Why this role stands out
As a leader in a rapidly growing, innovative company, you'll shape the future of talent rewards and employee experience with significant autonomy. This hybrid role is perfect for a strategic HR professional who thrives on building impactful programs from the ground up and is eager to make a tangible difference in a Great Place to Work® certified environment. Apply now to drive meaningful change and elevate the employee journey at NewsBreak.
Quick overview
Job description
About NewsBreak
Local life runs on local information. What happened down the street? Who can fix this? Where should we go tonight? NewsBreak started in 2015 to answer these questions, and today more than 40 million people a month rely on us to follow what’s going on in their zip code.
Three platforms with one vision: powering local life. Led by founder and CEO Jeff Zheng, NewsBreak is our local life and news platform; Nearby AI connects people with local businesses; and NDot AI helps publishers and creators grow and earn.
Building for the long term. A $115 million Series C made us a unicorn in 2021, and we keep investing in our people. We’re Great Place to Work® certified and named to Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators (2025) and Fortune’s Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ (2026).
Everyone makes an impact. Whether you write code, shape products, tell our story, or run the business, we want people who own projects end to end, stay curious, and speak up. Join us.
Learn more at: NewsBreak, Nearby AI, NDot AI
About the Role
As a core member of our growing HR team, you will help build NewsBreak's HR infrastructure from the ground up, supporting both our main business and newly incubated businesses. You won't just design and implement conventional HR programs; we want you to think outside the box and keep finding new ways to attract and retain top talent.
As Partner Rewards & Experience, you will build and run the engine behind how we rewards, develops and listens to people. You will own the annual performance and compensation review, benefits administration, total rewards infrastructure, HR policies, and employee experience such as onboarding experience and engagement.
We believe our policies, pay structure and benefits are a reflection of our culture. Rolling out a policy or a performance cycle can be purely operational: stating the facts clearly and moving on. We are looking for someone who goes further, a cultural ambassador within the HR who brings the values behind each program to life.
This is a builder role in a fast-moving start-up company. You will turn recurring cycles into reliable, well-documented processes, and turn people data into insights leaders act on. You will work closely with HR leaders, Finance, Legal and business leaders.
What you'll do
- Total Rewards infrastructure
- Review salary bands against market benchmark data and recommend range adjustments.
- Build and maintain job architecture: job families, levels and leveling guidelines.
- Run the annual equity refresh and administer the equity program (grants, vesting, employee communication) with Finance and Legal.
- Track benefits cost, utilization and renewal trends for plan design.
- Annual performance & compensation review
- Own the annual performance review cycle: calendar, system setup, manager and employee enablement, completion tracking.
- Design and run 360 feedback, facilitate performance calibration meetings
- Own the promotion process: criteria, nominations, calibration and approvals.
- Own the annual compensation review: merit, bonus and promotion budgets, guidelines matrix, modeling and manager recommendations, work in both Workday or any other related system/tools
- Benefits administration
- Administer health, welfare and retirement plans; lead annual open enrollment, carrier and broker coordination, and plan renewals.
- Manage vendor SLAs, escalations and invoice reconciliation.
- Coordinate benefits plan filings and notices (e.g., ACA reporting, COBRA) with the vendor and broker.
- HR policies
- Own HR policies including drafting, updating and maintaining the employee handbook and HR policies (compensation, leave, time off, expenses, remote work etc).
- Partner with Legal on policy review and communicate changes clearly to employees and leaders.
- Go beyond the facts when presenting policies, performance and pay programs: use case studies and real examples to show the culture and values behind them.
- Employee experience & culture
- Design and deliver new-hire onboarding covering business, products, mission and culture; coordinate leader speakers and measure new-hire experience.
- Design and run the company-wide engagement survey; analyze results, share insights with leadership, and track action plans to completion.
What you'll bring
Required
- 7+ years in compensation, benefits, or HR COE
- Direct experience working on building and administrating salary band, benchmarking, bonus and equity program
- Experience managing annual performance and merit/bonus/equity refresh cycle end to end.
- Working knowledge of benefits regulations (e.g., FMLA, COBRA).
- Hands-on experience administering US benefits programs through an external vendor/broker.
- Engaging, high-energy presenter and clear writer; able to bring pay, performance and policy programs to life for employees and executives, not just explain the facts.
- High integrity and discretion with confidential data.
- A growth mindset: eager to learn, take on new areas and broaden your exposure in a fast-growing start-up environment.
- Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, Finance, Economics or related field, or equivalent experience.
Preferred
- Equity/Sales compensation experience
- immigration knowledge
- Experience in a high-growth tech or media company, including global or multi-country teams.
- Savy with Claude, ChatGPT, and love to explore AI tools to build for efficiency
- Experience with systems and platforms such as Workday, Lattice
- CCP, CBP or SHRM-CP/SCP certification.
- Bilingual English / Mandarin is a plus for working with global teams.
Compensation & Benefits
Base salary range: $119,000 – $179,000 (USD, annual)
We offer a competitive benefits package:
- Health, dental, and vision care for you and your family
- Top-tier 401(k) plan with company matching
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- Paid parental leave
- FSA and commuter benefits programs
- Team activity budget
Haystack's AI agent can fill in and submit this application for you. How AI auto apply works
Similar jobs
- FI

