Senior Associate Director, HR Operations & Strategic Initiatives

Barnard College • New York City, NY

17h • Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Associate Director, HR Operations & Strategic Initiatives is a senior leader responsible for operationalizing the College’s HR strategy and ensuring its effective execution across the function. This role drives the translation of strategic priorities into disciplined, trackable workplans, maintaining momentum, accountability, and alignment with institutional goals. Reporting to the Director of Human Resources, the position oversees HR operations, process design, and operational analytics, while ensuring that initiatives remain on pace, outcomes are measured, and resources are aligned. This role serves as a central integrator across HR Centers of Excellence, monitoring progress against priorities, supporting project execution, and ensuring consistency and quality in service delivery. The Senior Associate Director also oversees the HR operating budget, tracking spend, forecasting needs, and ensuring alignment with strategic priorities. In addition, this role provides operational leadership across the HR function, stepping in to fill gaps, support team capacity, and maintain continuity of operations as needed. The position works closely with the Associate Director of Labor and Employee Relations, providing operational coordination, handling complex and escalated matters, and ensuring alignment and process integrity across HR.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 8–10+ years of progressive HR experience.
• Strong experience and leadership roles in employee and labor relations, including exposure to conflict resolutions, settlement agreements, grievances, investigations, and arbitration processes.
• Strong experience and demonstrated leadership working in a unionized environment.
• Demonstrated experience in HR operations, process improvement, and workflow optimization.
• Experience developing metrics, dashboards, and operational reporting.
• Supervisory experience, including oversight of technical or HR staff.
• Knowledge of employment laws and HR best practices.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in higher education or similarly complex, regulated environments.
• Experience with Workday HRIS and HR reporting tools.
• Lean, Six Sigma, or process improvement certification.
• HR certification (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR).

Responsibilities

• Translate HR strategic priorities into actionable workplans with clear timelines, ownership, and deliverables.
• Track progress against HR initiatives, ensuring projects remain on pace and aligned with College priorities.
• Identify and address bottlenecks, resource gaps, and risks to execution.
• Serve as the central driver of HR project execution, ensuring initiatives move forward efficiently and effectively.
• Monitor and report on progress across HR priorities, providing visibility to leadership on status, risks, and outcomes.
• Oversee HR operational workflows, ensuring efficient, consistent, and high-quality service delivery across HR functions.
• Design, document, and implement Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) aligned with HR Centers of Excellence.
• Partner with Associate Director, Client Services to lead process improvement initiatives to streamline workflows and eliminate inefficiencies.
• Drive automation of routine HR transactions and processes through partnership with Centers of Excellence.
• Develop process maps and frameworks to support scalability and continuous improvement.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and operational metrics for HR services.
• Develop dashboards and reporting tools to track workflow, service levels, and workforce trends.
• Analyze data to identify opportunities for optimization, risk mitigation, and improved service delivery.
• Provide regular reporting and insights to HR leadership to support strategic decision-making.
• Serve as primary collaborator with the Workday teams primarily servicing Workday HCM, managing priorities, workflow, and professional development.
• Partner with the Director, Workday HCM to align HRIS operations with system strategy and governance.
• Oversee HRIS-related processes including data integrity, reporting, and transactional workflows.
• Support system enhancements, reporting improvements, and automation initiatives.
• Ensure accuracy, compliance, and consistency of HR data across systems.
• Act as a key operational partner to the Director of Human Resources in executing departmental priorities.
• Collaborate across HR Centers of Excellence to ensure alignment and integration of HR services.
• Mentor and support HR staff, fostering a culture of accountability, efficiency, and continuous improvement.
• Lead or support change management initiatives related to HR processes, systems, and organizational changes.
• Operate in the absence of Director of Human Resources
• Serve as a strategic partner in shaping and advancing the College’s employee and labor relations approach, ensuring alignment with College priorities, risk management, and a consistent employee experience.
• Partner closely with the Associate Director, Labor and Employee Relations to align on overall strategy, using insights from investigations, grievances, and disciplinary matters to inform broader HR policies, practices, and priorities.
• Translate employee and labor relations trends into actionable, cross-functional strategies by collaborating with HR Centers of Excellence, including People Experience, Total Rewards, and HRIS to address root causes and strengthen organizational effectiveness.
• Identify systemic themes and emerging risks across employee and labor relations, proactively recommending policy, process, and training interventions that improve consistency, reduce risk, and enhance the employee experience.
• Ensure consistent and equitable application of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), HR policies, and employment laws, while advising on opportunities to improve clarity, usability, and alignment across the institution.
• Serve as a strategic escalation point for complex or high-risk matters, ensuring issues are addressed in a way that aligns with College values, mitigates risk, and informs broader organizational learning.
• Partner with People Experience to design and implement tools, training, and resources that build manager capability and confidence in navigating employee relations effectively.
• Serve as a core member of the College’s labor contract negotiation team, contributing to strategy development, preparation, and execution in alignment with institutional priorities.
• Collaborate with the Office of General Counsel on arbitration strategy and preparation, ensuring a coordinated and thoughtful approach to risk mitigation and institutional positioning.
• Lead the translation of negotiated agreements into clear, operationally sound processes, partnering across HR and the institution to ensure effective communication, implementation, and sustained compliance.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the College's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees