Senior Human Resources Specialist

Employee Relations Manager

The National Wildlife Federation is on an essential journey to become a durable organization that champions belonging, where we act as bridgebuilders to unite people to do big things for wildlife and the communities we serve. By honoring our essence, living our core values and committing to this vision, the Federation can become the model wildlife organization that fully welcomes, retains, and celebrates staff, volunteers, and supporters from all backgrounds – while achieving big things.

About the Role

NWF's People Team is executing a three-year strategy to build a modern, high-impact People function for a remote and hybrid, multi-state workforce, grounded in three pillars: Trust, Well-Being, and Community.

This role is the People Team's primary employee relations practitioner managing employee issues both proactively and reactively, and partnering with staff, managers, and senior leaders across the organization. The person in this role is equally comfortable coaching a manager through a difficult conversation and consulting with an executive on a sensitive personnel matter. In addition to owning employee relations, this role supports select Employee Experience (EX) programs such as onboarding, performance evaluation, engagement, and culture that intersect with and are strengthened by a strong employee relations practice. It partners closely with Talent Acquisition, Equity Inclusion & Belonging (EIB), Learning & Development, and Compliance & Total Rewards (CTR).

Impact on Our Three Pillars

• Trust — by resolving employee concerns fairly and consistently, and by delivering onboarding, performance evaluation feedback, and survey processes employees can count on regardless of where or how they work.
• Well-Being — by identifying and addressing workplace friction before it escalates, and by building feedback loops (pulse surveys, stay interviews, skip-levels) that surface workload and burnout signals early.
• Community — by modeling fair, transparent conflict resolution and by supporting the connection and culture touchpoints that build belonging across a distributed workforce.

Key Responsibilities

Proactive Employee Relations

• Monitor organizational health indicators (engagement data, turnover patterns, exit interview themes) to flag emerging ER risks before they become formal issues.
• Coach managers on early intervention: setting expectations, giving feedback, and addressing performance or conduct concerns before they require formal action.
• In partnership with the Director, Learning & Development, build manager capability through training, toolkits, and just-in-time guidance on employee relations fundamentals.
• Partner with leadership to identify team or organizational dynamics that could create risk (e.g., unclear roles, team dysfunction).

Reactive Employee Relations

• Serve as the first point of contact for employees and managers to address concerns, complaints, and workplace conflicts; conduct thorough, neutral intake and investigation and close-out.
• Guide managers through corrective action processes, including performance improvement plans and separations.
• Recommend and document resolutions that are fair, consistent, and legally sound.
• Support sensitive situations such as leave-related conflicts, interpersonal disputes, in coordination with the Legal team.

Cross-Level HR Partnership

• Act as an HR resource for staff, managers, and senior leaders alike adjusting tone and approach appropriately
• Ensure consistency between policy, practice, and lived employee experience across the organization.
• Help maintain onboarding and EX-related content in the employee handbook, in coordination with AVP, Total Rewards multi-state compliance work.

Employee Experience Program Support

• Support the ongoing evolution of the performance evaluation and feedback program, including rollout communications and staff support materials.
• Contribute an employee relations lens to onboarding design and early-tenure feedback, helping reduce friction and set new hires up for success.
• Assist with employee listening efforts such as stay interviews, and survey follow-up and help translate findings into action, including employee experience program improvements.
• Contribute to reporting on key People metrics (e.g., eNPS, engagement score, 90-day retention) as they relate to employee relations trends.

Core Competencies

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

• Demonstrates a high degree of self-awareness — recognizes how personal emotions, assumptions, and reactions affect others and adjusts approach accordingly.
• Builds trust by showing up with empathy, consistency, and candor, particularly in difficult or high-stakes conversations.
• Reads organizational and interpersonal dynamics accurately and uses that insight to facilitate constructive outcomes rather than escalating conflict.
• Manages complexity and ambiguity with steadiness — holds space for others without projecting personal anxiety or urgency onto the situation.
• Models the emotional tone expected of a healthy workplace: professional, grounded, and authentically human.

Influence & Collaboration

• Builds credibility through knowledge, fairness, and reliable follow-through, earning trust with managers and colleagues rather than relying on formal authority.
• Influences outcomes by building strong relationships, communicating persuasively, and framing ideas in ways that resonate with diverse stakeholders.
• Shares knowledge and coaches colleagues and managers in the moment, helping build people-management capability across the organization.
• Makes clear, timely recommendations under pressure while remaining open to new information and willing to course-correct.
• Holds self and stakeholders accountable to outcomes while maintaining psychological safety and trust.

Strategic Thinking

• Connects People programs and practices to NWF's broader organizational mission and long-term strategy.
• Identifies root causes rather than symptoms, designing solutions that are durable and scalable rather than reactive.
• Uses data and metrics engagement scores, retention trends, time-to-fill, performance patterns to inform priorities and demonstrate impact.
• Anticipates workforce trends and helps position NWF to attract, develop, and retain the talent it needs.

Communication & Trust-Building

• Communicates with clarity, honesty, and care adapts style and approach to the audience without losing directness or authenticity.
• Navigates sensitive and confidential situations with discretion, demonstrating sound judgment about what to share, with whom, and when.
• Creates environments where people feel safe raising concerns, giving feedback, and asking hard questions.
• Represents the People function credibly with managers and stakeholders across the organization, translating HR concepts into plain language tied to business outcomes.

Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

• Centers equity in all aspects of the role from case handling and policy application to the way difficult conversations are approached.
• Actively disrupts bias and inequity in systems and practices, even when it requires uncomfortable conversations with stakeholders.
• Creates inclusive environments where people from all backgrounds can contribute fully and feel they belong.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of HR experience with direct employee relations casework
• Comfort holding difficult conversations and maintaining confidentiality and neutrality.
• Experience supporting programs in a remote, hybrid, or multi-state organization strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of HRIS platforms, survey tools, and/or learning management systems.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience; SHRM-CP/PHR preferred but not required.
• Genuine interest in NWF's conservation mission and in building an employee experience that reflects it.

Work Mode

The National Wildlife Federation is committed to a flexible and empowered work environment with an authentic community of care for all staff. This is a hybrid position working out of NWF's Headquarters office in Reston, Virginia, at least one day per week.

NWF is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a workplace where all employees can thrive. We strongly encourage candidates from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

Compensation: The salary range for this position is $70,000 - $85,000 annually, commensurate with experience.

Travel Requirements: This position does not require travel

Physical Requirements:

Cognitive & Intellectual Requirements:

• Ability to understand, analyze, and apply complex information, policies, and concepts
• Ability to exercise sound judgment, problem-solve, and make decisions