Sr Field Marketing ManagerRecently posted Auto Apply
Fireworks · San Francisco · Hybrid · Posted 13 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
Demand GenerationEvent MarketingMarketing Automation+1MarketingSalary not listed - VE
Events Marketing ManagerRecently posted Auto Apply
Vegatech · New York · Hybrid · Posted 12 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
CRMHubSpotMarketing Automation+2MarketingSalary not listed - TT
Head of MarketingRecently posted Auto Apply
True Talent Solutions Partners · New York · On-site · Posted 12 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
AWSSnowflakeDatabricks+6Marketing$190k - $220k/yr - DM

Associate Director, Integrated MediaRecently posted Auto Apply
Digital Matter · New York · Hybrid · Posted 12 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
OnboardingMicrosoft ExcelGoogle Workspace+6$110k - $160k/yr - QH

Senior Member Marketing Manager Auto Apply
Quantum Health · Remote · Remote 🇺🇸
Talent AcquisitionMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office+9MarketingSalary not listed - AP
Senior Manager, HCP Marketing, US Congress LeadRecently posted Auto Apply
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals · United States · Hybrid · Posted 10 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
Brand StrategyComplianceScheduling+1Marketing$150.5k/yr - AP
Associate Director of Marketing, KOL Engagement and EnablementRecently posted Auto Apply
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals · United States · Hybrid · Posted 10 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
ComplianceContinuous ImprovementMarketing$161.5k/yr - AL
Product Marketing Intern Auto Apply
Astera Labs Early Career - North America 2027 · San Jose · Hybrid · Posted 28 Oct 2026 🇺🇸
Business AnalysisProduct MarketingSales EnablementMarketing$35 - $55/hr - LI
Principal Product Marketing Manager, Portfolio & Commercial GTM - LinkedIn Sales SolutionsRecently posted Auto Apply
LinkedIn · Sunnyvale, CA · Hybrid · Posted 12 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
Product MarketingSales$157k - $245k/yr - NB
Manager, Soundtracks & MarketingRecently posted Auto Apply
NBCUniversal · Universal City, CALIFORNIA · Hybrid · Posted 12 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
RecruitingDigital MarketingScheduling+1Marketing$80k - $100k/yr - AB

Marketing Manager, Patient Services Strategy, GastroenterologyRecently posted Auto Apply
AbbVie · Mettawa, IL · Hybrid · Posted 12 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
Campaign ManagementAgileProject Management+2Healthcare$124.5k - $236.5k/yr - BH
Associate Product Marketing Manager, New GradRecently posted Auto Apply
Bask Health · United States · Remote · Posted 13 Nov 2026 🇺🇸
OnboardingMicrosoft OfficeGoogle Workspace+8MarketingSalary not listed
