Head of Employee Relations & HR Compliance

The Manager of Human Resources is a senior operational HR partner and the first point of escalation for employee relations, performance management, workplace investigations, and manager coaching. This role independently manages complex and sensitive employee matters, promotes consistent application of company policy, and partners with leaders to resolve issues promptly and fairly. The Manager also develops HR team capability, strengthens case-management practices, and supports scalable HR programs.

Serve as the first point of escalation for employee relations matters, including performance concerns, policy interpretation, workplace conflict, attendance issues, and employee complaints.

• Lead fair, timely, and well-documented workplace investigations; assess findings, recommend appropriate action, and escalate matters involving significant legal, reputational, or business risk.
• Coach managers through performance management, corrective action, performance improvement plans, difficult conversations, and involuntary employment decisions to promote consistency and sound judgment.
• Partner with the Director of Human Resources and legal counsel, as appropriate, on high-risk employee relations matters, claims, agency charges, litigation support, and other sensitive issues.
• Maintain accurate employee-relations and performance case records; monitor themes, response times, outcomes, and risk indicators to identify opportunities for proactive training or process improvement.
• Develop and deliver practical manager resources and training on documentation, feedback, performance expectations, policy application, respectful workplace practices, and effective escalation to HR.
• Provide structured coaching and progressive employee-relations exposure to HR team members, including review of documentation, lower-risk consultations, complaint intake, and selected case ownership based on demonstrated readiness.
• Advise on leave, accommodation, benefits, payroll, recruiting, onboarding, and HR operations issues when they present elevated employee-relations, compliance, or organizational risk; coordinate handoffs with the appropriate HR owner.
• Support consistent implementation of HR policies and procedures and recommend updates based on recurring issues, operational needs, and changes in employment requirements.
• Partner with the Director on organizational change, workforce planning, talent reviews, succession discussions, engagement initiatives, and other projects requiring strong operational HR judgment.
• Use HR technology, reporting, automation, and AI-enabled tools responsibly to improve service delivery, documentation quality, employee self-service, and team capacity.
• Assist with all other aspects of the Human Resources function, including benefits, reporting, payroll, maintaining the HRIS, and recruiting.

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Demonstrated skill in employee relations, workplace investigations, performance management, conflict resolution, and manager coaching.
• Sound judgment and discretion when handling confidential, ambiguous, and high-risk matters.
• Working knowledge of federal, state, and local employment laws and the ability to recognize when escalation or legal review is appropriate.
• Ability to influence leaders, communicate difficult messages constructively, and balance employee experience, consistency, compliance, and business needs.
• Ability to manage multiple sensitive matters simultaneously, establish priorities, and follow through with limited oversight.
• Ability to coach and develop HR colleagues through structured feedback and progressive assignment of responsibility.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and HR information systems; Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field preferred; Five or more years of progressive human resources experience, including substantial responsibility for employee relations, investigations, performance management, and manager consultation.
• Experience independently managing complex and sensitive employee matters in a multi-state or similarly complex environment preferred.
• Prior experience coaching or developing HR team members preferred.
• Professional HR certification, such as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR, preferred.

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This description reflects management’s assignment of essential functions; The employee needs to occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, office machinery, etc. The general level of physical activity would be defined as sedentary. The employee is regularly required to operate a computer and other office productivity machinery, such as a calculator, telephone, copy machine, and printer. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to comprehend and use basic language, either written or spoken, to communicate simple and complex information, ideas, and information. The employee is also required to use logic to define problems, collect information, establish facts, draw valid conclusions, interpret information, and deal with abstract variables for unique or unfamiliar situations. The employee may be required to perform numerical operations including basic counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing or more complex quantitative calculations.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is inside a central heat and air-conditioned office building.