Manager / Senior Manager, Human Resources, Manufacturing

More than one million people in the United States today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft vs. host disease. Orca Bio is a late-stage biotechnology company redefining the transplant process by developing next-generation cell therapies with the goal of providing significantly better survival rates with dramatically fewer risks. With our purified, high-precision investigational cell therapies we hope to not only replace patients' blood and immune systems with healthy ones, but also restore their lives.

We have built a state-of-the-art, 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sacramento, CA (7910 Metro Air Pkwy) to ensure the consistent and reliable delivery of our high-precision cell therapy products. This site is essential to advancing our clinical pipeline and supporting future commercial availability of our life-saving therapies.

Position Summary: the Manager / Senior Manager, Human Resources (depending on experience) partners with leaders to operationalize People Team initiatives. Reporting into the People Partner, Manufacturing Site Operations, you will serve as the primary HR business partner to front-line and mid-level managers, providing strategic guidance, coaching, and day-to-day support to strengthen leadership capability, drive effective people management practices, support talent acquisition and career development initiatives, foster a positive and inclusive culture, ensure compliance, and promote operational excellence across manufacturing sites.

Partner with front-line and mid-level managers to build leadership capabilities through coaching, training, and consultation. Represent HR in cross-functional and production meetings across Sacramento sites; provide guidance on employee and organizational matters.

Partner closely with Talent Acquisition to support workforce planning, hiring timelines, candidate experience, and fulfillment of staffing requirements across functions and Sacramento sites.

Train and coach front line managers on performance management, timekeeping and attendance policies, documentation standards, and corrective action processes.

Manage and resolve complex employee relations matters, ensuring fair, consistent, and compliant application of company policies. Conduct investigations and recommend appropriate corrective actions when needed.

Support employee career development initiatives, leadership growth opportunities, and internal mobility programs.

Support implementation and optimization of HCM/HRIS systems to ensure compliance, operational efficiency, and accurate workforce management processes, including time and attendance tracking, scheduling integration , labor allocation, overtime management, meal and rest break compliance, meal waivers and shift premium administration.

Develop and maintain HR dashboards and reporting tools focused on labor management metrics, including attendance, absenteeism, overtime utilization, retention, turnover, and time to fill.

Partner with People Team and cross-functional stakeholders to standardize workflows, improve system functionality, and identify opportunities to automate and streamline HR processes.

Lead and support HR on cross-functional projects such as HRIS implementations, workforce optimization projects, recognition programs, job architecture development, employee resource groups and employee engagement initiatives.

Support onboarding related to MasterControl JD and resume collection, eye exams, and prescription safety glasses administration.

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 6 to 8+ years of progressive HR generalist experience with HRBP duties in life sciences, biotech and/or other highly regulated manufacturing environment, supporting a largely hourly workforce.
• Proactive problem-solving, time management and continuous improvement mindset.
• Demonstrated HRBP experience in training and coaching managers and supervisors in performance management, labor management, and time and attendance.
• Experience in wage and hour compliance.
• Experience with HCM/HRIS systems (e.g., Workday, ADP, Dayforce) particularly in time and attendance, scheduling, labor allocation, HR dashboards and reporting, performance management, document management, and learning & development.
• Employee relations and investigation experience.
• Strong interpersonal, coaching, and influencing skills with a high level of discretion and professionalism.
• Ability to support varying shifts as needed across multiple manufacturing sites.