Director of Human Resources Administration

CHICAGO SCHOLARS FOUNDATION • Chicago, IL

48m • $90,000 - $100,000

About The Position

Chicago Scholars is seeking a strategic and execution-focused Director of Human Resources Administration to lead the operational foundation of our people function. This role oversees HR systems, processes, and administrative functions across the full employee lifecycle while ensuring compliance, consistency, and a strong employee experience. This is a Director-level leadership role responsible for organization-wide HR operations, with oversight for both Chicago Scholars and REACH Pathways, L3C, a Chicago Scholars-owned entity with a standing shared services agreement for HR support. The Director partners with executive leadership while maintaining hands-on oversight of systems, compliance, and administrative processes.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree; Master’s degree, or equivalent experience preferred
• 5 to 10 years of relevant experience in HR systems
• Proven experience in Paylocity or Rippling
• Must live in the Chicagoland area
• Consistently sees, learns from, and takes strategic action related to diverse perspectives; and demonstrates self-awareness and behaviors to work with stakeholders respectfully and effectively.
• Effectively manages own work, and work of teams when relevant, ensuring delivery of high-quality work.
• Ability to meet people where they are at, treat them with respect, and influence them. Ability to effectively represent Chicago Scholars in any environment.
• Effectively structures and facilitates decision-making processes; makes decisions effectively and responsibly to improve organizational health and impact.
• Identifies strategies to improve organization’s impact; weighs diverse inputs to inform strategies; sets course and drives implementation.
• Demonstrates awareness and respect of cultural and individual values. Listens to ideas from others, even when different from own. Is careful to ensure all sides are heard reaching a conclusion. Shares time, energy and knowledge with others to ensure they can succeed.
• Effectively prepares for and guides teams through changes, both small and large.
• Communication is the ability to read and interpret information effectively, clearly articulate a plan of action, and influence others by way of written and verbal mechanisms.
• Ability to operate flexibly in changing contexts and operating environments. Ability to manage change effectively to support teams and reach intended goals.
• Leverage AI to augment human creativity and enhance impact.
• Experiment with AI tools to improve your work and drive efficiency.
• Demonstrate curiosity about emerging technologies and are comfortable integrating AI into everyday tasks.
• Proactively identify areas of friction in workflows where AI can improve speed, quality, or insight, while maintaining a strong understanding of data security, privacy, and ethical considerations in AI use.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree, or equivalent experience preferred

Responsibilities

• Lead HR operations across recruitment, onboarding, lifecycle, and offboarding.
• Oversee benefits administration, payroll coordination, and compliance.
• Maintain HR systems (HRIS) and data integrity.
• Maintain up-to-date employee handbook, conducting annual internal audits.
• Develop policies, procedures, and audit-ready processes to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local legal requirements.
• Stay abreast of existing and new legislation, enforcing adherence to legal requirements, and advising management on needed actions to remain compliant.
• Lead Chicago Scholars efforts to be a “Best Places to Work”, including coordinating the annual employee surveys, supporting a culture of belonging and workplace for diverse talent.
• Support managers in performance management and employee relations.
• Regularly review applicant data to inform recruitment and cultivation strategy and share progress with hiring managers and executive team as applicable.
• Oversee the execution of the organizational training plan.
• Drive process improvements and operational efficiency.
• In collaboration with the members of the programming team, update and maintain current volunteer-related policies and procedures, including Mentor Handbook.
• Serve as the primary HR contact for REACH Pathways, tracking project hours on a weekly basis, to ensure support for the employee life cycle of the REACH workforce.
• As a member of the organization’s administrative matrix, support with management of weekly all-staff meetings, annual staff retreats, and office administration.
• Occasionally work on nights and weekends for Scholar and Development events and programming.
• Attend and support mandatory all staff events.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Benefits

• Best Offer First Policy: The data nationally show for every $1 paid to white men, women earn 82 cents, black men earn 88 cents, and black women earn 76 cents. Women and black and brown people are also less likely to negotiate than their white male peers. Chicago Scholars has decided to offer our best offer first rather than wait for a potential negotiation. This allows us to set salaries based on market data and internal equity and ensure fair and equal pay for every role.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director