Olivia Alvarado

About Olivia Alvarado

I’m a strategic People leader focused on the intersection of talent strategy and technical execution: building the systems that allow global workforces to move at light-speed.I’ve spent the last decade at Google, Square, and Toast building the programs that let massive, high-growth companies actually function. My approach to leadership is rooted in operational rigor: I see a manual, messy process and immediately ask, “How does this scale?” and “Why are we still doing it this way?”I specialize in taking complex talent philosophies and turning them into elegant, automated workflows. Whether I’m architecting a global Shared Services model from scratch or leveraging AI to kill off hundreds of hours of manual task triaging, my goal is always to remove friction so people can do their best work. I thrive in the space where leadership strategy meets a \"Future Forward\" mindset—if it’s broken, I’ll lead the fix; if it’s working, I’ll find a way to automate it.Talk to me about (Work)- Light-speed operations: Building the infrastructure that allows a global workforce to move fast without the wheels falling off- Performance management: Moving past the paperwork to design systems that actually drive results and retention- Business-driven insights: Using data and AI to prove that a great people strategy is just a great business strategy in disguise.Talk to me about (Life)- Backyard Birding: I’m the person with the binoculars and a very busy bird feeder/bird bath setup- Survivor: Outwit, outplay, out-process- The \"Zoo\": My husband and I share our home with two dogs and two cats. Between the four of them, I have the solutions for pet-proofing basically anything you can think of.

Experience

1. HR Operations Manager, North America

   Toast

   Jun 2024 — Present

   Manage and develop a team of HR Specialists, drive operational excellence, and build world-class shared services to deliver delightful employee experience at scale. Key Responsibilities- Partner with CoEs across the People space to drive global process transformations, identifying structural gaps and deploying cross-functional solutions that saved hundreds of hours in manual labor- Designed and deployed an AI-powered automated triaging solution for HR task management and coded an AI-powered chatbot (Python/LLM) during an internal hackathon- Lead team onboarding, performance management, and ongoing development for HR Specialists- Drive continuous improvement through metric development, data analysis, and root cause corrective actions- Manage escalations, support sensitive and high-touch transactions, and partner with senior to ensure smooth delivery of global HR updates and changes- Serve as Control Owner for SOC/SOX compliance, ensuring 100% adherence to global employment laws and federal EEO/Data

Education

• Stanford University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Political Science and Government