Vice President of Human Resources

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

Who We Are:

Are you ready to work at a dynamic institution that believes in higher education with lower obstacles? Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology (now known as Franklin Cummings Tech) is a nationally accredited non-profit, technical college serving Massachusetts. The college was seeded in 1791 with funds from the estate of Benjamin Franklin given to the City of Boston to proliferate access to apprenticeship and entrepreneurship. Today, that legacy has evolved into an accredited college that delivers accessible tech and trade education to level the playing field for aspiring talent.

With a mission to deliver transformative technical and trade education that leads to economic advancement, Franklin Cummings Tech offers a unique mix of certificates and degrees that appeal to enterprising students from Eastern Massachusetts and respond to employer demand for a well-prepared workforce. Intentional partnerships with the industries we serve coupled with high graduation and job placement rates, recently attracted the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the college from the Cummings Foundation, helping to spur incredible growth in the past four years.

Franklin Cummings Tech educates more than 1,000 learners annually across three student types: 1) certificate and degree seekers, 2) continuing education enrollees, and 3) early college students. As evidence that our mission holds resonance student enrollment is up and Fall 2027 applications have soared 16% year over year. 

We seek optimistic, data-informed, and dedicated colleagues who are eager to increase student success outcomes and boost total enrollment to 1,500 learners by 2030. Join us in this mission-driven work. 

Position Summary:

The Vice President of Human Resources serves as the College’s senior human resources leader and a strategic advisor to the President and the executive leadership team. Reporting directly to the President & CEO and operating in close partnership with the Vice President of Finance and Administration, the Vice President ensures that talent priorities are directly connected to the College’s Building Momentum strategic plan. The Vice President designs and owns the systems, frameworks, and programs that make up the College’s talent architecture — workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management, learning and leadership development, succession planning, total rewards, compliance, and culture — for a community of approximately 130 faculty and staff. Serving as both a strategic leader and a hands-on practitioner, the Vice President builds an engaged, high-performing workplace culture that advances the College’s student-centered mission and supports student recruitment, retention, graduation, and career placement outcomes.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

The following duties are representative of the work performed in this position. Other duties may be assigned based on organizational needs.

Talent Strategy and Workforce Planning

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to the President and senior leadership on organizational design, workforce planning, succession, and institutional change initiatives
• Partner with senior leadership and department heads to translate the Building Momentum strategic plan into a rigorous workforce plan, defining the capabilities, career pathways, and skill requirements needed by function and level, and identifying buy, build, or borrow strategies to close gaps
• Coach leaders on critical talent identification, providing clear visibility into bench strength, succession plans, and development priorities
• Lead full-cycle talent acquisition for faculty, staff, and administrators, including sourcing, search committee support, offer development, and onboarding

Culture and Employee Experience

• Lead the activation and embedding of the College’s mission and operating values into talent programs and processes, including hiring, onboarding, performance, recognition, and leadership behavior
• Design and lead the employee experience and engagement strategy, including administration of the employee engagement survey and resulting action plans
• Design recognition programs that celebrate high performance and alignment with the College’s values
• Lead cultural change initiatives that accelerate achievement of institutional strategic priorities

Performance Management and Onboarding

• Own the College’s performance management philosophy, framework, and cadence, including goal setting, annual reviews, and continuous feedback, and lead the annual performance review cycle to completion
• Equip executives and managers to execute the performance process with consistency and quality, using qualitative and quantitative measures to drive feedback, growth, and accountability
• Design the new employee onboarding and orientation experience, including cultural orientation and practical guidance for hiring managers, ensuring new employees are set up for success from day one

Learning and Leadership Development

• Own the College’s learning and development strategy end to end — assessing capability needs, setting priorities, and building programs that grow institutional capability in service of the Building Momentum strategic plan
• Design and maintain a core learning curriculum, including compliance, professional skills, and role-specific training, developed in partnership with functional leaders
• Build and steward the College’s leadership pipeline, identifying and developing high-potential talent and strengthening bench strength in coordination with workforce and succession planning
• Design and deliver manager and supervisor development that equips people leaders to hire, coach, give feedback, and manage performance effectively
• Establish measures of learning effectiveness and program impact, using participation, capability growth, and outcome data to evaluate and continuously improve the College’s development investments

