Program Associate/Program Manager (People Systems)

Title: Program Associate/Program Manager (People Systems)

Salary: $100,000-$160,000 (incl. healthcare and retirement contributions)

• Program Associate: $100,000-$125,000+
• Program Manager: $120,000-$160,000+

Location: In-person, Washington, DC; visa sponsorship available

Job Type: Full-time

Application Deadline:  Sunday, August 23, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET

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The Horizon Institute for Public Service is seeking a full-time Program Associate/Program Manager (People Systems) to build the people systems of a rapidly scaling organization. Horizon grew from 10 to 18 employees in 2025, will reach roughly 35 by the end of this year, and plans to keep growing from there. In this role, you will ensure that our hiring and onboarding processes, compensation and performance evaluation frameworks, benefits, staff training and professional development, and other HR essentials position Horizon to recruit and retain top talent as we grow.

This is a rare opportunity to shape how a mission-driven organization grows during its formative period, with unusual scope and a clear trajectory toward increasing ownership of Horizon’s people functions. You’ll own real-world problems and mission-critical systems from early on, work directly with leadership, and see your work put to immediate use by a team that is doubling around you.

Competitive applicants will most likely have 1-3+ years of relevant work experience in people operations, operations, or related systems building roles. Early-career applicants will likely be considered for this role at the Program Associate tier, while candidates with more experience may be considered for the Program Manager tier. If you think the role is a great fit for your skills and interests, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t have previous experience in this exact field. Our hiring process is designed to test for aptitudes and skills, not specific resume markers.

Our mission

Emerging technologies like AI are rapidly reshaping our world. The US government plays an essential role in developing and governing such technologies. But policymakers’ ability to stay ahead of the curve depends on access to the requisite expertise—and right now, that expertise is sorely lacking. Horizon exists to close this gap by supporting the next generation of emerging technology policy leaders.

Since our launch three years ago, we’ve helped hundreds of professionals explore and transition into public service careers. Through our fellowship program, we’ve helped 100+ subject-matter experts fill vital roles at top think tanks, in Congress, and in agencies across government. Our online career resources have reached 150,000+ users and we’ve supported over 1,000 individuals through events and advising and headhunting services. We participated in the first-ever government AI hiring fair and run the AI Policy Leadership Network. We plan to both scale these existing programs and launch several more exciting new projects this year. You can read more about our programs and impact in our 2025 year in review.

About the role

In this role, you will own the systems and processes that shape how people join, grow, and thrive at Horizon. The majority of your time will go to our people systems. You’ll drive step-change improvements to how Horizon hires, run compensation benchmarking and iterate on our compensation policy, project-manage our performance evaluation cycles and build the infrastructure behind them, and own other critical internal policies and processes. You’ll also collaborate with other Horizon colleagues on culture initiatives and provide backup capacity on core financial operations like payroll, giving you visibility across the full operations of the organization.

This is a full-time role on our operations team, although you’ll interact daily with staff across Horizon. We’re looking for someone who combines a user-focused service mindset with leadership potential and drive to build a top-tier people operations outfit that matches Horizon’s ambition and impact. This role could grow into a people manager role over time, and we expect it to build a solid foundation for people interested in becoming operations and people leaders at mission-driven organizations. 

Responsibilities

• Drive step-change improvements to hiring processes: You’ll take on high-leverage projects that transform how Horizon hires: redesigning work tests for a world of AI tools, analyzing our hiring funnel to save time and improve results, and building the enablement resources (calibration, training, shared templates) that make our hiring managers great.

• Own and iterate on our performance and compensation frameworks: You’ll project-manage performance evaluation cycles, work with Horizon’s people managers and leadership to iterate on our evaluation framework, run compensation benchmarking exercises against peer organizations, and maintain our salary policy.

• Build the policies and resources a growing team relies on: You’ll own our professional development policy, work with Horizon leadership to produce the handbook-type materials, manager resources, and policy explainers people need; and keep the people-related side of our internal knowledge base organized and current. You’ll also think creatively about future staff support and offerings we should consider as we grow.

• Run our visa processes: You’ll manage coordination among Horizon staff, outside counsel and advisors, and candidates on new visa sponsorship cases and own compliance requirements for existing visas.

• Support culture and the team experience: You’ll support Horizon’s culture initiatives, helping design and run programs that keep a fast growing team connected and make Horizon a place people want to stay.
  
• Strengthen our operational backbone: You’ll provide flexible capacity during hiring and onboarding peaks, support benefits administration as our offerings expand, provide backup and shadow capacity on payroll alongside our accounting lead, and take on other ops tasks when the mission calls for it.

You may be a good fit for this role if you

• Think in systems; you instinctively calculate if the process in front of you is recurring and worth automating, and make the case for building it when it is
• Reliably finish projects that have no external deadline; much of this work is important and rarely urgent – you’re the kind of person who sees important projects through to completion
• Enjoy writing and elucidating new concepts for others; policies, playbooks, and explainers are a large part of this role’s output
• Are conscientious and detail-oriented on processes where mistakes are costly, like payroll runs and visa compliance
• Handle sensitive information (compensation, performance, and personal circumstances, among others) with complete discretion and sound judgment

Additionally, Horizon has a strong team culture, and we expect you would fit well if you:

• Are entrepreneurial and a team player, adapting to new responsibilities as our fast-growing organization’s needs may change over time
• Are growth-minded and excited to give and receive feedback frequently in order to maximize performance and impact across our team 
• Are motivated by Horizon’s mission and excited to be part of a public service-oriented, user-focused, low-ego, and collaborative team
• Can work in-person in Washington, DC

Salary and benefits

The Program Associate (People Systems) will receive a salary of $100,000–$125,000+ based on experience and seniority. We are also open to hiring this role at the Program Manager level ($120,000–$160,000+) for candidates with substantially more relevant experience. Horizon currently offers a flexible, benefits-equivalent cash stipend (included in salary) rather than a fixed health insurance or retirement plan. The stipend can be used to purchase any of the two dozen health insurance plans on the DC public market (or just keep as an additional salary top-up if you already have health insurance coverage through a parent or spouse) and contribute to a retirement account of your choosing. Starting in late 2026/early 2027, Horizon plans to expand its benefits offerings to include 403(b) retirement accounts and employer-covered health insurance plans. 

Horizon also offers:

• Unlimited vacation, with a recommended minimum of 15 days per year 
• Remote work flexibility for up to 12 weeks/year, contingent on acceptable performance
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• Up to $3,000+ per year in professional development funding
• Flexible working hours
• A productive, collaborative office with free snacks and meals 

We can provide visa sponsorship for qualified candidates.hs after working at Horizon for 2 years. At least 6 months’ notice must be given to redeem this benefit.

Application process

Interested candidates should express initial interest by filling out an application by Sunday, August 23, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. Please answer honestly and reflect on your responses, but do not spend too much time on your application: quick bullet points are fine, and answers do not need to be polished, as later stages will evaluate specific skills and knowledge in depth. 

The application process will involve paid work tests, a structured interview, reference checks, and a paid in-person work trial. We will acknowledge receipt of all applications and aim to get back to candidates by mid-September. Our ideal start date is November 2026, though flexibility is offered for exceptional candidates.

We welcome candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply. Strong candidates may not always fulfill all our required or desired criteria. Studies show that individuals from underrepresented groups may underestimate their qualifications. Therefore, we urge you not to self-disqualify prematurely. If you are excited about this work, we strongly encourage you to apply.