Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

People Operations Specialist Career Market Report 2026

619 active jobs. 360 companies. Median salary $90K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

619
Active Job Openings
360
Companies Hiring
$90K
Median Salary (US)
87%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The People Operations Specialist market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 87% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $90K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $75K to $200K.

Remote roles pay 39% above the US national median

Remote-first employers competing nationally for talent. The premium reflects company quality (remote-first firms tend to be well-funded), not a work-mode bonus.

AI/LLM is the most-demanded skill at 47%

AI/LLM demand rose +11.6pp — fastest-growing skill

Airapps leads hiring with 21 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Manager → Director (+$80K, +80%)

Salary increase: +$80K · Sample: Manager → Director

AI automation risk: medium (score 55/100)

Score: 55/100 · AI/LLM demand: 47% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Manager22$40K$100K$158K
Mid-Level16$77K$90K$208K
Junior14$75K$81K$125K
Director11$130K$180K$200K
Senior7$65K$79K$250K

What jumps out

Manager → Director: +$80K (80%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States48$90KUSD
Remote13$125KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site10.0%
Remote19.4%
Hybrid4.4%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

AI/LLM
47%
HRIS
40%
Benefits Administration
20%
Labor Law
20%
Performance Management
18%
Talent Acquisition
15%
Project Management
6%
Payroll
5%
Office Administration
4%
Onboarding
4%

Skills on the Rise

AI/LLM ↑+11.6ppHRIS ↑+10.8ppLabor Law ↑+8.3ppBenefits Administration ↑+7.6ppPerformance Management ↑+6.9pp

Declining in Demand

Journalism ↓-29.7ppAttention to Detail ↓-19.5ppExcel ↓-7.6ppLogistics ↓-7.6ppStakeholder Management ↓-5.1pp

Generic skills excluded: Recruiting. These appear in most postings across all roles.

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Airapps213.4%
Maersk61.0%
Lalamove50.8%
Deliveryhero50.8%
Hadley Designs50.8%
Mento40.6%
Airwallex40.6%
Flexport40.6%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States180
Remote38
United Kingdom25
Germany23
India21
France9
Spain8
Netherlands7

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree61.6%330
Master's Degree22.2%119
Bachelor's Degree2.8%15
MBA0.2%1

Certifications

SHRM (2%)PHR (2%)

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