HR Operations, Total Rewards, and Compliance

• Oversee employee relations, including workplace investigations, performance improvement, corrective action, and separations; coach supervisors and partner with outside counsel on complex matters
• Direct compensation administration, including market benchmarking, position classification, salary range development, internal equity analysis, and compliance with the Massachusetts Pay Transparency Act
• Administer employee benefits and leave programs, including open enrollment, vendor management, and FMLA, PFML, ADA, and workers’ compensation administration
• Develop, maintain, and communicate HR policies, procedures, and the employee handbook; ensure compliance with federal and Massachusetts employment laws and regulations
• Optimize the College’s HRIS (Paylocity) and use workforce data, metrics, and dashboards to support leadership planning, budgeting, and decision making
• Manage the HR budget and vendor relationships, and prepare workforce reporting for the executive team and Board of Trustees as requested

Requirements:

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred
• Ten or more years of progressive human resources experience, including at least five years in a senior HR leadership role
• Demonstrated experience operating as both a strategic leader and a hands-on practitioner, ideally in a lean or sole-practitioner HR environment
• Experience in higher education, nonprofit, or mission-driven organizations strongly preferred
• SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or comparable senior professional HR certification required
• Demonstrated success leading change management and cultural transformation initiatives and scaling talent systems across an organization
• Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check, including a CORI check

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Deep knowledge of federal and Massachusetts employment law and HR compliance, including FLSA, FMLA, PFML, ADA, EEO, and CORI requirements
• Exceptional judgment, discretion, emotional intelligence, and the ability to handle highly confidential and sensitive matters
• Strong knowledge of compensation and benefits administration, HRIS platforms (Paylocity or similar), and HR analytics
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and consensus-building skills across faculty, staff, students, executive leadership, and external partners
• Proven ability to lead collaborative efforts among multiple constituencies and to manage competing priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent communicator, coach, and influencer, able to build trust with senior leaders and translate strategy into practice

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position leads the College’s Human Resources function and provides direct supervision to Human Resources staff, student workers, and interns as assigned, along with oversight of external HR vendors, consultants, and outside counsel engagements.

Physical Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to remain in a stationary position for extended periods while performing desk-based computer work
• Ability to move throughout campus buildings and facilities to attend meetings, events, and departmental functions
• Ability to occasionally lift, carry, and transport materials weighing up to 25 lbs.
• Ability to operate a computer, keyboard, and standard office equipment for prolonged periods with accuracy
• Visual and auditory acuity sufficient to review documents and digital content and to communicate with others

Work Environment:

• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in person, by telephone, via video conference, and in writing
• This position operates primarily in a professional office environment with regular interaction with students, faculty, staff, and external partners
• Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends in support of institutional events and priorities
• Ability to attend and participate in indoor and outdoor campus events, including Commencement and community engagement activities, with exposure to varying weather conditions
• Ability to travel locally or regionally for meetings, conferences, and professional development
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, high-visibility environment with competing priorities and deadlines

This position operates primarily in a professional office environment. The College is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and applicable state law.

Employee Expectations:

All employees are expected to support the college’s student-centered mission, contribute to institutional growth and innovation, and collaborate across departments to improve student recruitment, retention, graduation, and career placement outcomes.

Our college is an in-person institution. Campus presence is the default expectation for all employees. In-person presence remains the expectation and the standard for all staff. Flex arrangements are a discretionary privilege, not a right, and may be modified or discontinued if it is determined that flex arrangements are diminishing service quality, team cohesion, or responsiveness to students, external partners, and colleagues. The student experience and fidelity of institutional operations take priority over individual schedule preferences.

The salary for this position is $140,000-$180,000 (depending on experience). 

Please note: Franklin Cummings Tech cannot provide visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States on an ongoing basis without sponsorship to be considered for this position at Franklin Cummings Tech.

Franklin Cummings Tech is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.