Interim Director of People (Parental Leave Cover)

Job Description

Job Description

Who We Are

Hively’s mission is to build meaningful connections with families and communities, ensuring access to resources every child in Alameda County needs to thrive. Our vision is to transform the lives of children and families to benefit all communities and ensure a promising future for generations to come. We believe that through subsidized child care, mental health support, and community services centered in families of all types and backgrounds, we can profoundly impact the communities we serve.  If this resonates with you, we invite you to apply to join our team.

Our Team & Culture

Our Team at Hively is a passionate and diverse group of individuals from a wide range of different lived experiences, backgrounds and professional expertise. We strive every day to create an environment for families and staff that is inclusive and welcoming of different experiences and perspectives. We prioritize learning, listening, and growing together and to foster a culture of respect. 

Duration: Approximately 4 months (August 3rd, 2026 – December 4th, 2026)

Location: Hybrid, 1 day/week in Pleasanton Office (Wednesdays), 1 day in Oakland Office (Flexible). 

Reports to: CEO

The Role

We are looking for a seasoned, empathetic, and operationally-strong Interim Director of People & Culture to lead our People function while our current Director is on parental leave.

We are a lean, agile People Team, which means you won’t just be "keeping the seat warm" or managing from 30,000 feet. You will be a critical strategic partner to our leadership team  and a day-to-day executor who isn't afraid to dive into the weeds. You will steady the ship, manage the team, and directly execute HR processes to ensure our culture remains vibrant and our HR engine runs smoothly. What you will do:

• Strategic Advisory: Act as the primary HR Business Partner and advisor to the leadership team on organizational design, talent strategy, and sensitive employee matters.

• Team Leadership & Collaboration: Manage and mentor our small People team, acting as both a leader and an active teammate to ensure priorities are met.

• Performance & Culture: Oversee and help execute the end-to-end performance management cycle; utilize engagement data to maintain a high-performing, inclusive work environment.

• Total Rewards & Compliance: Directly manage the benefits renewal and open enrollment process, handle the day-to-day administration of company benefits, and ensure all compliance standards are met.

• HRIS & Systems Management: Provide hands-on management and oversight of Rippling, ensuring data integrity, running reports, and troubleshooting system efficiencies.

• Talent Acquisition: Provide high-level oversight of the recruiting function while actively partnering with hiring managers and vendors to ensure candidate experience remains top-tier and hiring targets are hit.

• Employee Relations: Serve as the primary escalation point for complex employee relations issues, providing hands-on mediation and resolutions rooted in fairness and company values.

What you should bring:

• Experience: Minimum of 8 years of progressive HR/People experience, with at least 2–3 years in a senior leadership capacity. Experience in a small-team or startup environment where you had to balance strategy with execution is highly preferred.

• Education: A Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field (or equivalent work experience) is required. An HR certification (e.g., SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR) is strongly preferred.

• Employment Law: Must have demonstrated knowledge of California employment law, wage and hour regulations, and compliance requirements.

• Systems Fluency (Hands-on): You must be "plug-and-play" and comfortable doing the actual data entry and management in our tech stack: Rippling, Lever, CultureAmp, Google Suite. 

• Benefits Administration (Open Enrollment & Strategy): Demonstrated success directly managing the full annual benefits renewal and open enrollment process. This includes strategic decision-making on plan lineup and hands-on, meticulous configuration and auditing of the Open Enrollment workflow within Rippling HRIS to ensure rate and plan accuracy.

• Rippling (HRIS/Payroll): Experience with Rippling HRIS. You are comfortable navigating the platform to manage employee data, pull reports, and support benefit workflows 

• Interim Mindset: Proven ability to build trust quickly, assess immediate needs, and maintain momentum in a fast-paced environment. Strong learning velocity and able to ramp quickly on new organizations, leaders, and evolving operating models.

• Communication: Exceptional emotional intelligence and the ability to deliver candid, constructive feedback at the executive level.

• Collaboration: Demonstrated experience building relationships with senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.

Timeline & Logistics

• Approx. Dates: July 27, 2026 – December 4, 2026 (4 months)

• Commitment: 40 hours/week, temporary.

• Location:  Hybrid – must be able to work in person at least 1X per week at our Pleasanton, CA office and one day/week in our Oakland Office. Additional flexibility to commute to other office locations in Alameda County as required.

Salary ranges are based on industry data, and final employment offer will be determined based upon factors including but not limited to an applicant's experience, specialized skills, and internal alignment. 

Welcoming Candidates from All Backgrounds

Hively is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of any educational background, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, disability, and veteran status.

Please note that applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.