Associate HR Business Partner

About Us

Hickory partners with craftsmen and business owners who build their reputations one job, one hard-earned milestone at a time. Our company is named for one of the strongest trees in nature, known for its toughness and resilience.

That strength is our symbol and our promise to the Hickory family of brands.

The Role

We're hiring one Associate HRBP — and we're posting it this way on purpose.

This seat holds two disciplines by design: Total Rewards & Culture on one side, Performance & Organizational Design on the other. They are different muscles, but they share one mission and one rhythm. Where one ends, the other begins — and the person in this role lives in both.

We believe the People function works best when it refuses to silo. If that resonates, read on.

This role is based at our main office in the Bronx, New York, with regular travel across the tri-state area to our brand locations.

A Day in the Life

You're diving head-first to solve the problem in front of you — a payroll discrepancy, a manager who needs coaching before a hard conversation, a comp band that no longer reflects the market — and an hour later you're skyrocketing up to the 30,000-foot view, asking what this tells us about how we're built and where we're headed. That oscillation between the weeds and the horizon is the job.

What You'll Own

Total Rewards & Culture

• Own end-to-end payroll partnership and accuracy — you're the person who catches the error before anyone else does.
• Administer and continuously improve our benefits programs (health, dental, vision, 401(k)) — including open enrollment, vendor management, and employee education.
• Build and run our reward and recognition programs — from spot bonuses to milestone moments to the small rituals that make people feel seen.
• Partner with finance and leadership on compensation reviews, market benchmarking, and pay equity analysis.
• Translate Hickory's values into programs, traditions, and moments people actually remember.

Performance & Organizational Design

• Own and continuously refine our performance management cycle — goal-setting, check-ins, calibration, and reviews.
• Partner with leaders on organizational design: spans of control, reporting structures, role clarity, and accountability.
• Lead employee relations matters — intake, investigation, documentation, and resolution — with discretion, fairness, and a steady hand.
• Drive compliance across employment law, policy, and required training (federal, state, and local) — and keep us audit-ready.
• Build career frameworks and competency models that give people a clear line of sight to growth.
• Coach and develop managers — especially first-time managers — through performance conversations, development plans, and the hard moments.

Across Both

• Use data to tell the story. HR data lags business data — your job is to close that gap.
• Travel within the tri-state area to be present with our teams, not just visible from HQ.

You Probably Have

Comfort with numbers and systems. The ability to look at a messy org and see the architecture underneath. A curiosity about how compensation philosophy shapes behavior. Comfort sitting in the discomfort of a hard ER conversation — and the judgment to know when to escalate. A bias toward getting the details right without losing sight of the bigger picture.

Qualifications

Experience: 2–5 years in HR with meaningful exposure to total rewards (comp, benefits, payroll) and/or performance management, employee relations, and org design. Generalists with deep curiosity across both domains are strongly encouraged to apply.

Grit & Determination: Experience matters, but how you handle the unknown matters more. We're looking for people who run toward ambiguity, not away from it.

Partnership: You'll be trusted by managers across our brands. Natural partnership instincts are non-negotiable.

Mobility: Valid driver's license and willingness to travel regularly within the tri-state area.

Education: Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Benefits

We offer a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Competitive salary
• Significant and explosive career growth at a startup
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• PTO
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match

Compensation: $75,000 – $95,000

This job description is intended to outline the general nature and level of work associated with this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications. Responsibilities may evolve, and Hickory reserves the right to modify work assignments, responsibilities, and schedules as business needs change.

Hickory is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.