Director of Human Resources and People Operations

at  Ascend Public Charter Schools

Overview:
The Director of Human Resources and People Operations provides the highest customer service standards and leverages their knowledge of best HR practices to support the alignment of the People Team with the network’s people strategy. Reporting to the Managing Director of People Operations or Managing Director of Human Resources, this role is responsible for implementing all aspects of the human resources function and driving key people operations initiatives. As a champion of Ascend’s mission, culture, and values, this individual partners with the organization’s staff to help navigate and resolve employee relations issues, ensuring compliance alongside programs and practices that develop best-in-class people.
About Ascend
Ascend is the largest Brooklyn-based public charter school serving nearly 6,000 K-12 students in 17 schools. We exist to serve every student – to help them embody their inherent excellence by providing rich, joyful learning experiences that unlock a life of boundless choice.
Access to education is a social justice issue. As educators, we center justice and live out our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism (DEIA) by ensuring that our students have the skills, tools, and confidence they need to thrive today and in the future. We are proud to have a workforce that mirrors the diversity seen in our students. Working at Ascend provides a community focused on developing an environment of support and belonging. Educators collaborate closely and encourage each other to achieve great outcomes.
Our schools honor, nurture, and challenge the whole child. Ascend fosters critical thinking skills and a love of learning through an inquiry-based learning approach, Responsive Classroom model, and anti-racist education. Students at Ascend benefit from a rich and rigorous liberal arts curriculum that nurtures natural curiosity about the world and guides them to think critically and independently.
Ascend invests in employees by providing ongoing professional development, coaching, and career pathways in our schools. We are proud to provide a generous benefits package, which includes flexibility in our healthcare plan, and 403(b) matching starting at year one. At Ascend, we care about our workforce’s mental health and offer services covered by insurance and additional time off for our staff to utilize for their personal care.
For more information on Ascend Public Charter Schools’ model, approach, and core values, please visit our website.

Responsibilities:

• Manage employee benefits programs and partner relationships, collaborating with payroll to ensure accuracy and a best-in-class employee experience
• Oversee the leave management process for all employees, ensuring excellent record keeping and strong communication with staff and supervisors - handles operational accommodations
• Coordinate with legal counsel on compliance issues, including work authorizations
• Design and develop new HR processes to improve the efficiency of HR operations and administration and recommend new approaches/procedures to effect continual improvement
• Maintain HRIS to streamline people processes, working closely with payroll to ensure timely and accurate processing of people management transactions; create and provide HRIS training as required
• Review and analyze data to evaluate the effectiveness of existing HR processes; create reports and dashboards to highlight trends and recommend improvements or actions as appropriate, including administering and processing staff surveys
• Liaise with Network Operations to ensure authorizer requests, state reporting requirements, and all other HR compliance-related items are satisfied
• Use expertise on federal, state, and local laws to create and maintain internal and external facing HR policies, processes, and materials; develop and provide training to others as required
• Support the staff onboarding process by collaborating with the HR manager on new hires; host onboarding sessions as needed
• Proactively remain up-to-date on best HR practices; develop and provide training to staff as required
• Contribute to the overall success of the organization by performing other duties and responsibilities as assigned
• Ensure compliance with Sexual Harassment Training Requirements: Oversee the implementation, tracking, and completion of mandatory sexual harassment training programs for all employees, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.
• Develop and implement strategies to achieve a 95% completion rate for annual mandatory training, including creating engaging content, tracking progress, and following up with non-compliant staff.
• Oversee and optimize the onboarding process to ensure 98% of new employees complete it within 30 days of their start date, including designing an efficient onboarding curriculum and monitoring completion rates.
• Implement retention strategies to achieve 90% retention of employees who stay beyond the 90-day mark for at least one year, including conducting stay interviews, analyzing turnover data, and recommending improvements to the employee experience.
• Manage the performance review process to achieve 98% compliance, promoting continuous employee development and feedback. This includes designing the review process, training managers, and ensuring timely completion of reviews.
• Ensure 100% compliance with the compensation philosophy by developing clear guidelines, training hiring managers, and reviewing all job offers before they are extended to candidates.
• Create and maintain dashboards to track progress on all KPIs, providing regular reports to leadership and recommending action plans for any areas falling short of targets.
• Collaborate with department heads to identify and address any barriers to achieving KPIs, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.
• Conduct regular pulse surveys and annual engagement surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.
• Oversee the implementation of HR technology solutions to streamline processes and improve data accuracy and accessibility.
• Partner with the finance team to analyze HR metrics and their impact on organizational performance, using data to drive strategic decision-making.

