Head of Recruiting & HR

Make a meaningful difference in the lives of Oakland youth.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland (BGCO) inspires and empowers Oakland’s youth, especially those who need us most, to become positive contributors to society. BGCO provides safe spaces, caring mentors, and life-enriching programs that complement the work of families, schools, and community-based organizations.

BGCO serves nearly 2,000 youth across three Clubhouse locations in Oakland. Our outcome-driven programming focuses on three core areas:

Academic Success

The Director of Human Resources will be based at BGCO’s Administrative Office, located at 3300 High Street, Oakland, CA 94619. Regular travel among BGCO’s Clubhouse locations will be required.

Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m.–with occasional evening or weekend responsibilities as needed to support organizational operations, employee relations matters, trainings, and events.

The Director of Human Resources is BGCO’s senior human resources leader and serves as a strategic advisor to the President & CEO, Executive Team, managers, and Board leadership on workforce, culture, compliance, and organizational-development matters.

This position provides both strategic direction and hands-on leadership for all aspects of the employee lifecycle across BGCO’s administrative office and three Clubhouse locations. develop HR infrastructure; ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws; manage sensitive employee-relations matters; and help create a consistent, mission-centered, inclusive, and high-performing workplace culture.

The Director will lead the HR function and may supervise HR staff, consultants, and administrative support personnel. The successful candidate will be a trusted and responsive leader who can exercise sound judgment, maintain appropriate confidentiality, navigate sensitive matters with professionalism, and translate employment-law and operational requirements into practical systems for a youth-serving nonprofit.

Serve as the primary HR advisor to the President & CEO and Executive Team on workforce planning, organization design, employee engagement, leadership development, succession planning, compensation, and organizational risk.

Develop and implement a comprehensive, multi-year human resources strategy aligned with BGCO’s mission, strategic plan, program needs, financial capacity, and growth goals.

Assess organizational needs and recommend HR systems, policies, staffing structures, and people-management practices that support effective operations across all Clubhouse locations.

Prepare HR-related reports, analyses, recommendations, and dashboards for the President & CEO, Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and other Board committees, as appropriate.

Represent BGCO in Board-level conversations involving workforce strategy, staffing, employment risk, benefits, compensation, succession, and organizational culture.

Partner with leadership to cultivate a workplace culture grounded in youth safety, respect, accountability, collaboration, equity, professionalism, and mission alignment.

Lead or support special projects, including organizational restructures, compensation studies, employee-engagement initiatives, culture assessments, and HR technology improvements.

Human Resources Operations and Compliance

Direct and oversee the full HR function, including recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, performance management, compensation, benefits, leave administration, records management, HR systems, training, and offboarding.

Maintain, revise, and implement BGCO’s employee handbook, personnel policies, procedures, forms, and practices to ensure they remain current, understandable, consistently applied, and compliant with applicable law.

Ensure compliance with federal, California, and local employment requirements, including wage-and-hour laws, employee classification, meal and rest periods, paid sick leave, overtime, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment requirements, leave laws, workplace safety, background checks, and personnel-record obligations.

identify employment-related risks and implement practical mitigation strategies.

Lead or oversee administration of required workforce compliance obligations, including I-9 verification, mandated training, background-check requirements, required safety and youth-protection training, personnel-file maintenance, and retention of employment records.

Serve as the principal HR liaison to outside employment counsel, insurance brokers, benefits advisors, payroll vendors, HR consultants, and other external partners.

Maintain confidential, accurate, and secure employee information, personnel records, investigation files, HR data, and reporting systems.

Oversee HRIS, payroll-related processes, timekeeping accountability, and HR reporting; partner with Finance to ensure data accuracy and effective internal controls.

Employee Relations and Investigations

Serve as the primary point of escalation for complex, sensitive, or high-risk personnel matters.

Lead or oversee fair, timely, thorough, and well-documented workplace investigations, including matters involving employee conduct, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, safety, policy violations, and other complaints.

Advise the President & CEO, Executive Team, and managers on appropriate responses to employee-relations matters, corrective action, performance concerns, investigations, separations, and other employment decisions.

Ensure disciplinary and corrective-action practices are fair, consistent, timely, well documented, and aligned with BGCO policy and applicable law.

Manage or oversee employee accommodation requests, leaves of absence, workers’ compensation matters, unemployment claims, return-to-work processes, and other employee-support requirements.

