Director of People & Talent Strategy
Position Summary
The Director of People & Talent Strategy serves as the strategic and operational HR leader for our client, overseeing the full employee lifecycle while building a scalable people function that supports continued growth across the nation. This role is ideal for an aspiring HR leader who thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and wants to join a high-performing team.
This leader will oversee organizational design, talent acquisition and workforce planning, HR operations, and employee experience initiatives. The Director of People & Talent Strategy will partner closely with senior leadership to ensure HR practices reinforce business strategy, culture, and performance expectations.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Strategic People Leadership
- Align HR policies, programs, and talent strategies with our client’s organizational goals and growth plans.
- Lead organizational design initiatives to support scalability, role clarity, and operational efficiency.
- Act as a trusted advisor and coach to the executive team and business leaders, demonstrating strong stakeholder management capabilities.
- Solve problems creatively with thoughtful consideration of organizational nuance and context.
Talent Acquisition & Workforce Planning
- Oversee full-cycle recruiting, manage the internal recruiting team, and drive talent pipeline development.
- Lead workforce planning to ensure staffing needs align with business forecasts and departmental priorities.
- Build external networks to strengthen employment branding and talent pipeline development.
HR Operations & Compliance
- Manage and develop a team of two direct reports within HR, aligning their goals to our client’s objectives and holding them accountable for performance.
- Oversee HR programs including compensation, benefits, leave, investigations, employee relations, and compliance.
- Support optimization of HRIS and ATS systems; promote data-driven HR decision-making.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment regulations.
Performance, Learning & Development
- Build or procure best-in-class training and leadership development programs to support organization-wide learning initiatives.
- Oversee performance management, goal-setting, feedback cycles, and succession planning.
Culture, Engagement & Retention
- Lead employee engagement strategies, recognition programs, and retention initiatives.
- Drive initiatives that promote our client’s mission, values, and evolving culture.
- Create internal change management capabilities and manage employee communication related to organizational initiatives.
Financial & Business Partnership
- Collaborate with finance leadership on salary and compensation budgets, workforce investment planning, and wage structure alignment.
- Proactively provide recommendations at both the organizational and individual levels for compensation models that are aligned with business goals, industry norms, and employee motivation.
- Contribute to business strategy through people insights, labor forecasting, and HR metrics.
- Serve as a trusted representative of our client, partnering with client executives who desire strategic coaching on HR-related topics.
Required Skills & Capabilities
- Strong talent foundation with experience across workforce planning, recruiting, development, and HR operations.
- Experience coaching leaders, facilitating discussions, and resolving complex organizational issues.
- Exceptional communication, consulting, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
- Ability to thrive in a startup-like, high-growth, high-change environment.
- Strong project management skills with the ability to lead cross-functional initiatives.
- Familiarity with HRIS and ATS platforms; data- and metrics-oriented approach.
- Insurance industry experience is a plus.
- Ability to collaborate in person approximately 80–100% weekly at headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI.
Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Psychology, Communications, or a related field required.
- Proven progressive experience in HR or talent consulting, including leadership of recruiting and generalist functions.
- Strong experience in organizational development, performance management, and leadership development strongly preferred.