Operations / Administration Human Resources Director
Job Description
Our Mission:
Academy of the City fosters community, supports families, welcomes children of all backgrounds, celebrates diversity and promotes social justice. With our challenging, hands-on liberal arts experience we strive to develop joyful, creative, independent, and successful lifelong learners.
Our Vision:
Every child in our diverse community reaches academic, social and personal excellence.
Current Date: March 2022
POSITION: Director of Human Resources
About the Position:
Academy of the City Charter School is inviting applications for the Director of Human Resources, a role that is critical to the organization’s growth and sustainability. The person in this position will lead the development, implementation, and oversight of programs and practices relative to Human Resources throughout the organization. The Director of Human Resources will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day HR operations (benefits, onboarding, employee relations, and compliance). Success in this role requires that the new Director master strategic planning, stakeholder relations, and HR operations and systems, preferably in education. As a champion of AoC’s mission, culture and values, this individual partners with the organization’s leaders to help them lead their teams, navigate and resolve employee relations issues, and support programs that develop best-in-class people.
The Opportunity
The Director of Human Resources (HR) will join Academy of the City’s leadership team during an exciting phase of growth. This role is responsible for developing and managing an exceptional Human Resources function to serve the needs of a 100 person organization across two schools. Therefore, this individual will embrace continuous improvement and innovation, is able to hold a short-, mid-, and long-term lens as needed, can flex between hands-on work and getting results through others when suited to best support the team and relishes the challenge of finding ways to provide better, more efficient support to our team and family. The Director of HR will report to the Chief Operations Officer and manage one direct report with opportunity to grow this, providing leadership for the vision, goals, and strategy, while establishing clear expectations, promoting exemplary team member support, and fostering a culture of excellence. This person will also work closely and collaboratively with school leadership and the broader operations team.
The ideal candidate for this position deeply understands the value of people –and how to make people feel valued – in an entrepreneurial, mission-driven organization. They have expertise in Human Resources, a strong track record of effective people management and team leadership, risk, compliance and employee relations management, systems implementations, and impeccable judgment. This is a unique opportunity for a mission and self-driven individual to enhance and develop HR and tools, systems, and processes to help a vibrant charter management organization develop stronger HR systems for sustainability and growth.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required, master’s degree preferred
- Minimum 7 years of relevant HR experience
- Strong technical understanding of HR functions, including but not limited to compensation, performance management, employment law, and leadership development
- Passionate about people
- Entrepreneurial mindset; committed to preserving a bold, can-do culture that sustains the organization’s values of integrity, curiosity, community, empowerment, growth, daring, and excellence
- A steward of ethical behavior who actively supports a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming workplace culture
- Incisive thinker with strong analytic capacity
- Ability to passionately align with AoC’s educational and workplace philosophies
- Ability to develop others through coaching, feedback, and professional development
- Ability to build trusting relationships and influence at all levels of the organization without direct authority
- Ability to analyze complex, sometimes ambiguous information and acquire data from multiple sources when solving problems
- Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills, with a sharp attention to detail
- Superb organizational, project management, and process-building skills
- HR professional certification(s) preferred
- HR experience of a charter school preferred
- Proof of Covid-19 vaccination is required
Responsibilities Include:
Lead and manage human resources function
- Provide management and oversight to team members to ensure strong results through goal-setting, accountability, and professional development
- Manage recruitment of open positions; work closely with school leadership to develop clear job descriptions that align with overall school mission and policies
- Collaborate with interim COO to set strategic vision and build out human resources function, including but not limited to human resources policies, employee relations, employee engagement, performance management, compensation, benefits, onboarding, and offboarding
- Ensure job descriptions are current for staff members and ensure staff members adhere to their job descriptions
Employee engagement: satisfaction, retention, and recognition
- Collaborate closely with AoC leadership to drive staff satisfaction and retention through the integration and alignment of onboarding, performance management, response to staff satisfaction surveys, and exit interviews
- Strengthen the connection that district team members have to the organization and mission; promote a district culture that ensures high retention
- Build an exceptional culture by overseeing staff meetings, celebrations, response to satisfaction data and feedback, and the performance management cycle
- Nurture a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism
- Work integrally with the executive team on creating and reinforcing a culture that supports our mission, values, and guiding principles
- Develop systems to improve employee retention, particularly at the school level, through analyzing data, surveys, exit interviews, and other tools to devise strategies to increase retention
- Collaborate closely with AoC leadership to ensure the compliance with Federal, State, Local of various Human Resources regulations.
Performance management
- Ensure that a strong performance management model is in place, including planning organizational and individual goals, assessing performance, developing professional skills, and recognizing contributions that advance AoC’s mission
- Collaborate across schools and departments to ensure the successful implementation of performance management systems as well as a consistent replication of AoC’s culture and core values across sites and teams
- Professional growth and leadership development
- Partner with AoC leadership to provide management training and professional development opportunities for leadership and operations team members
Employee relations and HR compliance
- Act as a trusted advisor, coach, and consultant to senior leaders to improve their leadership capability, team effectiveness, and performance.
- Working with legal counsel, develop and manage workplace protocols, complaint procedures, and policies governing employee grievances and separations; resolve employee relations matters
- Coach supervisors in carrying out their responsibilities for employee relations matters
- Establish, communicate, and interpret HR policies and procedures, and ensure compliance
- Make recommendations for improvement of the school’s employee policies, procedures, and practices
- Advise on performance management issues and lead investigations and remediation
- Maintain knowledge of industry trends and employment legislation, and ensure compliance with federal, state, and local law and regulation
Compensation, benefits, and human resources information system (HRIS)
- Lead the development and administration of compensation strategies aligned with our philosophy and talent strategy
- Partner with the finance team in the selection, management, and administration of health and welfare benefit programs and retirement funds and manage relationships with vendors
- Oversee HRIS system to streamline people processes and enable sophisticated analyses of AoC’s workforce
- Work closely with payroll to ensure timely and accurate processing of people management transactions via the HRIS
Reporting structure
The managing director of human resources reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer and directly manages one HR operations employee.
Compensation
Academy of the City offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
ACADEMY OF THE CITY CHARTER SCHOOL IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF RACE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, ETHNIC ORIGIN, SEX, OR DISABILITY IN ITS EMPLOYMENT POLICIES.