Staff and Reporting Relationships
The Director of Human Resources reports directly to the Managing Director of People Operations.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree preferred
• History of progressive responsibility and a minimum of 5 years of relevant HR experience
• Strong technical understanding of HR functions, including but not limited to compensation, performance management, HCM management, employment law, and employee benefits
• Passionate about people
• Entrepreneurial mindset; committed to preserving a bold, can-do culture that sustains the organization’s values of integrity, curiosity, community, empowerment, growth, daring, and excellence
• Unimpeachable personal credibility
• A steward of ethical behavior who actively supports a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming workplace culture
• Ability to align with Ascend’s educational and workplace philosophies
• A demonstrated ability to build trusting relationships and influence at all levels of the organization without direct authority
• Ability to analyze complex, sometimes ambiguous information and acquire data from multiple sources when solving problems
• Impeccable written, verbal, and presentation skills, with sharp attention to detail
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment under tight deadlines, navigating systems and an emerging organization of scale and complexity
• Strong organizational, project management, and process-building skills
• Proven experience in achieving and exceeding HR and People Operations goals in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to use data to drive decision-making and process improvements.
• Experience with HR analytics and HRIS systems, with the ability to create meaningful reports and dashboards.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing employee engagement and retention strategies.
• Knowledge of best practices in onboarding, performance management, and compensation philosophy implementation.
• Experience in change management and the ability to lead organizational culture initiatives.
• HR professional certification(s) preferred
• Experience working in a school-based setting preferred

• Manage employee benefits programs and partner relationships, collaborating with payroll to ensure accuracy and a best-in-class employee experience
• Oversee the leave management process for all employees, ensuring excellent record keeping and strong communication with staff and supervisors - handles operational accommodations
• Coordinate with legal counsel on compliance issues, including work authorizations
• Design and develop new HR processes to improve the efficiency of HR operations and administration and recommend new approaches/procedures to effect continual improvement
• Maintain HRIS to streamline people processes, working closely with payroll to ensure timely and accurate processing of people management transactions; create and provide HRIS training as required
• Review and analyze data to evaluate the effectiveness of existing HR processes; create reports and dashboards to highlight trends and recommend improvements or actions as appropriate, including administering and processing staff surveys
• Liaise with Network Operations to ensure authorizer requests, state reporting requirements, and all other HR compliance-related items are satisfied
• Use expertise on federal, state, and local laws to create and maintain internal and external facing HR policies, processes, and materials; develop and provide training to others as required
• Support the staff onboarding process by collaborating with the HR manager on new hires; host onboarding sessions as needed
• Proactively remain up-to-date on best HR practices; develop and provide training to staff as required
• Contribute to the overall success of the organization by performing other duties and responsibilities as assigned
• Ensure compliance with Sexual Harassment Training Requirements: Oversee the implementation, tracking, and completion of mandatory sexual harassment training programs for all employees, ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.
• Develop and implement strategies to achieve a 95% completion rate for annual mandatory training, including creating engaging content, tracking progress, and following up with non-compliant staff.
• Oversee and optimize the onboarding process to ensure 98% of new employees complete it within 30 days of their start date, including designing an efficient onboarding curriculum and monitoring completion rates.
• Implement retention strategies to achieve 90% retention of employees who stay beyond the 90-day mark for at least one year, including conducting stay interviews, analyzing turnover data, and recommending improvements to the employee experience.
• Manage the performance review process to achieve 98% compliance, promoting continuous employee development and feedback. This includes designing the review process, training managers, and ensuring timely completion of reviews.
• Ensure 100% compliance with the compensation philosophy by developing clear guidelines, training hiring managers, and reviewing all job offers before they are extended to candidates.
• Create and maintain dashboards to track progress on all KPIs, providing regular reports to leadership and recommending action plans for any areas falling short of targets.
• Collaborate with department heads to identify and address any barriers to achieving KPIs, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.
• Conduct regular pulse surveys and annual engagement surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.
• Oversee the implementation of HR technology solutions to streamline processes and improve data accuracy and accessibility.
• Partner with the finance team to analyze HR metrics and their impact on organizational performance, using data to drive strategic decision-making