Jenald Villena

People + Business Operations | x5 startups

San Francisco Bay Area

About

I’ve scaled People Ops from early-stage startups to global teams, supporting growth from 9 to 100+ employees across 11+ countries and managing HR operations at scale for a 6,000-person company. My focus is building systems that balance compliance with employee experience across onboarding, payroll, benefits, equity, immigration, and culture so teams can thrive as they grow.

Experience

  • People & Business Operations Manager at Sunday
    Sep 2025 - Present · 11 mos

    Sunday’s first People hire. Leading and integrating People, Finance, Legal, and executive operations, while building the infrastructure and organizational foundations needed to scale.

  • Global People Operations Manager at Stellate
    Nov 2021 - Oct 2024 · 3 yrs

    Seed -> Series B Scaled team from 7 -> 30 Acquired by Shopify: https://stellate.co/blog/stellate-has-been-acquired - Assisted COO on employee handbook, and market-based compensation framework - Managed global onboarding, payroll, benefits, timekeeping, and HRIS for U.S. and international employees - Oversaw immigration processes (O-1 founder visas) in partnership with legal counsel - Managed two virtual assistants in the Philippines to streamline operations and improve efficiency - Owned employee lifecycle programs: parental leave, engagement, and internal communications - Led international offboarding across 7 countries and coordinated legal, HR, and vendor workflows during Shopify acquisition - Partnered with leadership on equity programs, crisis response, and building scalable systems

  • Human Resources Specialist at Cepheid
    Jun 2021 - Dec 2021 · 7 mos

    Public company (6,000+ employees worldwide) - Led onboarding for 20+ new hires per week across multiple departments and sites - Managed HR ticketing requests in JIRA, meeting SLAs for onboarding, payroll, benefits, and policy support - Served as the main HR contact for employee questions on policies, benefits, payroll, and compliance- - Refined onboarding workflows to balance compliance with employee experience - Partnered with U.S. and global HR teams to standardize onboarding and strengthen cross-functional coordination

  • Human Resources Specialist at Armory.io
    May 2019 - Jan 2021 · 1 yr 9 mos

    Series A -> Series C Scaled team from 30 -> 100 - Scaled headcount from 30 to 100+ across the U.S., Canada, and Europe - Built HR processes, policies, handbooks, and performance frameworks - Applied multi-state and international employment regulations - Supported managers with employee relations and compliance issues - Led engagement and culture initiatives for distributed teams

  • Office Manager at Branch
    Mar 2018 - May 2019 · 1 yr 3 mos

    Series C -> Series D Scaled team from 100 -> 350 - Provided foundational HR support during a period of rapid growth, partnering with People and Finance teams to onboard new hires and maintain compliance. - Helped implement HR tools and systems to streamline processes like time off tracking, employee records, and internal documentation. - Supported employee engagement initiatives, internal communications, and culture-building programs across global teams. - Served as a key point of contact for day-to-day employee needs, policy questions, and new hire experience.