Gabriel Ochoa

About Gabriel Ochoa

I\'ve spent over 20 years in HR and People Operations not staying in one lane, but moving across industries like restaurant, retail, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain to solve complex workforce challenges at scale. That range isn\'t accidental. It\'s what makes me effective. Right now I\'m part of the leadership team at Velvet Taco, supporting our Restaurant Support Office and 48 company-owned restaurants. My day-to-day sits at the intersection of strategy and execution building the systems, processes, and analytics that help our people and our business grow together. Whether that\'s leading our Paycom HCM strategy for 500+ users, presenting workforce insights to executive leadership, or stepping in as interim People Ops lead during transitions, I stay close to both the big picture and the details that make it real. Over the course of my career I\'ve had the chance to drive some work I\'m genuinely proud of. I helped bring Walmart store turnover down from 47% to 7.3% in six months. I cut time-to-fill from 30 to 14 days at Quest Medical by rebuilding the recruiting process from the ground up. At Amazon, I partnered with operations leadership to take site attendance from 72% to 89% in three weeks. These weren\'t easy wins they came from building trust with the right people and doing the work. I hold my SPHR certification and a BBA from New Mexico State University, and I\'m always developing right now that includes exploring how AI tools can make People Ops smarter and more proactive. At the end of the day, I care about building people programs that actually work. If you\'re building something and need a People Operations leader who can think at the Director level and still roll up their sleeves, I\'d love to connect.

Experience

1. People Manager

   Velvet Taco

   Apr 2023 — Present

   Reporting to Director of People Operations & VP of PeopleSupporting Corporate Office + 48 Company-Owned RestaurantsHR Systems & Operations: Lead Paycom HCM system strategy for over 500 users; streamline payroll, benefits, and reporting processes to reduce errors and improve usability across field and corporate teams.Benefits & Payroll Oversight: Manage company-wide benefits programs and execute annual plan updates. Serve as primary payroll backup for employees, ensuring timely and accurate processing.Data & Insights: Build custom analytics dashboards to identify trends, reduce turnover, and uncover workforce risks; share actionable insights with field leadership and executives.Employee Relations & Compliance: Manage 15–20 employee relations cases monthly (workers’ comp, unemployment, investigations, etc.); coach field leaders on navigating sensitive personnel issues.Cross-Functional Support: Step in as interim lead across People Ops (HR, recruiting, field support) to maintain stability during team PTO or transitions.Project Leadership: Onboarded a new Payroll Manager and led an urgent 3-month HCM system migration, collaborating with IT, finance, and ops to ensure smooth rollout.Process Optimization: Improved data integrity by auditing and fixing system connections between Paycom and 3 key field-support platforms.

Education

• New Mexico State University

  Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA

Skills

• Critical Thinking
• Management
• Team Building
• Multi-Unit
• Social Networking
• Supervisory Skills
• Time Management
• Restaurants
• Cashiering
• Pos
• Customer Satisfaction
• Training
• Customer Service
• Profit
• Public Speaking
• Microsoft Word
• Event Planning
• Inventory Management
• Inventory Control
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Leadership
• Serve Safe Certified
• Servsafe
• Social Media
• Microsoft Office
• Sales
• Food Safety
• Strategic Planning
• Recruiting
• Research
• Marketing
• Retail
• Interviews
• Hiring
• Restaurant Management
• Teamwork
• Team Management
• P
• Employee Training