People Operations
Cognition is hiring a People Operations in San Francisco, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Cognition.
Level's read on this job
- Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this HR role: aI is not part of the work.
- The posting mentions visa sponsorship.
- The posting mentions Cursor and Devin among its tools and skills.
- Cognition has 104 other open roles on Level.
AI in this role
We are an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents.
We're the makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer.
Our team is extremely talent-dense. Among our founding team, we have world-class competitive programmers, former founders, and leaders from companies at the cutting edge of AI including Scale AI, Palantir, Cursor, Waymo, Tesla, Lunchclub, Modal, Google DeepMind, and Nuro.
Building Devin is just the first step—our hardest challenges still lie ahead. If you’re excited to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and build AI that can reason on real-world tasks, apply to join us.
About the Role
We're growing fast and bringing in world-class talent from around the globe, and we're doing it differently than most. That kind of momentum doesn't run itself. We're hiring someone to build the engine behind it: the HR processes, playbooks, and systems that can scale as fast as we do. This is a rare chance to own real scope early. You'll help build and run our core HR functions from the ground up, including onboarding, benefits, compensation, compliance, and employee relations. You'll also own our immigration program end to end. Along the way you'll solve hard problems, work cases that actually matter to people's lives, and watch the things you build become how the company runs.
In this role you will:
Support global mobility and international expansion, helping evaluate and operationalize employee moves across countries and building the People infrastructure required as Cognition enters new markets.
Serve as a trusted point of contact for employees navigating immigration, including visa sponsorship, renewals, status changes, travel considerations, and other immigration-related questions; manage US immigration end to end (H-1B, O-1, PERM, green cards) in close coordination with outside counsel.
Drive process design and continuous improvement across the employee lifecycle, identifying opportunities to simplify, automate, and improve how the People team operates.
Bring an operational lens to business decisions, surfacing risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs early and helping leaders navigate complex People situations with strong judgment.
Jump into high-priority People and business projects as needed. We are a lean team operating in a rapidly evolving company, so the scope of this role will continue to expand alongside Cognition.
Requirements for this role:
3+ years in people operations or HR at a fast-growing startup or tech company
Solid generalist foundation across core HR: onboarding, benefits administration, compliance, employee relations, and policy
Practical experience managing US immigration cases (H-1B, O-1, PERM, green cards), including direct coordination with outside counsel
Our Commitment
Equal Opportunity. Cognition is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process - please let us know if you need any. Cognition also considers applicants with criminal histories consistent with the SF Fair Chance Ordinance and similar local laws.
Data Privacy and Arbitration: By submitting your application, you agree to our Global Applicant and Job Candidate Privacy Notice. For US applicants, by submitting your application, you agree to the Applicant Arbitration Agreement.
How we rate this
People Operations at Cognition rates 34 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Little AI. AI is not part of the work.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in HR jobs at this level
Pay
- Typical HR job
- $120k
This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical HR figure when pay comes up. See HR jobs
Questions you could be asked
- What's a project where you used Cursor hands-on?
- Walk me through how you've used Devin in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Cursor and Devin. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Want an expert to read your CV for this job?
Free. Send your CV and the role you want next. We reply by email within 2 to 4 business days.
Get new HR jobs by email
One email a week with the new HR jobs, each rated for how much AI is in the work. No recruiter spam, unsubscribe in one click.
Free. One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click.
Similar roles
HR roles that involve little AI, at other companies.
What kind of AI work fits you?
Answer 12 practical questions in about three minutes. Get a simple profile, the work it points to, and live roles to explore next.
Find my next step