Provide guidance and support to managers in resolving workplace conflict while protecting confidentiality, due process, and the organization’s legal and operational interests.

Coordinate with outside legal counsel and external HR advisors on complex, sensitive, or high-risk matters as appropriate.

Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning

Lead BGCO’s organization-wide talent acquisition strategy for administrative, program, operations, leadership, and Clubhouse roles.

Partner with hiring managers to develop staffing plans, job descriptions, recruitment strategies, interview processes, candidate assessments, hiring recommendations, and onboarding plans.

Build diverse and sustainable talent pipelines through relationships with universities, community partners, professional associations, workforce-development organizations, and other recruitment sources.

Develop workforce plans that address seasonal summer staffing needs, school-year programming requirements, employee retention, succession needs, and anticipated organizational growth.

Ensure hiring, background-check, reference-check, and onboarding practices comply with applicable law and BGCO youth-safety requirements.

Create and oversee a high-quality onboarding and orientation process that introduces employees to BGCO’s mission, culture, policies, youth-protection expectations, benefits, and operational practices.

Performance, Training, and Culture

Design, implement, and continuously improve a consistent, organization-wide performance-management process, including goal setting, evaluations, manager feedback, development planning, and accountability.

Coach and train supervisors and managers on effective hiring, interviewing, documentation, performance feedback, corrective action, conflict resolution, team leadership, and employment-law basics.

Develop manager and leadership-development initiatives that improve consistency, communication, accountability, and staff retention across all sites.

Lead employee-engagement, recognition, wellness, professional-development, and culture-building initiatives.

Support the development of career pathways, internal advancement opportunities, staff development plans, and succession strategies.

Promote an inclusive workplace in which employees are treated with dignity and respect and have the tools, clarity, and support needed to succeed.

Compensation, Benefits, and Budget Management

Develop, administer, and periodically evaluate BGCO’s compensation philosophy and total-rewards strategy to promote internal equity, market competitiveness, financial sustainability, and employee retention.

Oversee benefits administration, including medical, dental, vision, retirement, life insurance, disability, leave benefits, open enrollment, employee communications, and vendor management.

Manage relationships with benefit brokers, retirement-plan providers, payroll vendors, and other service providers; Develop and manage the HR budget, including staffing, benefits, professional development, HR technology, consultant costs, and HR program expenses.

Prepare and present clear recommendations to executive leadership regarding compensation, benefits costs, workforce investments, and HR-related financial risks.

Supervise, coach, and develop HR staff and assigned administrative personnel; establish clear expectations, accountability measures, and growth opportunities.

Build an HR function that is responsive, service-oriented, confidential, collaborative, and trusted by employees and managers across the organization.

Establish effective workflows, service standards, communication channels, and systems that allow HR to support all Clubhouse locations consistently.

Work closely with site leadership to ensure organization-wide policies are understood and appropriately implemented in day-to-day operations.

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field; At least 7–10 years of progressive, hands-on human resources experience, including substantial responsibility for employee relations, employment-law compliance, investigations, performance management, compensation and benefits, and HR operations.

At least 3–5 years of experience leading, supervising, or managing an HR team, HR function, or comparable people-operations responsibilities.

Demonstrated experience managing sensitive and complex employee-relations matters with sound judgment, objectivity, discretion, and strong documentation.

Demonstrated ability to develop, revise, and implement HR policies, procedures, systems, and training programs.

Experience advising executive leaders and coaching supervisors at multiple levels of an organization.

Strong organizational, analytical, project-management, and problem-solving abilities.

Ability to travel regularly among BGCO locations in Oakland.

Professional HR certification, such as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR.

Experience in a nonprofit, youth-serving, education, social-service, health-care, or other mission-driven organization.

Experience supporting a multi-site organization with a diverse workforce.

Experience with HRIS systems, payroll systems, benefits administration, and HR analytics.

Experience partnering with employment counsel, insurance carriers, benefits brokers, and external HR consultants.

Bilingual English/Spanish or proficiency in another language commonly spoken by BGCO families and staff.

Employment Status: Full-time, exempt

Schedule: Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–with occasional evening and weekend work as needed

100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage, including dependent coverage

Paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave

Long-term disability insurance

Life insurance

Pension

Training and professional-development opportunities

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