HR Manager - Build the Heart of Our People Team

About Heartstrings Pet Hospice

Heartstrings Pet Hospice provides in-home hospice and end-of-life care for pets, giving families compassionate support and their pets a peaceful, dignified goodbye. Our veterinary and care professionals work across multiple states, guided by a shared commitment to comfort, compassion, and trust during one of the hardest moments in a family's life. As we grow, we're investing in the people and systems that let our team do this deeply meaningful work well.

About the Role

Heartstrings is growing — from a close-knit founding team into a 40-plus person, multi-state organization and it's time for our first dedicated HR leader. As our HR Manager, you'll build and run the people function for a distributed team of 40–50 professionals across multiple states, reporting directly to the CEO. In your first year, you'll stand up consistent HR policies and multi-state compliance practices, own recruiting and onboarding for clinical and support roles, and begin building the HR team you'll eventually lead. Because our staff do emotionally demanding work, you'll also play a key role in supporting a culture of care for the caregivers themselves.

What You'll Do

Own full-cycle HR operations — recruiting, onboarding, benefits administration, performance management, and offboarding for a distributed, multi-state team. Ensure compliance with employment law in every state we operate in, including wage and hour rules, leave policies, and required notices and postings. Build and maintain HR policies, the employee handbook, and consistent people practices designed for a remote/hybrid, multi-state workforce. Manage benefits programs and vendor relationships, and partner with payroll to ensure accurate multi-state payroll, tax withholding, and compliance. Recruit, onboard, and track licensure and credentialing for veterinary and clinical staff across state lines. Partner with the CEO on organizational design and workforce planning as the company scales — including building and eventually leading an HR team. Champion employee relations and support for a team doing emotionally demanding hospice work, including programs addressing compassion fatigue and staff wellbeing. Serve as a trusted point of contact for employees across all locations, resolving concerns with empathy and sound judgment.

What We're Looking For

Required: 5+ years of progressive HR experience, including direct experience supporting a multi-state workforce; working knowledge of multi-state employment law and compliance requirements; experience building or significantly improving HR processes at a small or growing company; comfort operating as a hands-on individual contributor today, with the ambition and capability to build and lead a team over time; experience with HRIS and payroll systems; excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to support a distributed team primarily through virtual channels.

Preferred: SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or PHR certification; experience in healthcare, veterinary, or another mission-driven, emotionally demanding industry; experience managing professional licensure or credentialing tracking; familiarity with the operational needs of a hospice, in-home care, or field-based service business.

Salary range: $65,000–$95,000, based on experience.

We back that up with a competitive, comprehensive benefits package because we ask a lot of the people who do this work, and we want to take care of them in return:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• PTO plus paid holidays
• Hybrid Flexible work support, including a home-office stipend and mileage/travel reimbursement for multi-state responsibilities
• Wellness and mental health support, including an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Professional development budget for HR certifications (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR), courses, and conference travel
• Continuing education (CE) reimbursement
• Pet insurance for your own animals, because we live what we do