Meet the Ripplers: How Lizzie partners with senior leaders to build winning teams

Name: Lizzie Jaeger
Role: Manager, HR Business Partner
Location: San Francisco
Rippler since: January 2022

Roles + responsibilities 

I lead the HR Business Partner team that supports Rippling’s Customer Experience organization. A large part of my job is partnering closely with senior leaders to help them build winning teams. Another part is building and scaling programs and processes to keep up with a quickly growing global organization.

No day is the same at Rippling. Some days, I’m in back-to-back 1:1s with leaders across Customer Experience, talking through team challenges or building succession plans for another year of rapid employee growth. In between meetings, I’m typically writing or reviewing a new policy or program to be launched globally. And other days, I’m working with the Product and Engineering team to test the next version of Rippling’s Performance Management product while responding to urgent employee concerns.

Each day is filled with context-switching and the need to ruthlessly prioritize. I start each day with a to-do list, and before I close my laptop, I make sure that whatever I didn’t get to can wait until the next day. What’s an antonym for boring? That’s my role. 

The Rippler's journey

My LinkedIn profile usually evokes a similar reaction from viewers—they are first confused and then curious: Why and how would someone pivot from HR to Product Management and then back to HR? 

I joined Zenefits in early 2015 as an HR Professional and, in a series of startup events, moved into a Product Manager role. I parlayed my HR subject matter expertise into a completely new profession and spent the next six years building HR tech. 

When my previous company was acquired, I had the opportunity to pause and actually evaluate my interests and strengths. And in the winter of 2021, it finally clicked—I wanted to be a Chief People Officer, not a Chief Product Officer. 

When I learned that there was an opportunity to join Rippling, my second shot at a Parker Conrad-founded company, I jumped at the chance. The same person who hired me at Zenefits in 2015 (thank you, Laura Kreitler!) referred me to the VP of HR at Rippling. I joined Rippling in January 2022 as the only HR Business Partner in the US. There was too much to do and not enough hours in the day to get it done. It was exactly what I was looking for. 

Over the past two years, I’ve had the incredible opportunity to watch our HR team grow and evolve. I am happily no longer the only HR Business Partner in the US but now a part of a team, and this year, I moved into a leadership role.  

Rippling took a chance on my nontraditional career path and has allowed me to spend each day learning from talented Rippling leaders of all levels. 

Memorable Rippling moments

I joined Rippling on the first business day in January 2022 as the annual performance and compensation review kicked off. In my second week, I led a company wide training on our review process; it was powered by spreadsheets. We used spreadsheets to manually run a 1,000+ employee calibration and compensation event. It was messy and it was hard—not to mention error-prone. Two years later, I’m preparing for the same annual performance and compensation review. Except this year, the review will be powered by Rippling, so I won’t spend this quarter auditing thousands of rows in a spreadsheet!

Work + life

Rippling rewards and recognizes output. I work really hard and often long hours. But I also “life” hard. Last year, I was able to attend a great friend's wedding in Paris and spend a week in Italy without checking Slack or email once. I used our four “work from anywhere” weeks to spend extra time with my sister in Florida and enjoy a snowed-in week in Tahoe. 

I’ve found enough balance to commute in early before the traffic jams up and make it home in time for the elementary school performance of "The Lion King" without compromising Rippling deadlines or commitments. 

My team never worries when I reply to a message saying, “I’m at the fifth-grade spelling bee right now, but I will get back to you later tonight.”

When I'm not thought partnering with Rippling leaders…

I’m spending time with my family. I live outside San Francisco with my fiance, two bonus daughters, and our ridiculously handsome Dalmatian, Eli. We function best when the sun is shining. And we spend our free time hiking, biking, and grilling elaborate family dinners. 

Hosting is my love language, and I can find any reason to celebrate with a theme. Did you know April 2 is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day? My family doesn’t know it yet, but we will be celebrating.

Tips for future Ripplers

I’ve found that Rippling is a low-ego culture. There is a genuine commitment to grow and build together. Ripplers aren’t afraid to dive deep into a problem or a question; they truly follow the Rippling principle of “go and see.” The folks who are willing to challenge each other are the ones who thrive at Rippling.