Vice President, People

Center for Justice Innovation•New York, NY

2d•$215,000 - $230,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Center for Justice Innovation seeks a mission-driven Vice President of People to shape and execute a forward-looking strategy and roadmap for its People function while ensuring strong day-to-day operations. The role leads the Employee Relations, HR Operations, and People Experience & Development teams through their three directors, making day-to-day decisions within the function and working closely with the Managing Director, Enterprise Strategy and People on people strategy and policy. The Vice President also partners with the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel, Finance and Business Operations, Technology, and the leadership of the Center’s three program divisions. The role oversees employee-lifecycle services for roughly 900 staff across about forty sites, including recruitment and onboarding, benefits, leave and accommodation, promotions, and separations. It oversees benefits administration, HR systems, vendor relationships, and approximately $16.5 million in annual spending within the approved budget. The Vice President will develop the People function in partnership with staff, using evidence and data to understand needs, design and test solutions, and assess whether they work. The position is based at 520 Eighth Avenue in New York, NY, with regular travel to program sites across New York City and periodic travel to sites in other states. The Center’s current practice is two days per week in person, with flexibility. Compensation is $215,000–$230,000, commensurate with experience.

Requirements

Demonstrated commitment to the stated vision, including experience designing people practices in partnership with the staff they serve and using evidence and data to decide what to build and assess whether it is working.
Broad and deep HR expertise across employee relations, leave and accommodation, compensation, compliance, and HR operations at scale.
Working knowledge of federal, New York State, and New York City employment law, as well as multi-state compliance.
Experience building a function or bringing one to a new stage, rather than only running a mature function.
Comfort operating in a partly unionized environment, including contract administration and union partnership.

Nice To Haves

A demonstrated habit of learning an organization before changing it.
Genuine comfort in community settings, including neighborhoods, storefronts, and courthouses.
A record of developing direct reports, including through growth conversations and visible internal growth pathways.
Experience leading a People function for a distributed, multi-site workforce that includes people with lived experience with the criminal legal system.
Ten or more years of progressive experience in HR or people leadership, including senior leadership of a team or function.
Nonprofit, public-sector, or other mission-driven experience.

Responsibilities

Lead the Employee Relations, HR Operations, and People Experience & Development teams through their three directors, setting shared direction and priorities.
Assess the People function’s structure, staffing, and roles against its workload, and clarify ownership and hand-offs across the three teams.
Hold regular supervision and growth conversations with direct reports, lead the function’s performance review process, and build visible development pathways and learning opportunities for People staff.
Oversee reliable day-to-day delivery across the employee lifecycle for roughly 900 staff at about forty sites, including recruitment and onboarding, benefits, leave and accommodation, promotions, and separations.
Oversee benefits administration, HR systems, and vendor relationships—approximately $16.5 million in annual spending—within the approved budget.
Partner with Finance on payroll and with Technology on HR systems and people data.
Ensure changes to People processes and policies are communicated thoughtfully, with clear reasoning and advance notice to those affected.
Develop people practices by learning what staff need, designing solutions with them, testing and measuring what is built, and allowing effective approaches time to take hold.
Finalize an organization-wide job architecture, including title consolidation and an explicit basis for crediting experience, including lived experience and non-traditional backgrounds.
Strengthen and unify frameworks for performance management, progressive discipline, promotion, and career pathing.
Test and evaluate approaches to how People staff partner with program sites, and bring evidence to the executive team to inform the function’s long-term model.
Oversee employee relations and workplace investigations to ensure they are fair, timely, consistent, and informed by restorative and procedural justice principles.
Oversee leave and accommodation determinations.
Ensure people practices comply with federal, state, and local employment law in every jurisdiction where the Center operates, working with the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel under an agreed escalation list.
Support contract bargaining, administration, and constructive union partnerships, working with Legal and outside labor counsel on matters touching bargaining.
Serve as the Center’s senior-most voice on people matters and advise the Managing Director, Enterprise Strategy and People.
Build working relationships with leaders of the three program divisions and spend regular time at program sites learning how the work is done.
Lead employee listening and internal communication on people matters, and ensure the Center’s values of integrity, impact, equity, and collaboration are reflected in how it treats its staff.