HR Manager

• Employee Type Full Time Exempt

Description

About Pairwise:

Pairwise is agriculture’s gene editing powerhouse, building a healthier world through partnership and plant innovation. Co-founded by CRISPR pioneers, the company’s Fulcrum® Platform accelerates the development of climate-resilient, nutritious, and sustainable crops that are easier to grow and better to eat.

Founded in 2017 and based in Durham, North Carolina, Pairwise partners with global leaders and nonprofit institutions to help breeders move faster and transform food and agriculture for farmers, consumers, and the planet. The company collaborates with partners and licenses its Fulcrum® CRISPR tools to diversify breeding programs and bring innovations to market faster—from developing the world’s first pitless cherry to improving staple crops such as corn, soy, cacao, yam, and rice.

Backed by leading investors including Deerfield, Aliment Capital, Leaps by Bayer, Temasek, and Corteva Catalyst, Pairwise has raised $155 million in total funding. In 2025, the company was recognized as one of MIT Technology Review's 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch and named to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in Agriculture, while also earning "Best Ag-Bio Company" honors in the Triangle Business Journal's Life Sciences Awards. For more information, visit

About This Role:

Pairwise is editing the genetics of the fruits and vegetables that show up on grocery shelves. Someone has to build the people function behind that work — that's this role.

We're hiring an HR Manager to own the day-to-day operations of HR at Pairwise, end to end. This isn't a role where you administer someone else's programs — you'll build and run them yourself. You'll own full-cycle recruiting and our applicant tracking system (ATS). You'll own payroll and benefits in partnership with our PEO. You'll run our learning management system (LMS) and training programs, administer our equity program, and lead the awards and recognition efforts that make good work visible. You'll handle everything else that comes with running HR at a company moving this fast: employee relations, HRIS, onboarding, offboarding, policy, and compliance.

This is a generalist role in the truest sense — you'll need real, hands-on experience across every HR discipline, because you'll touch most of them in the same week. You'll report to the Head of HR with genuine latitude to decide how HR gets built here: not just keep the lights on, but shape what a best-in-class HR function looks like at a company doing something really amazing.

Essential Functions:

HR Operations, Data & Compliance

• Own day-to-day HR operations — onboarding, offboarding, and HRIS data integrity — and build the dashboards that give leadership a real read on the business — headcount, turnover, recruiting funnel, DEI metrics.
• Partner with Finance on HR-related budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
• Build, maintain, and continuously improve HR policies and programs — don't just enforce the rules, make them make sense.
• Provide performance management guidance through coaching, development plans, and corrective action; manage and resolve employee relations issues.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment law, and with our own policies.

Talent Acquisition & ATS Ownership

• Own full-cycle recruiting across the company — sourcing, screening, interviews, and offer — using and maintaining our applicant tracking system (ATS).
• Partner directly with hiring managers to define open roles, build strong interview processes, and close great candidates quickly.
• Own pre-employment logistics — background and reference checks — and build a first-week experience that gets people excited to be here.

Payroll, Benefits & Total Rewards

• Own payroll and benefits administration in partnership with our PEO and ensure accuracy.
• Lead annual open enrollment and serve as the go-to person for employee benefits questions.
• Manage FMLA and other leave programs, and coordinate short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance claims.
• Administer our equity program, including grant paperwork and compliance recordkeeping on platforms like Carta.

Learning, Development & Recognition

• Own our Learning Management System (LMS) — course catalog, user support, and reporting — and build impactful systems that develop people.
• Lead the Pairwise Awards program and recognition events that make great work visible.
• Design and run culture and engagement initiatives that keep a fast-growing, in-person team connected.

Core Competencies:

• Strong learning agility, with a "better than yesterday" mentality — always looking to improve on your own work, not just get it done.
• High level of ownership — you don't wait to be told; you see what needs to happen and drive it.
• Fast-paced and outcomes-oriented — you optimize for real impact over busy work or process for its own sake.
• Comfortable failing fast and learning from mistakes — you'd rather try, adjust, and improve than wait for a perfect plan.

Required Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• 7+ years of progressive HR generalist experience, with real depth across recruiting, payroll/benefits, and HR operations — not just exposure to one lane.
• Proven experience owning an ATS and managing payroll and benefits through a PEO (e.g., UKG).
• Comfort owning HRIS data and building reporting that leadership actually uses.
• Ability to work independently, move fast, and make sound calls without a lot of oversight.
• Excellent communication skills and the judgment to handle confidential information appropriately.

Preferred Qualifications:

• PHR or SHRM-CP certification.
• Experience with equity administration platforms (e.g., Carta) and Learning Management Systems.
• Experience in a high-growth biotech, agtech, or life sciences environment.
• Comprehensive Benefits Plan, including Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA, 401k, Life Insurance, Short-Term & Long-Term Disability, and more!
• Flexible PTO (use what you need, when you need it), in addition to company holidays.
• Casual work environment.
• Mission-driven organization focused on creating healthier fruits and veggies.
• A cutting-edge, driven community looking to lead the industry in innovation and nutrition.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and use hands to finger, handle or feel, and techniques that require fine motor skills and repetitive motions. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

EEO Statement:

We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Pairwise we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.