People and Operations Associate

MassChallenge

MassChallenge

People & HR, Operations

Boston, MA, USA

USD 62k-70k / year

Posted on Jun 2, 2026

The Organization: MassChallenge

The Role: People and Operations Associate

Location: Seaport, Boston, MA

Reports to: Director of Operations

Compensation: $62,000 - $70,000 annually, commensurate with experience

Born in Massachusetts and built for the world, MassChallenge backs the rare humans with the grit to solve the world's hardest challenges. As a global nonprofit, zero-equity accelerator, we envision a creative and inspired society in which everyone is empowered to maximize their impact. To date, 4,300 MassChallenge alumni have raised $14B, created 250,000 jobs, and are supported by 100,000 mentors worldwide, and we're just getting started.

We are now entering our most ambitious chapter yet, and we need a sharp People and Operations Associate to help us run at our best every day.

Position Summary

The People and Operations Associate is the connective tissue of MassChallenge's Boston office. This role touches everything that keeps our team productive, our events running smoothly, and our people well supported. You will own day-to-day office operations, lead logistics for our events and programs, and serve as a key point of contact for people operations and our culture work—from onboarding new team members to supporting leadership with communications and coordination to making our spaces where people thrive and connect.

This is a role for someone who thrives on variety, takes pride in executing the details, and genuinely enjoys making things fun and easier for the people around them. If you are energized by building systems, solving problems before anyone notices them, emboldening our culture, and being the person others rely on, this is your role.

Location
This role is mostly in-person at our office in the Seaport District of Boston.

What You'll Do

Office Management

  • Serve as the primary point of contact for all day-to-day office operations atMassChallenge'sSeaport headquarters
  • Ensure the office environment is organized, well-stocked, and welcoming for staff, visitors, and program participants
  • Manage relationships with building management, vendors, and service providers
  • Oversee office supply inventory, equipment maintenance, and facility requests
  • Identifyopportunities to improve office systems and workflows and implement solutions proactively

Event Logistics

  • Own end-to-endlogisticsforMassChallengeevents including program convenings, demo days, networking events, and leadership meetings
  • Coordinate venuelogistics, catering, AV setup, attendee communications, and day-of execution
  • Partner with program and communications teams to ensure events reflectMassChallenge'sbrand and mission
  • Build andmaintaineventlogisticstemplates, checklists, and vendor relationships to drive consistency and efficiency
  • Support virtual and hybrid event coordination as needed across global time zones

Culture and Community

  • Drive community by ensuring the office is active and appealing to come into each day through welcoming attitude, fun and coordinated events, and connection to our people
  • Maintain tracking of events our people are attending and the success of events through surveys and data collection to drive improvement
  • Creatively shape our space ensuring it is always clean,welcomingand human-centered

People Operations

  • Coordinate the onboarding experience for new hires, ensuring they have the tools, access, information, and warm welcome they need from day one
  • Serve as a knowledgeable and approachable resource for staff questionsabout policies, benefits, and people programs
  • Support HRIS administration includingmaintainingemployee records, processing changes, and generating reports
  • Assistwith offboarding processes, ensuring smooth transitions and compliance with internal procedures
  • Partner with leadership and the HR function on people operations projects, culture initiatives, and employee engagement

Leadership Communications and Coordination

  • Providelogisticsand communications support to senior leadership including scheduling, meeting preparation, and follow-up coordination
  • Draft and manage internal communications on behalf of leadership as needed
  • Support leadership team meetings including agenda preparation, note-taking, and action item tracking
  • Serve as a trusted point of coordination between leadership, our board of directors and the broader team,maintainingdiscretion and professionalism at all times

Who You Are & What You Bring

Required

  • 2 or more years of experience in operations, office management, people operations, executiveassistance, recruiting, or a related role
  • High energy and creative in thinking about how to drive connections, bringing people and work together
  • Exceptional organizational skills with a strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
  • A proactive, solutions-oriented mindset, youanticipateneeds and act before being asked
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to interact professionally with leadership and external partners
  • Experience coordinating events orlogisticsof any kind, witha track recordof smooth execution
  • Proficiencyin Microsoft 365 including Outlook, Word, Excel, and Teams (or google suite)
  • Discretion and sound judgment when handling sensitive people and organizational information
  • A collaborative, team-firstattitudeand a genuine enthusiasm forMassChallenge'smission

Preferred

  • Interest in being on-site most days of the week
  • Prior experience in a startup/fast paced organization
  • Familiarity with project management tools such as Asana
  • Experience communicating with senior leaders in a fast-paced environment
  • Comfort with ambiguity and the ability to build structure where none exists

Who We Are

MassChallenge is the global network for innovators who are working to solve massive challenges. We connect startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and economies. At MassChallenge we:

  • Help entrepreneurs build the next generation of transformational businesses by connecting them with the resources, partnerships, and communities that help them launch, grow, and scale their startups.
  • Help our partners build, grow, and evolve their corporate innovation practices.
  • Leverage the power of entrepreneurship to strengthen global innovation ecosystems.

Why You Should Join Us

We believe working at MassChallenge is fulfilling because of the mission, challenging because of the pace and work, and rewarding because you get to build to the next step in your career here. When you join MassChallenge you join an incredible team and network of innovators and entrepreneurs, you take ownership over significant and strategically important projects, you focus on impact and output, and you help strengthen the global innovation ecosystem.

Our Core Values:

  • Founder Mindset: Optimism, Tenacity, Love the Problem
  • Connect & Collaborate: Empathy & Inclusion & Fun, Build Community, Connect the Dots
  • Progress over Perfection: Build on experience, Fail Fast,DemonstrateTraction

Compensation and Benefits

MassChallenge offers a competitive compensation and benefits package designed for people who are here for the mission and who should also be well taken care of along the way.

Compensation

  • $62,000-$70,000 annually,commensuratewith experience

Health and Wellness

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance

Time Off and Flexibility

  • Unlimited PTO -- take what you need when you need it
  • Two-week full office closure at year-end (late December / early January)
  • Half-day Fridays all summer long

Community and Growth

  • Access toMassChallenge'sworld-class global network of founders, mentors, and investors
  • Exclusive events and convenings across our ecosystem spanning Boston, Texas, Switzerland, and Israel
  • Professional development support and opportunities to grow within a mission-driven organization
  • Meaningful work with measurable global impact

**

MassChallenge is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We seek individuals from a broad variety of backgrounds with varying levels of experience who have a desire to do meaningful work. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, color, gender, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.