HR Manager

UCSF•San Francisco, CA

22d•$160,000 - $180,000

About The Position

The HR Manager I provides strategic and operational leadership for a team delivering HR services to departments and business units across UCSF. Reporting to the Director of HR Shared Services, the manager partners with campus and health leaders, departments, and Human Resources colleagues to support efficient, compliant, customer-focused service delivery throughout the employee lifecycle. The role serves as the HR Shared Services lead for employee and manager pre-boarding across UCSF Campus and UCSF Health. It designs, coordinates, and continuously improves pre-boarding experiences, standards, resources, and cross-functional handoffs, with accountability for timeliness, readiness, experience, process reliability, and reducing friction and rework. The manager uses feedback and service data to identify opportunities, lead pilots and change implementation, and communicate progress and recommendations. The manager leads and develops a team of HR professionals, manages client partnerships and service expectations, and oversees assigned shared-services responsibilities. The role also provides HR management and consultation to assigned departments and leaders, contributes to HR Shared Services and broader UCSF Human Resources leadership, and leads improvements to tools, systems, policies, self-service resources, and operational processes. The position fosters a collaborative, inclusive, high-performing culture grounded in UCSF's PRIDE Values.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a related area and/or equivalent experience or training.
At least 8 years of HR-related experience.
At least 5 years of demonstrated management skills, including collaboration, coaching, and developing subordinates.
Ability to interpret staff personnel policies and advise department people leaders on appropriate actions to meet business and strategic goals.
Direct knowledge of specific functions in a university's HR management information systems.
Strong communication skills across diverse communication styles, including the ability to make oral or written presentations.
Experience making hiring, evaluation, and subordinate-development decisions and determining how best to achieve unit goals.
Ability to build relationships internally and externally to the organization.
Demonstrated ability to handle extremely difficult or volatile situations and individuals effectively.
Experience leading employee experience, employee or manager pre-boarding, customer experience, or service improvement initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
Experience providing HR management or HR generalist support while leading cross-functional employee experience, pre-boarding, service delivery, or process improvement initiatives.
Experience using employee and manager feedback, service data, metrics, or other insights to identify pain points, prioritize improvements, and evaluate outcomes.
Demonstrated project and change management skills, including leading cross-functional initiatives, managing competing priorities, and driving implementation through completion.
Ability to influence and build alignment across organizational teams and levels, facilitate decisions, and create shared accountability for experience and service outcomes.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Human Capital Management Systems (HCM) and other HR technology used to support pre-boarding and employee self-service.
Experience with website content management and knowledge management or employee-facing content strategy.
Experience managing in an environment with standard work, service level agreements, and key performance indicators; experience applying these practices to employee and manager pre-boarding is particularly valuable.
Experience designing, implementing, or improving employee and manager pre-boarding in a complex or matrixed organization.
Experience with service design, journey mapping, process improvement, or similar methods to reduce friction in employee or customer experiences.
Experience using pre-boarding or employee experience metrics, dashboards, or service measures to guide continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

Lead the strategy, design, implementation, and continuous improvement of employee and manager pre-boarding across UCSF Campus and UCSF Health.
Map pre-boarding journeys, identify pain points and unnecessary handoffs, and prioritize improvements that simplify the experience while meeting policy, operational, and business requirements.
Establish pre-boarding standards, playbooks, manager resources, communications, and service expectations; coordinate roles and handoffs among HR teams and partners.
Develop and monitor pre-boarding measures and feedback mechanisms, including employee and manager input and service data; evaluate timeliness, readiness, experience, reliability, friction, and rework.
Lead pilots, change management, and implementation of pre-boarding improvements; communicate progress, outcomes, and recommendations to HR and organizational leaders.
Provide strategic leadership for a shared services team delivering responsive, high-quality, customer-focused HR services, while maintaining capacity and accountability for the employee experience portfolio.
Build and maintain client partnerships by understanding business needs, fostering trust, and ensuring strong service experiences.
Lead, coach, and develop HR professionals; establish goals and performance expectations; plan, prioritize, and assign work; and adapt resources to meet changing demands.
Oversee team talent management, including recruitment, selection, onboarding, performance management, employee development, coaching, and succession planning.
Provide HR management and consultation to assigned departments and leaders on staff HR policies and practices, employee relations, performance management, workforce needs, agreements, and regulations.
Collaborate with HR Shared Services managers, the Director, and Human Resources leaders to advance strategic priorities and departmental goals, building cross-functional alignment around employee and manager experience.
Lead implementation and continuous improvement of tools, systems, and operational processes that enhance service delivery, efficiency, and employee and customer experience.
Develop, maintain, and optimize self-service resources, including HR website content, knowledge management tools, and HCM Tier 0 support content; ensure they are accurate, accessible, and aligned with organizational needs.
Contribute to the development, evaluation, and continuous improvement of HR policies, practices, and operational standards; support implementation of policy and process changes.
Represent HR Shared Services on departmental, Human Resources, and campus-wide committees and contribute operational expertise to cross-functional initiatives.
Support clear communications about HR policies, procedures, and organizational changes, and serve as a resource and spokesperson for new initiatives as appropriate.