Head of People & Organizational Effectiveness

Benchmark Inc•Cedar Rapids, IA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Person Do you see talent, culture, and organizational design as powerful levers for growth? Are you energized by translating strategy into scalable people systems, strengthening leadership capabilities, and enabling data-informed decisions? We’re searching for a Head of People & Organizational Effectiveness who blends empathy with discipline, champions our values, and builds the workforce we need for where we’re going next—not just where we are today. If that resonates, we’d love to meet you. Our ideal candidate: Master Communicator: Listens deeply and communicates with transparency, tact, and diplomacy. Naturally attuned to people and dynamics, they promote alignment and shared understanding across the organization. Culture Champion: Models Benchmark's values and fosters a positive, inclusive, and performance-driven environment. Humble in leadership, generous with giving credit to others, and committed to strengthening and enhancing the culture as the company grows. HR Functional Expertise: Possess knowledge across areas such as people, organization, workplace, and strategy, including employment law, talent management, compensation, employee relations, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness. Systems Thinker: Sees the bigger picture and the finer details concurrently. Understands and interacts across levels and functions, proactively identifying patterns, ripple effects, and root causes. This ability leads to well-informed decisions that align with the evolving dynamics of a growing business. Strong Business Acumen: Recognizes how decisions impact revenue, margins, people, and execution. Thinks beyond their function, anticipates downstream effects, and acts in ways that support the overall health of the business. Change Leader: Translates strategy into clear, actionable shifts in structure, behavior, and execution. Anticipates resistance, aligns stakeholders early, and leads through complexity with clarity and discipline. Balances empathy with decisiveness, ensuring change is adopted, sustained, and delivers measurable results. Proactive Learner: Treats every experience as an opportunity to grow. Seeks feedback, examines outcomes, and applies learnings quickly. The urge to improve drives innovation and agility, for themselves and for those around them, creating a learning culture where growth becomes a shared, strategic advantage. Bold Thinker: Challenges assumptions and imagines new possibilities. Unafraid to explore unconventional ideas and stretch beyond what’s proven. Has courage to envision future-state needs of the business and helps teams break free from incremental thinking and unlock transformative innovation and strategic breakthroughs.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in human resources, business, or related field required; Master’s/MBA or SHRM-SCP/SPHR preferred.
10+ years of progressive HR experience, including 5+ years in senior HRBP or people leadership roles.
Expertise in organizational design, performance systems, workforce planning, and compensation governance.
Proficiency with HRIS (e.g., Paylocity) and HR analytics.
Strong executive presence, sound judgment, and comfort in setting and upholding standards.

Nice To Haves

Experience with EOS or similar frameworks (Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), Scaling Up) strongly preferred.
Experience scaling organizations from ~100 to 200+ employees is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Serve as a strategic partner to the COO, aligning people strategies with business objectives.
Lead workforce planning and talent development to ensure the business is prepared to deliver on growth goals.
Integrate core values into all people programs, from hiring to systems for performance management and recognition.
Drive adoption of modern HR technology and AI as appropriate to enable smarter decisions and scalable impact, enhance insight, and improve efficiency and experience for all employees.
Build and sustain a forward-looking leadership and talent pipeline through coaching, development programs, and succession planning.
Lead a proactive, multi-channel recruiting approach that leverages creative sourcing, employer branding, modern tools, and consistent processes to attract, engage, and secure high-caliber talent in a competitive environment.
Using EOS tools, collaborating across departments to clarify roles, support leaders with aligning the right person with the right seat, and ensure accountability.
Collaborate with leaders to identify capability gaps and implement scalable development pathways aligned with growth needs.
Strengthen HR operations – including utilization of HR technology, improving onboarding, streamlining compliance practices, and improving/delivering a consistent and engaging employee experience.
Build and manage a competitive total rewards strategy to support both attracting new employees and retention.
Elevate use of data in developing strategy, planning, and risk management.
Apply the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to organizational design, performance management, and accountability.
Oversee HR operations (benefits, compliance, compensation, employee relations).
Document and improve scalable, auditable people processes across the employee lifecycle.
Balance strategic vision with hands-on problem solving (“player-coach”), demonstrating vertical agility.
Equip managers with practical tools, coaching, and training.
Serve as a trusted advisor on the Leadership Team, supporting peers in people leadership.
Manage key HR partnerships (benefits, recruiting, ER attorney) to ensure performance, compliance, and alignment with Benchmark's values and standards.