Business Operations Associate

For West Chester University students graduating in December 2026. This role is based in our downtown West Chester, PA office, with full-time, in-person work after graduation and the option to start part-time around finals.

West Chester, PA (in office, downtown) | $50,000-$60,000/year | Full-time | Parking reimbursed | Cell phone plan subsidized | Starts as early as December 1, 2026

Laporte is a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm serving food and beverage, pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturing clients from offices across the US. We're looking for a smart, ambitious and organized West Chester University senior graduating in December 2026 to join our West Chester office full-time and help run the business side of the firm: recruiting engineers, onboarding new hires, keeping the office running, and taking on projects for our partners. You'll start mostly in recruiting and grow into operations work you own.

What you'll do

• Recruiting (an early priority in your first two months): review applications against set criteria, coordinate interviews, keep candidates informed, and keep records current in Greenhouse.
• Onboarding and HR support: run new-hire checklists, coordinate laptop setup with IT and ship equipment to new hires, help employees with benefits enrollment and everyday requests, write the monthly HR and admin newsletter, keep training records current, and format employee resumes and bios for proposals.
• Office operations: handle incoming mail, log and route checks and invoices, order supplies, and coordinate contractors and vendors.
• Partner projects: for example, tracking engineers' professional licenses and renewals across states, keeping the laptop inventory, helping with a phone system changeover, and planning the holiday party and team retreats.
• Process improvement: build trackers and simple tools in Excel and Microsoft 365 that make the office run better.

What your week looks like

You can start part-time around finals and move to full-time once you graduate in December. You'll spend your first two months mostly on recruiting. After that, about half recruiting and HR, a quarter office operations (yes, including mail and supplies), and the rest finance logging and projects. The role is in our downtown West Chester office.

What you'll get

• A salary of $50,000-$60,000 a year, based on experience
• Comprehensive benefits, compensatory paid time off (PTO) and a flexible work environment
• Parking reimbursed and your cell phone plan subsidized
• Real ownership of systems and projects, working directly with firm leadership
• Experience with Greenhouse, Microsoft 365 and AI-assisted workflows
• Room to grow into a larger operations or HR role as the firm grows

What we're looking for

Required:

• Graduating from West Chester University in December 2026 with a bachelor's degree in a business field, or in a science field with a minor in business
• Able to work full-time in our West Chester office after graduation
• Clear writing and close attention to detail
• Deep knowledge of Excel
• Strong skills in Word, PowerPoint and Outlook
• A background in finance, HR, business law or accounting, through coursework or work experience
• Discretion with confidential information

Preferred:

• Internship, work or club experience with scheduling, records, money or customer service
• Interest in HR, recruiting or operations
• Plans to stay in the area
• Experience with AI tools such as Claude Cowork, Claude Code, ChatGPT and OpenAI Codex, with examples of side projects

How to apply

Apply through the link with your resume and a 3-5 sentence answer to this question: tell us about something you kept organized that other people depended on. We review applications as they come in and plan to make an offer by November 20. Offers depend on a background check.

Laporte is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.