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.

Key Responsibilities

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.

Required Qualifications

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.

The anticipated annual salary range for this job is based on prior experience in the role/industry, education, location, internal equity, and other job-related factors as permitted by law. For remote-based positions, this range may vary based on your local market. Full-time employment positions will also be eligible to receive pre-IPO equity and annual bonus, in addition to competitive medical, dental, and vision benefits, PTO, 401(k) plan, life and accidental death and disability coverage, and parental leave benefits. Other perks include subsidized daily lunches and snacks at our on-site locations.

Who we are

We are driven by a passion for science and compassion for patients. We act with urgency to ensure our treatments are one day accessible to all who need them.

We live by our core values of passion, courage, and integrity. Excellence in our work means the chance to unlock a better quality of life for our patients, and with that comes tremendous responsibility.

We innovate on a path that hasn’t been paved. We embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and take calculated risks to achieve our mission. We aren’t afraid to ask “why not” and challenge the status quo.

We maintain a start-up culture of camaraderie and leadership by example, regardless of title.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and recognize that celebrating our differences creates stronger, lasting solutions that better serve our team, our patients and their healthcare providers.

Notice to staffing firms

Orca Bio does not accept resumes from staffing agencies with which we do not have a written agreement and specific engagement for a particular opening. Our employment activities, inquiries and offers are managed through our HR/Talent team, and all candidates are presented through this channel only. We do not accept unsolicited resumes, and we rarely outsource recruitment.

Manager / Senior Manager, Human Resources, Manufacturing