Director, People and Culture

Tree House Humane Society•Chicago, IL

1h•$98,242 - $115,434•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of People & Culture serves as Tree House's senior HR leader, owning the people function across the full employee and volunteer lifecycle — recruiting, onboarding, performance, and development. This role partners with the Chief Executive Officer and Tree House leaders to strengthen people practices and ensure Tree House attracts, develops, and retains the staff and volunteers who carry out its mission. The Director leads the full range of HR functions from recruiting and employee relations to performance management, compensation, and compliance, while supervising the Volunteer Program Manager. This role will focus on creating systems that scale with the organization's growth and bring strategic ownership to building the infrastructure for our most important investment - our team.

Requirements

Commitment to the mission, values, and goals of Tree House Humane Society.
Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented, and service-focused work environment that supports accountability, continuous improvement, and organizational effectiveness.
Maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment in handling sensitive personnel, organizational, and compliance-related information.
Strong communication, interpersonal, relationship-building, project management, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate and drive change alongside executive leadership, staff, vendors, consultants, and external stakeholders.
Curiosity and identification of new, novel, or underlying challenges.
Confidence in managing and coaching peer and high-level stakeholders.
Demonstrated success managing human resources, people operations, or related functions.
Experience implementing and knowledge of best practices for the full employee lifecycle, including recruiting, onboarding, performance management, employee relations, and compensation administration.
Experience building or maturing HR infrastructure, policies, and practices in a growing organization.
Experience supervising, coaching, or mentoring staff and/or volunteers.
Seven (7) or more years of progressively responsible experience in human resources, with experience leading recruiting, employee relations, performance management, and compliance.
Experience with diverse, high-volume recruiting across a wide range of role types and career levels.
A digital mindset and experience with HRIS platforms and effective HR technology systems, such as ADP.
Experience supervising staff.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Organizational Leadership, Business Administration, Nonprofit Management, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Experience working or volunteering within a nonprofit organization.
PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Serve as the organization’s primary HR leader, owning the strategic direction of the people function and acting as the main point of contact for HR matters.
Partner with the Chief Executive Officer and organizational leadership to align HR strategy, staffing plans, and people practices with organizational priorities and mission goals.
Build and further HR infrastructure, policies, and practices that support compliance and a positive employee experience at Tree House.
Lead organizational efforts related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), including recruiting outreach, community partnerships, and internal practices.
Serve as a trusted resource and advisor to managers and staff on employee relations matters, exercising sound judgment and discretion in handling sensitive personnel issues.
Lead and continuously improve the organization’s performance management cycle, including manager training, scheduling, and administration.
Coach and support managers in delivering feedback, conducting reviews, and managing performance concerns.
Investigate and help resolve employee relations issues, partnering with the Chief Executive Officer or Counsel as appropriate.
Own the end-to-end recruiting and hiring process across Tree House’s full career spectrum, from entry-level frontline roles to senior leadership positions.
Develop intentional, relationship-driven outreach and recruiting strategies tailored to different role types, with particular attention to building a diverse and qualified applicant pool.
Partner with hiring managers on job postings, candidate screening, interview processes, and offer development.
Oversee new hire onboarding to ensure a consistent, engaging, and welcoming experience for all new staff.
Serve as the point of contact and partner with Tree House’s PEO to administer employee benefits, including enrollment and staff communication.
Administer compensation programs, including salary grade structures, benchmarking, and pay equity review.
In partnership with PEO, ensure HR practices and personnel files comply with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.
Partner with the Administration department to proactively manage and optimize HR technology, including ADP, to streamline operations and improve data accuracy and reporting.
Supervise and develop the Volunteer Program Manager, providing strategic direction, coaching, and support for the volunteer program.
Help align volunteer program practices with broader people and culture strategy, ensuring a consistent and positive experience across both staff and volunteers.
Provide functional leadership and direction to the Administrative Coordinator on HR-related administrative tasks, including payroll processing, recruiting and onboarding support, and personnel file administration.
Maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment in handling sensitive personnel, organizational, and compliance-related information.
Perform other duties as assigned in support of organizational priorities.