Director of Human Resources

United Food Bank•Mesa, AZ

5d•$95,000 - $100,000

About The Position

United Food Bank is seeking a strategic people leader to run the full HR function and strengthen retention, engagement, and employee relations. The workforce spans early-morning dock operations, office hours, weekend crews, three sites, and drivers on the road. This role operates at the Senior Leadership level at times. Payroll, benefits administration, and leave are handled through the Payroll & Benefits Manager and/or HR Generalist, allowing the Director to focus on the organization’s people priorities. The Director leads retention and engagement strategy, establishes reliable HR metrics, manages employee relations and investigations, maintains compensation structures and benefits strategy, and leads recruiting and onboarding. The role oversees employment-law compliance, policies, payroll accuracy through the Payroll & Benefits Manager, and HR reporting. It also designs communications and processes for employees who may not have reliable email or app access and requires an on-site presence across all locations and shifts. The Director performs other duties as assigned by the Chief Administrative Officer.

Requirements

Genuine connection to United Food Bank’s mission and values.
At least 7 years of progressive HR experience, including people leadership and hands-on employee relations and investigations.
Recent HR leadership experience in an organization with 50 or more employees, with a clear command of the legal obligations associated with that organization size.
Demonstrated results improving retention or engagement in a frontline or hourly workforce, with results that can be explained using numbers.
Experience building or rebuilding HR infrastructure, including an investigation process, policies, reporting, and an HRIS.
Advanced knowledge of federal and Arizona employment law, including FLSA, FMLA, ADA, and workers’ compensation.
Experience with pay structures and benefits, including health, disability, and 401(k) plans.
Ability to perform hands-on HR work while leading a small HR team with a heavy workload.
Sound judgment and discretion in confidential, sensitive, and complex matters.
Bachelor’s degree in human resources or business, or equivalent experience.
Offer is contingent on background and credit checks.
Ability to regularly sit, use hands, and talk or hear; stand, walk, and reach daily; meet the stated vision requirements; sit at a computer for extended periods and perform repetitive motions; and be regularly present on warehouse and dock floors across all sites and shifts.
May be called in to perform regular or emergent duties during a federally, state, or locally declared emergency, as United Food Bank is typically considered an essential service and emergency responder.

Nice To Haves

Self-insured plan experience.
SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP certification.
Paylocity experience.
Fluency in Spanish and English.

Responsibilities

Lead organizational turnover and engagement results, develop improvement plans, and report progress to the Senior Leadership Team.
Establish and maintain a source of truth for HR metrics, including headcount, turnover by team and reason, time to fill, and employee relations cases.
Run engagement surveys and pulse checks with anonymity protections and visible follow-through; use exit and stay conversations to inform retention plans.
Work with the Senior Leadership Team on culture and support the Round Table as a cross-functional channel and recognition engine, ensuring frontline and driver staff are included.
Finalize and administer investigation and corrective action processes, and train leaders to apply them consistently.
Create and own standards for routing concerns to HR and leadership, including concerns involving volunteers, agency personnel, donors, and vendors.
Conduct or oversee timely, impartial, well-documented workplace investigations and coordinate with outside counsel on legal matters, charges, and claims.
Advise managers on performance improvement, progressive discipline, and the 90-day probationary standard.
Maintain salary bands for every role and the organization’s market-positioning policy using current benchmark studies; ensure postings include salary bands anchored to market ranges rather than prior pay.
Maintain driver pay ranges based on the vehicle driven and keep merit and market adjustments as separate calculations at review time.
Set health, welfare, and retirement benefits strategy, including the enhanced Safe Harbor 401(k) match, with administration handled through the Payroll & Benefits Manager.
Lead recruiting across concurrent searches, apply the values screen to every hire, and ensure existing employees hear about openings before public posting.
Own the employee referral program, Background Check Policy tiers, and onboarding from Week 1 through 30-, 60-, and 90-day check-ins.
Ensure compliance with employment laws and requirements, including FLSA, FMLA, ADA, leave, workers’ compensation, and posting requirements.
Review the employee handbook and personnel policies annually, recommend changes to leadership, communicate policies to staff, and administer training gates such as the AI use policy.
Apply UFB employment policies to Waste Not staff under UFB’s managing-entity status.
Oversee payroll accuracy through the Payroll & Benefits Manager and own HR data for Feeding America’s Network Activity Report and 401(k) Form 5500.
Design HR communications and processes for employees without reliable email or app access, including drivers using locked-down devices.
Be present on warehouse and dock floors at every site and shift.
Perform other duties as assigned by the Chief Administrative Officer.