Senior Manager, HR Business Partnerships

at  Macewan University

ABOUT US

MacEwan University is where caring faculty help people connect their passions to their future paths. Located in the heart of Edmonton’s diverse and dynamic downtown community, and on the traditional lands of Treaty 6 First Nations and homelands of the Métis people, MacEwan is known for exceptional undergraduate learning. With its dedication to teaching excellence, informed by scholarly research, innovation, and creative activity, MacEwan provides an exceptional collaborative and supportive learning environment with a commitment to human rights, environmental sustainability, and opportunities for community engagement. We are committed to creating an equitable, diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community for all peoples, cultures, and identities.
Our comprehensive undergraduate university offers 55 programs to more than 19,000 full- and part-time students in business, communications, community and human services, design, fine and performing arts, health, humanities, natural science, nursing, public safety, and social science. Through a wide array of experiential learning opportunities, and strategic relationships in the community, we partner with others to produce graduates of stature. Along with a robust grounding in their chosen disciplines, MacEwan students are given durable life skills that prepare them to take on the world.

OPPORTUNITY

MacEwan University is seeking a strategic, forward-thinking leader to join our team as the Senior Manager, HR Business Partnerships. This pivot role provides leadership to the HR Business Partner (HRBP) team who deliver a wide range of consultative advice on employee/labour and faculty relations, performance management, accommodations and recruitment. You will be responsible for developing and implementing service-oriented strategies that align with best practices and current trends while anticipating and meeting the needs of internal clients.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading and mentoring a team of HR Business Partners to foster a high-performance environment, effectively managing resources for timely completion of work, supporting staff in enhancing communication and problem-solving, setting performance goals with ongoing feedback, promoting continuous process improvement through best practices and automation and establishing KPIs and service standards;
• Collaborating with senior leadership and the broader HR team to develop client-centric HR strategies aligned with organizational objectives, providing consultative support for strategy development, serving as a trusted advisor on workforce planning and talent management, integrating workforce data for informed decision-making, and staying updated on HR trends and best practices to deliver comprehensive advice;
• Coaching leaders on evolving HR issues, developing innovative HR approaches, and actively participating in budget, strategic and operational planning as a leader in the Labour Relations and Employee Services team.
• Leading and participating in HR project development and implementation, fostering collaboration with stakeholders, recommending effective communication strategies, measuring impact, writing briefing notes and providing insightful reports and presentations to ensure successful outcomes;
• Overseeing complex employee relations issues to ensure fair application of policies, supporting collective bargaining and academic affairs initiatives with the Provost and Vice Provost, enhancing faculty-focused HR programs, proactively attend to employee concerns to boost workplace satisfaction; and
• Integrating workforce data into institutional reporting to inform leadership decisions.

SKILLS

You will have:

• Proven leadership skills with the demonstrated capacity to lead and achieve results through others;
• Demonstrated expertise to analyze complex employee and policy issues and exercise sound and experienced judgment in providing advice and guidance, often in ambiguous situations;
• Understanding and respect for the nuances of delivering HR services in an academic setting;
• The skill to be an early adopter of process enhancements and demonstrated agility in service design, delivery, and development of programs;
• Capability to translate strategy to staff/clients and develop action plans;
• Proven negotiation and influencing skills;
• The talent to build and manage relationships, creatively problem-solve, and employ systems thinking;
• Proficiency to effectively interact, communicate, influence, and collaborate with a variety of partners and stakeholders, including senior management, staff at all levels, union representatives, and other organizations;
• Recognized experience in organizational change management, emphasizing the people side of change;
• Significant ability to gather, synthesize, and interpret multi-faceted information from various sources;
• Superior interpersonal skills for managing and leading work groups;
• Proven project management, portfolio planning, and change leadership skills;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including report writing and presentations; and
• Ability to achieve results, take initiative, and adapt to changing priorities and circumstances

QUALIFICATIONS

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts, Business, Human Resources, Labour/Industrial Relations, or other related discipline.
• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience in the areas of Human Resources with a least 3 years in a managerial or supervisory role.
• Experience in an academic or public sector environment is required.
• In-depth knowledge of employee and labour relations in a unionized environment and experience with a broad range of human resource services.
• Demonstrated experience managing and supporting complex projects that require strong leadership, initiative, and change management.
• Experience managing multi-disciplinary projects that may be politically sensitive and complex.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

• Leading and mentoring a team of HR Business Partners to foster a high-performance environment, effectively managing resources for timely completion of work, supporting staff in enhancing communication and problem-solving, setting performance goals with ongoing feedback, promoting continuous process improvement through best practices and automation and establishing KPIs and service standards;
• Collaborating with senior leadership and the broader HR team to develop client-centric HR strategies aligned with organizational objectives, providing consultative support for strategy development, serving as a trusted advisor on workforce planning and talent management, integrating workforce data for informed decision-making, and staying updated on HR trends and best practices to deliver comprehensive advice;
• Coaching leaders on evolving HR issues, developing innovative HR approaches, and actively participating in budget, strategic and operational planning as a leader in the Labour Relations and Employee Services team.
• Leading and participating in HR project development and implementation, fostering collaboration with stakeholders, recommending effective communication strategies, measuring impact, writing briefing notes and providing insightful reports and presentations to ensure successful outcomes;
• Overseeing complex employee relations issues to ensure fair application of policies, supporting collective bargaining and academic affairs initiatives with the Provost and Vice Provost, enhancing faculty-focused HR programs, proactively attend to employee concerns to boost workplace satisfaction; and
• Integrating workforce data into institutional reporting to inform leadership decisions