global People (HR) Team, you will support the business through the delivery of effective People processes, contribute to global initiatives, and act as a trusted advisor to employees and managers in a fast-paced environment. This is an exciting opportunity for a high-potential HR professional who is looking to broaden their experience, take on meaningful responsibility, and build credibility in a lean, fast-paced, international environment.

As the sole People Team representative in Houston, you will have significant ownership while partnering closely with a collaborative global People Team and reporting to the North American People Lead based in Stamford, CT. You will gain exposure to a broad range of People disciplines, including employee relations, compensation, benefits, payroll, talent acquisition, learning and development, HR systems, and people analytics.

This role is based in our Houston office four days per week, with the flexibility to work remotely one day per week.

This will be a full-time role, owning the following responsibilities:

• Supporting employees and managers throughout the employee lifecycle, including onboarding and offboarding, employee relations, performance management, talent development and recruitment.
• Building strong relationships with local leadership up to Desk Head and C-Suite, escalating and partnering on more complex matters with the North American People Lead.
• Owning and processing US payroll in conjunction with external payroll providers, ensuring accurate and compliant payroll administration, whilst supporting global payroll processes where required.
• Administering employee benefit programs, including enrollments, life events, vendor administration, and day-to-day employee support.
• Maintaining accurate employee records and HR systems (including HiBob HRIS and Greenhouse ATS), leveraging people data to identify trends, inform decision-making, and support the continuous improvement of People processes and systems.
• Managing US employment-based immigration and employee mobility processes in conjunction with external legal counsel.
• Partnering with the global People Team on HR systems, compensation, learning and development, process improvement, and other regional and global initiatives, including operational support across global locations where needed.

About You

You are a collaborative and approachable HR professional who builds strong relationships and provides practical guidance to employees, managers, and stakeholders across the business. You will likely have demonstrated strong progression early in your career, through increased responsibility or opportunities to operate beyond a narrowly defined role. You exercise sound judgment, handle sensitive matters with discretion, and take ownership of both day-to-day operations and longer-term initiatives.

Confident operating as the sole HR presence on site, you build credibility quickly and are comfortable interacting with challenging stakeholders in a fast-paced, high-performance environment. You are organised, adaptable, and detail-oriented, able to manage competing priorities without losing rigour.

You enjoy finding better ways of working through technology, automation and data. Naturally curious and analytically minded, you are comfortable using HR systems, Microsoft Office and AI tools to improve efficiency, inform decision-making and solve business problems.

Proactive, resilient and quick to learn, you take initiative, build strong partnerships across the business and wider People Team, and balance empathy with a pragmatic, solutions-focused approach. Most importantly, you are motivated to grow your career alongside an experienced People Team and contribute to a collaborative, high-performing culture.

As a result, we believe the following experience and skills will best set this individual up for success in this role:

• 3-5 years in a broad HR Generalist role, ideally with clear evidence of early progression, increased responsibility, or expanded scope.
• Experience supporting employee lifecycle processes, including recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, performance management, payroll, benefits, and offboarding.
• Working knowledge of US employment law and US immigration processes.
• Hands-on experience in payroll processing (ideally using ADP), benefits administration, and support of payroll audits and compliance activities.
• Strong analytical capability with advanced Excel skills and experience using data to identify trends, solve problems, support decision-making and influence stakeholders.
• Experience using HRIS and ATS platforms, ideally HiBob and Greenhouse.
• Experience using AI tools to improve productivity, streamline workflows, and support business processes.
• A track record of building strong relationships with employees, managers, and stakeholders and collaborating effectively within a global team.

In addition, the following experiences are not required but desirable for this role:

• Experience working with a PEO (e.g. ADP TotalSource).
• Experience working within a global, multi-functional business with an international People / HR team.
• Experience working in a lean, high-growth, entrepreneurial or mid-sized environment where HR teams operated with broad responsibilities and limited specialization.
• Previous exposure to financial services, commodities, and/or technology sectors.

What we offer

• Competitive compensation and participation in Engelhart's discretionary bonus plan.
• 20 days of paid time off and 10 public holidays.
• Robust benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Life insurance, HSA and 401(k) contribution match, and supplemental benefits partially subsidised by the Company.
• Eligibility to receive external and internal training in accordance with our Training & Development Policy.