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Mendocino Farms

At Mendocino Farms, we do a lot more than just sell sandwiches and salads. We are a fast-casual restaurant brand on a mission to bring people together through fresh, culinary-driven food and unmatched hospitality. As we continue our aggressive growth trajectory across new and existing markets, we are seeking a dynamic, analytical, and hands-on leader to elevate our total rewards structure.

Position Summary

The [Title] will serve as a key strategic partner to the [Reports To] and executive leadership team, leading the company's corporate talent pipelines, executive sourcing strategies, and high-volume selection infrastructure. This role bridges the gap between executive-level talent management strategy and day-to-day recruiting operations. You will ensure our talent attraction frameworks remain highly competitive to attract and retain top corporate leaders and a highly engaged restaurant crew.

As a key leader in the [Department] team, you will translate the VP's broad talent lifecycle and workforce strategy into practical recruitment pipelines and headcount planning metrics, while directly managing and developing the recruiting team and external search partners to ensure flawless execution of candidate vetting, applicant tracking, and onboarding workflows.

Core Responsibilities

Executive Sourcing & Talent Pipeline Strategy

• Aesthetic Architecture: Operationalize and maintain competitive multi-channel employer branding standards, candidate experience frameworks, and hiring guidelines across all corporate and field divisions.
• Campaign Execution: Administer and analyze localized sourcing pipelines, diverse candidate generation networks, and executive leadership pipelines to drive strong corporate and restaurant staffing levels.
• Market Trends: Conduct annual compensation-market data feedback loops, competitive talent analytics, and internal recruitment process reviews to ensure Mendocino Farms remains an employer of choice.

Talent Production & Lifecycle Management

• Content Production: Collaborate with the VP of Talent Management to evaluate, negotiate, and optimize comprehensive recruitment marketing spend, programmatic job boards, and interview assessment tools.
• Operational Execution: Supervise the internal recruiting team in executing seasonal hiring initiatives, day-to-day applicant tracking system (ATS) hygiene, local networking events, and background check pipelines.
• Vendor Management: Serve as the primary point of contact for staffing agencies, executive search firms, and recruitment software vendors to resolve complex contract escalations and manage cost-effective procurement.

Recruiting Technology, Analytics & Compliance

• System Optimization: Partner with HR Operations to optimize ATS modules (Workday/UKG Recruiting), customer relationship management (CRM) workflows, and automated pipeline communications.
• Data Analytics: Build dashboards and reports tracking time-to-fill metrics, cost-per-hire analytics, pipeline conversion rates, and early-turnover talent correlations to inform leadership decisions.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all recruiting practices strictly comply with local, state, and federal labor laws (including EEOC guidelines, Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, FCRA background check laws, and state-specific salary history/pay transparency mandates). Directly oversee immigration/visa hiring requirements, offer letter templates, and auditing guidelines.

Leadership Competencies

• Empathetic Leadership: Balancing a highly analytical total rewards role with Mendocino Farms' trademark friendliness. Operates with high emotional intelligence (EQ) to ensure compensation plans respect and uplift the hourly restaurant crew.
• People Development & Coaching: Actively mentors and coaches the Benefits Manager. Fosters an inclusive team environment that empowers direct reports to grow while holding them accountable to operational metrics.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborates seamlessly across the People Team, Payroll, Finance, and regional Operations leaders to keep total rewards transparent and aligned.
• Rigorous Multi-State Compliance Auditing: Drives continuous improvement in legal governance. Proactively builds systems to protect the organization from risk, with a heavy emphasis on navigating strict, evolving California and Massachusetts labor laws (including CA Wage Orders, MA Fair Wage Fair Tips Act, Paid Family Medical Leave, and state-specific pay transparency mandates).
• System & SOP Optimization: Never settles for manual or broken administrative workarounds. Constantly reviews data architectures and optimizes system configurations (Workday/UKG) to eliminate processing errors and automate workflows.
• Root-Cause Problem Solving: Audits complex data sets, billing reports, and payroll outputs to catch anomalies early and implement lasting, systemic fixes.
• Translating Strategy into Action: Takes the broad total rewards architecture designed by the VP and transforms it into flawless, practical multi-state execution. Turns routine corporate infrastructure updates into smooth, impactful rollouts.
• High-Touch Communication: Simplifies dense, intimidating benefits and compensation data into clear, human-centric explanations that corporate leaders and restaurant teams can easily grasp.
• Vigilant Governance: Treats complex regulatory tasks, ERISA requirements, ACA reporting, and annual audits not as checkboxes, but as opportunities to establish operational excellence.
• Advocating for Total Rewards Alignment: Recognizes that competitive pay and accessible healthcare are fundamental to helping team members bring their best selves to work. Designs structures that champion the overall financial, physical, and emotional health of our workforce.
• Analytical and Commercial Acumen: Balances hospitality-driven intentions with strong financial literacy. Tracks key metrics like labor spend, turnover, and benefit utilization to ensure programs are both life-enriching for employees and sustainable for business growth

Qualifications, Education & Experience

Required:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in HR, Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.
• Experience: 7+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 3+ years specifically focused on managing compensation and benefits programs.
• Leadership: 2+ years of experience directly managing or leading HR professionals.
• Industry Footprint: Proven experience in the restaurant, retail, or hospitality industries managing high-volume, multi-state hourly and salaried populations.
• Geography: Strong familiarity with California labor laws and wage orders.
• Technical Skills: Advanced proficiency in modern HRIS platforms (Workday or UKG preferred) and expert-level Microsoft Excel capabilities.

Preferred:

• Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS), or SPHR/SHRM-SCP certifications.
• Experience scaling total rewards infrastructure during periods of rapid corporate growth.

Compensation & Benefits Include

• Competitive Salary, Bonus, and Equity
• Unlimited Meal Privileges
• Health Benefits
• 401k Plan with Company Match
• Unlimited Paid Vacation