01 / First hires
Set the basics up cleanly.
Job descriptions, interviews, offer letters, onboarding plans, I-9s, tax forms and the first-week experience.
- Hiring process
- Offer and onboarding materials
- Simple employee file setup
Senior HR, built for lean teams
HR support for founder-led teams.
TiffinHR helps small and growing teams handle hiring, onboarding, policies, documentation and employee issues without hiring a full-time HR person. New York based, working across states.
Instrumental in getting our organization unstuck. Her expertise in HR made her invaluable in a delicate yet urgent transition time.Vanessa Bertelli, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Electrify DC
Why founders call
- Senior People judgment before you hire full-time HR.
- Multi-state US teams, plus UK and EU experience.
- A second pair of eyes when your process is already good.
- Structure without bureaucracy.
HR help for the moments founders actually feel.
I focus on the practical HR work that often lands with founders, operators, office managers or whoever is simply good with people. Some clients need it built. Others have it built and need someone watching it.
02 / Cleanup
Bring structure to messy people systems.
Policies, handbooks, documentation, sick leave, harassment prevention, workplace basics and processes that people can actually follow.
- Employee handbook
- Multi-state policy, including NY and California
- Documentation habits
03 / Support
Get a steady second brain for people issues.
Performance concerns, difficult conversations, terminations, role clarity, manager support and the questions that come up midweek. For teams whose process is already sound, this is someone keeping a pulse on it so nothing becomes a surprise.
- Employee issue guidance
- Ongoing compliance watch
- Termination planning
- Fractional HR support
Who this is for
Built for teams that are growing, but still personal.
You do not need enterprise HR. You need clear judgment, clean documentation and someone who understands that small teams cannot hide behind bureaucracy.
You are making your first real hires.You want to get the basics right before habits harden.
HR lives in the founder's inbox.People questions are taking up more space than they should.
Your team has outgrown informal practices.Policies, roles, feedback and decisions need more consistency.
You need structure, not bureaucracy.Simple systems, plain language and practical next steps.
Your process is fine and nobody is watching it.You want someone keeping an eye on compliance rather than building from scratch.
Your people are spread across states.What is correct in New York is not what is correct in California.
Clear pricing, scoped to what you need.
No enterprise contracts. No bloated process. Just practical HR support for founder-led teams in New York and beyond.
My published rate is $350 an hour. Registered non-profits are billed at $250. Anything outside a retainer is agreed in advance, never after the fact.
Project-based
One-time help
From $1,200
For first hires, handbooks, policy reviews and cleanup projects.
- First Hire Setup, from $1,200
- Employee Handbook, from $2,500
- Employee Handbook, multi-state, from $3,500
- HR audit and gap analysis, from $2,500
- Termination Planning, $600
- Custom projects, $350/hr
Most useful
Monthly HR office hours
$900/mo
For small teams that need someone to call before people issues get expensive.
- 3 hours per month
- Email, phone or video support
- Use it for hiring, policies, employee issues and documentation
- Cancel anytime
Flexible
Fractional HR
Custom
For growing firms that need regular support, usually from $2,500/month for eight hours.
- Recurring people operations support
- Manager and founder guidance
- HR cleanup and system-building
- Scoped to your team and pace
- Hours averaged across the quarter
Registered non-profits are billed at reduced rates across projects and retainers. Ask when we speak.
TiffinHR
One senior operator, working with you directly.
One senior operator, working with you directly.
About Sophie
HR judgment from high-growth companies, translated for smaller teams.
I'm Sophie Malik. I spent 15+ years building HR systems for companies going through hypergrowth, from early teams to companies with 1,000+ people, through acquisitions and IPO-level complexity.
Now I help founder-led teams get the same quality of people infrastructure without the full-time HR hire or the corporate overhead. That can mean hiring your first employee, cleaning up policies, handling an employee issue or building simple systems before things get messy.
I work alongside legal and compliance rather than across them. In regulated firms that means the handbook points at your compliance manual rather than trying to be one.
I am not a replacement for employment counsel. I help with the operational HR side, and I help you spot when a legal question needs legal review.
Clear thinking when people questions get loaded.
Founders usually call before something has an obvious answer: a hard conversation, a strained team, an unclear role or a People function that needs more structure.
Sophie was instrumental in getting our organization unstuck. She ran our company strategic session in a thoughtful and structured way, tackling issues as they arose and allowing everyone to contribute and walk away knowing how they could be most helpful. Sophie's background and experience in the energy sector allowed her to quickly grasp where we are as an organization, and her expertise in HR made her invaluable in a delicate yet urgent transition time. For me personally, Sophie's caring, grounding and proactive support has provided the clarity of mind to prioritize correctly and the confidence to lead in challenging situations.Vanessa Bertelli, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Electrify DC
Let's talk
Have an HR question sitting on your desk?
Start with a free 30-minute consultation. We will talk through what is happening, what your team needs and whether TiffinHR is the right fit.