Director of Employee Relations and Talent

Summit Utilities Inc • Little Rock, AR

14h • Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Employee Relations and Talent is a key strategic leader responsible for shaping a healthy, high‑performing workplace culture and driving the execution of the organization’s People Roadmap. This role provides direct leadership and oversight to the HR Manager and HR Business Partner team, as well as the Talent Acquisition Manager and Recruiting team, ensuring consistent, high‑quality delivery of employee relations support, talent strategies, and people programs across the organization.

The Director leads the development and implementation of policies, practices, and initiatives that strengthen organizational health, support employee engagement, and ensure fair, compliant, and values‑aligned people operations. In close partnership with organizational leaders, this role provides expert guidance on employee relations, workforce planning, talent acquisition and development, leadership effectiveness, and organizational change. The Director balances strategic visionary leadership with hands‑on execution, navigating complex and sensitive matters while fostering trust, accountability, and alignment throughout the organization. This role plays a critical part in maintaining labor harmony, mitigating risk, and ensuring the organization attracts, develops, and retains top talent in support of long‑term business goals.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or related field required. Master’s degree in HR, Business Administration, or Law preferred. in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field required.
• 12+ years of progressive HR experience, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record in union negotiations and collective bargaining.
• Advanced proficiency in HRIS (e.g., ADP, SAP, HR Platforms) and data visualization tools.
• Professional certifications such as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR preferred.
• SPHR, SHRM-SCP, or equivalent professional designation is highly desirable.
• This position is onsite, located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Some moderate travel required.
• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to plan communication strategies, prepare materials and make presentations to larger groups.
• Knowledge of and experience with implementing and integrating new HR systems and programs with the HR function. Excellent cross functional collaboration skills both within HR and across the organization.
• Ability to be a trusted advisor on complex, confidential and impactful people, and organizational matters.
• Sound judgment and unwavering integrity, ability to build relationships and influence on critical people and business matters.
• Experience successfully managing projects, with limited resources, abbreviated timelines and impacting large groups.
• Ability to build and develop high-performing HR team members in a fast-paced and demanding environment.
• Knowledge of compensation programs, strategy, and design.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary advisor to leaders on human capital trends, organizational design, and workforce planning.
• Translate business goals into actionable HR strategies that scale across all departments.
• Proactively adjust HR programs and initiatives in anticipation of organizational needs and external drivers impacting people.
• Oversee the TA function to build a high-performance recruiting engine capable of sourcing diverse, elite talent.
• Enhance the Employer Brand to position the company as an "Employer of Choice" in a competitive market, implement programs designed to increase reach for candidate sourcing that enhances the applicant pool.
• Through talent life cycle programs, partner with department heads to identify future skills gaps and develop proactive succession plans and development initiatives to prepare for evolving talent demands.
• Develop and execute the organization’s labor relations strategy, including contract negotiations, grievance procedures, and maintain a productive relationship with bargaining units.
• Oversee complex employee relations investigations, ensuring a fair, legally compliant, and respectful workplace.
• Lead and develop the team of HR Business Partners in navigating business needs including workforce planning and headcount decisions, employee relations, employee service needs and enforcement of company policies, procedures, and cultural expectations.
• Act as the final internal arbiter for high-level conflict resolution and disciplinary actions.
• As the process owner, design and implement a robust Talent Development Framework that integrates the employment life cycle from onboarding to annual reviews, continuous development, and accountability to succession planning; partner with the Organizational Development team to execute delivery of programs.
• Standardize enterprise-wide HR policies to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations while maintaining cultural agility. Lead annual efforts to ensure policies are updated and communicated.
• Utilize data analytics to measure the effectiveness of performance programs, evaluate trends in employment actions, and propose adjustments or enhancements that maintain positive outcomes.

Benefits

• Summit offers competitive pay and medical/dental/vision and other benefits that provide flexibility, choice and support to our employees when they need it most. We understand that home and family are essential pieces of your life, and our benefits are designed to support you both at work and at home.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees