HR & Office Manager

Help build ASKA’s team. Bring hands-on HR experience to our hiring ramp, establish dependable employee support and keep the office running smoothly.

Lead ASKA's day-to-day HR function, with office management as a supporting responsibility. HR is the primary focus, especially during the initial hiring ramp, and a hands-on HR background is required. You will coordinate recruiting, onboarding, employee records and routine employee support, working with finance and qualified providers on payroll and benefits. Alongside HR, you will manage office operations, leadership scheduling, routine procurement, vendor follow-up and cross-team coordination. Regular on-site availability in the Palo Alto area is required. Founders, finance, technical leads and qualified external providers retain their specialist and approval responsibilities.

Employment Full-time proposed

Location & work arrangement Palo Alto area · regular on-site work required; not remote. Occasional Eagle Field Airport visits/testing participation with advance coordination.

Primary: HR operations, recruiting coordination, onboarding and employee support. Supporting: office management, routine procurement, scheduling and cross-team follow-through.

Key working interfaces

Founders approve hiring, compensation and spending authority. Hiring managers assess technical capability; technical leads define component specifications. Finance owns budgets, payment and payroll controls. This role coordinates the work and records; qualified providers advise on specialist HR, benefits and legal matters.

What you’ll do

• Prioritize HR and recruiting during the initial hiring ramp: maintain job postings and candidate records, support approved sourcing, coordinate interviews and follow up with candidates and hiring managers.
• Own onboarding, offboarding, confidential employee records and routine employee support; coordinate payroll inputs and benefits administration with finance and qualified providers.
• Maintain clear HR workflows and follow-through, protecting confidential employee and candidate information and routing specialist employment questions to authorized advisors.
• Manage day-to-day Palo Alto-area office operations, supplies, equipment tracking, service providers and practical workplace support alongside the primary HR responsibilities.
• Coordinate leadership and team calendars, meetings, visitors and travel logistics; resolve scheduling conflicts and keep participants informed.
• Coordinate routine procurement: gather vendor quotes, prepare purchase requests, obtain required approvals, track orders and deliveries, and route invoices to finance.
• Help engineering teams coordinate approved equipment and component orders; technical leads select specifications and approve technical substitutions.
• Track action items, owners and due dates across founders, engineering, vendors and outside partners, escalating delays and keeping records current.
• Coordinate occasional Eagle Field visits and testing-related logistics with advance planning, and participate on-site from time to time as needed.
• Establish and continually improve checks for HR and office-workflow quality, including record accuracy, onboarding completeness and follow-up timeliness; review AI-assisted documents for accuracy and use recurring errors and feedback to improve the process.

Required qualifications

• Required: a hands-on HR background with direct responsibility for employee administration, onboarding/offboarding, confidential employee records and routine employee support.
• Practical recruiting experience supporting candidate sourcing or follow-up, interview coordination and hiring-manager communication.
• Required: availability for regular on-site work in the Palo Alto area by the agreed start date. This position is not remote.
• Ability to manage day-to-day office needs and coordinate calendars, meetings and time-sensitive commitments alongside primary HR responsibilities.
• Ability to coordinate vendor quotes, purchase approvals, orders, deliveries and invoice records accurately.
• Comfort using recruiting or HR systems, shared calendars, documents, spreadsheets and workflow tools to maintain accurate records and follow-through.
• Clear written communication, discretion, sound judgment and a hands-on approach to helping a small team operate effectively.

Preferred qualifications

Highest preference: HR experience with a Bay Area aviation company, bringing aviation-industry knowledge and professional recruiting connections. Automotive HR experience is the second preference. Experience recruiting for engineering teams, supporting an early-stage company, California employee administration, payroll and benefits coordination, purchasing and organizing a growing office is valuable. Industry experience is a preference; hands-on HR experience is required.

AI tools and automation: Preferred: experience using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft 365 Copilot or equivalent tools for job descriptions, interview preparation, onboarding, document preparation and administrative workflows. Provide a specific example, your contribution, any measured time saved or quality improvement, and how you verified the result. Equivalent tools are welcome.

We welcome transferable experience from related industries. You do not need to meet every preferred qualification. Tell us what you have delivered and how your skills apply to this role.

Location & working arrangements

Regular on-site work in the Palo Alto area is required. This is not a remote position. Occasional Eagle Field Airport visits and testing participation will be coordinated in advance.

About ASKA

At ASKA, we are on a mission to build the world’s first AI sensor fusion and digital twin system that manages autonomous driving and autonomous flying in one vehicle. We are bringing ground and air autonomy together to support the warfighter—moving critical supplies, reaching people in need, and reducing exposure in dangerous environments. Our team works across aircraft engineering, intelligent software, electric propulsion, and advanced manufacturing, with development and testing at Eagle Field Airport in California. Bring your expertise. Take ownership. Help build technology that matters.

ASKA welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds and relevant experience. For questions or application accommodations, message the recruiting team .