Finance + People Operations Manager

Finance & People Operations Manager

At Proto, we believe in advancing people and prioritize the human experience in all that we do, from our internal practices to the work we produce for our clients. Our innovative work is propelled by our paramount resource — our people — and we celebrate the diversity in our skills, backgrounds, and perspectives that enhance our work and culture. Our talent team is committed to creating and promoting an intersectional culture at every stage of the talent lifecycle through practices that put people first. 

This role is critical in connecting our people to the work that makes Proto thrive. As a Finance & People Operations Manager, you’ll help power the day-to-day engine of Proto as a steward of the systems and processes that enable our teams to do their best work. Sitting at the intersection of our financial operations and people operations, you’ll help to shape how Proto operates at scale, ensuring that our systems grow alongside our people as we build a thoughtful, people-first experience. This role offers meaningful exposure to leadership and the opportunity to grow alongside Proto as our team and impact expand.

What you will do:

• Ensure Proto’s finance and people operations run smoothly, accurately, and predictably, allowing teams to trust the system and focus on doing their best work;
• Own the operational backbone that supports payroll, expenses, accounts payable, and month-end processes, bringing rigor and care to our resource management;
• Coordinate PTO and out-of-office tracking and facilitation;
• Serve as a steady presence during any Finance or People leadership absences to ensure continuity;
• Support onboarding and offboarding processes, including maintaining trackers and ensuring accurate data handoffs;
• Be the keeper of the details that we rely on like support scheduling, reminders, and operational documentation;
• Maintain and evolve the internal tools, trackers, and documentation that help Proto operate efficiently as we scale;
• Support weekly and monthly operational workflows, including decks, schedules, and updates;
• Ensure finance and people operations systems are accurate, organized, and up to date.

Qualifications:

• 2-4 years of experience supporting finance, people, or business operations (e.g., expense management, payroll operations, accounts payable, or similar);
• Proficient experience with Slack, Google Suite tools, and/or Excel;
• You’re good at connecting the dots, with high data literacy and confidence working across multiple systems and tools;
• Exceptional attention to detail. You enjoy being the person others rely on to bring structure, clarity, and follow-through to complex work;
• Ability to take ownership of tasks and follow them through independently;
• Calm under pressure, with the ability to balance precision and pace in a fast-moving, evolving environment.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience supporting both Finance and People Operations functions;
• Exposure to compliance-oriented or regulated environments;
• Financial system integration and/or migration;
• aPHR/PHR certification a plus.

In New York City, the base salary for this position is $75-90K. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including business needs, years of relevant experience, level of responsibility, and qualifications. This position reports to our Partner and Managing Director of Finance. We prefer candidates based in the New York metro area or Chicago, but are open to remote U.S. locations with a commitment to working East Coast business hours.

Proto is a New York-based company with offices at 3 World Trade. Our staff is encouraged to work from the office on days of their choosing, based on personal preferences, collaboration opportunities, client meetings, and all-company gatherings. We also support workplace flexibility and have made work-from-anywhere available to all staff (within a 3-hour time zone of eastern standard time zone). Our core business hours are generally 9:30 AM-6:00 PM EST; however, due to our client service model and collaborative work culture, individual working hours may fluctuate to reflect client deadlines and deliverables.