Description

Summary:

Nazareth College is seeking a highly engaged strategic leader for the newly-redesigned top people function, Senior People Officer (SPO). Reporting to the Vice President for Culture, Community and Belonging, with a dotted line to the President, the Senior People Officer will be a partner in advancing the College as a mission- and people-centered employer of purpose and choice.

The senior people officer and strategist will design, collaborate on and implement policies, practices and initiatives to advance our vision of becoming a leader of transformative education through action for social justice, preparing and inspiring courageous changemakers for their life’s work. This is an outstanding opportunity for a collaborative, equity-minded leader driven to create a diverse, inclusive and equitable community. With deep expertise, enthusiasm, and vision, the Senior People Officer will make a significant contribution to Nazareth College, transforming the people function into an organizational value-added strategic partner in the realization of our vital mission, vision and values.

Key Responsibilities:

The leader of this function will be an institution-wide collaborative partner, bringing fresh perspective to the design and promotion of the Nazareth College culture that fosters mission-directed individual and institutional flourishing.

This role has overall accountability for stewarding people and talent across the institution in support of the College mission and strategic direction and for ensuring compliance with federal, state and college labor standards and practices.

The leader will work closely with the full Cabinet to align people and talent with strategic, operational and financial effectiveness, current and future.

This role manages the college’s benefit retirement plans and benefit trusts, which requires effective controls, analysis and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.

The SPO will develop the people-centered strategic plan aligned to the College Strategic Framework, including the set of people initiatives, policies, procedures and practices that will advance our College-wide diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) movement. As a player-coach, the leader of this function will drive culture and strategic alignment, and lead significant change initiatives and organizational development, in addition to ensuring operational excellence.

The SPO will develop and drive the employee engagement strategy focused on enhancing the employee experience, strengthening proactive employee relations and quality of the work environment to help make Nazareth College the best place to be.

The leader will design and lead a staff performance management system to support staff professional development and thriving as well as institutional effectiveness.

The leader will develop a team of people professionals dedicated to partnering with people across the College to advise, problem solve and initiate innovation in support of individual and institutional flourishing. In the advancement of effective people-centric systems, technology will be leveraged for optimizing service design and delivery, driving individual and team performance improvement at all levels, as well as data management and reporting.

In collaboration with the Sr. Vice President for Finance and Administration, the SPO will annually review and provide analysis of all benefit benefit plans and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

The SPO will work with institutional leaders, legal counsel and institutional insurance representatives on employee relations issues.

In collaboration with the Sr. Vice President for Finance & Administration, the Provost and other senior leaders, the SPO will manage the collective bargaining agreement of the institution, lead collective bargaining negotiations, ensure compliance with all provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, and manage resolution of all collective bargaining disputes and grievances.

The SPO will manage the compensation analysis process, both on a periodic college-wide basis and on a specific position or department-specific basis as conditions warrant. The SPO will develop recommendations regarding compensation strategy and will work with Cabinet to implement compensation strategy.

The SPO will interpret data insightfully and generate original insights for strategic talent priorities; data-informed insights will be used to develop strategies that will elevate Nazareth College as an employer of choice.

Requirements

Expertise:

Seasoned, results-driven, hands-on strategic leader facile and confident leading transformative change including change management, change leadership and wide-scale strategic initiatives

Proven ability to translate, align, and implement broad people strategies into specific initiatives, structures, plans and processes

Previous experience reengineering core people processes: full life-cycle talent management including recruitment, onboarding, performance management, succession planning, leadership development; and organizational development (OD), learning and development; compensation, benefits administration, employee relations, labor relations, compliance, legal and risk to advance people function with best-in-class people practices

Evidence of proactive, transformative and outcomes-driven work in DEIB building, sustaining, and supporting diverse populations, building an equitable and inclusive culture of belonging to increase diverse hiring and retention of faculty and staff

Evidence of successful collaboration toward strategic gains with comprehensive global understanding of community including faculty, staff, and students

Demonstrated success in creating and implementing an effective organizational development plan to develop core competencies, develop leaders, and teams

Knowledge and experience with developing and implementing sound and equitable compensation policies and practices, most effectively stewarding mission and finite financial resources.

Depth of knowledge and experience complying with state and federal labor laws and regulatory provisions. In-depth understanding and practical application of Title IX and VII for faculty, staff and students

Demonstrated effectiveness leading and developing a team of highly qualified and passionate staff who are dedicated to advising, problem solving and initiating innovation in support of individual and institutional flourishing

Evidence of data-informed decision-making

Demonstrated success with systems and process redesign with a six-sigma orientation to ensure efficiency. Effective prioritization and use of finite resources

Proof of successful innovation

Skills/Characteristics/Qualities:

Trusted partner and collaborator for Cabinet and President

Effective relationship builder at all levels across the institution

Positive use of influence to advance institution’s strategy and politically savvy

Exceptional follow through and execution skills

Data-driven decision-making

Organizational skills

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Strategic and organizational agility

Able to deal effectively with ambiguity

Strong coaching skills to develop individual capabilities and grow the HR team collectively

Effective listening and collaboration, as well as proactive communication will define successful leadership.

Equity-minded leader

High-energy, positively infectious leader

Role model of the College’s core values and commitments

High emotional Intelligence

Effective collaborator

Calm under pressure

Transparent communicator

Engaged listener

Empathy, care, and concern for people

Easily relatable to a broad stakeholder base

Future focused

Continuous improvement-minded

Lifelong learner

Curious

Integrity

Education/Experience:

We are seeking a leader with a bachelor’s degree in human resources or related field; a master’s degree is strongly preferred. In addition, a commitment to professional development and ongoing learning is sought as evidenced by the achievement and maintenance of a professional HR certification (i.e., SHRM-SCP, SPHR).

Requires a minimum of 10+ years of experience leading people-centered function in higher education or with organizations with multiple stakeholders, highly matrixed organization or highly influential groups building a positive equity-minded culture of inclusivity, community, and belonging.

Requires 10 years of demonstrated leadership experience in human resources and/or a strategic people function, including expertise in key areas such as change management, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), employee relations, workforce learning and development, succession planning, compensation, employment law, benefits, staffing, collective bargaining and contract administration.