Company Overview
Walker-Miller Energy Services is a 26-year-old Detroit-based, core-values driven company committed to changing lives through energy efficiency. We create and manage customized energy waste reduction programs that assist electric and gas utilities meet mandated energy savings goals.
Our experience driven philosophy of clean energy as economic development helps families and businesses save energy and save money. Through innovative, inclusive initiatives, we help build communities by creating local jobs, producing equitable energy savings for all rate payers, and spurring the growth of diverse local businesses.
Our operating philosophy is reflected in our core values. We refer to them as BEHIVE.
B - Boldly Go
E – Embrace Equity
H - Humble Confidence
I - Inclusive Stewardship
V - Value Reputation
E - Extraordinary Experience
Position Summary
The Head of People Operations is Walker-Miller's senior people operations executive that leads the company's people delivery engine and serves as the enterprise owner of core people operations, people systems, HRBP deployment, team member relations and investigations, recruiting execution, and talent-process administration. The Head of People Operations translates business priorities into disciplined people execution so the company can scale with strong controls, reliable service, compliant practices, usable data, and a leadership-ready operating model.
This executive partners closely with the CEO, COO, and Chief Culture & Capability Officer to strengthen trust in the People function, improve manager and team member experience, and build the operational backbone required for growth. The role is accountable not only for day-to-day accuracy and risk management, but also for designing scalable processes, building a high-performing team, using technology and AI responsibly, and creating the operational conditions that allow culture, capability, and workforce strategy to succeed.
Key Responsibilities: This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities, based on operational needs.
Leadership & Operating Model:
- Lead and manage a team in alignment with Walker-Miller's BEHIVE core values.
- Lead and continuously improve core people operations processes, workflows, internal controls, and service delivery across the employment lifecycle.
- Lead and develop the People Operations & Systems team through clear role definitions, service expectations, quality standards, and cross-training.
- Own team member relations (team member relations), including intake, triage, case management, investigation standards, documentation quality, and resolution consistency.
- Own the HRBP operating model and lead HR Business Partners in partnering with leaders on performance processes, talent decisions, organizational effectiveness, and team effectiveness.
Lead process execution for talent reviews, calibration sessions, succession planning, and team member development.
- Build an emotionally intelligent, responsive, data-driven operations function that improves trust in the People & Culture organization.
Compliance & Investigations:
- Own employment-law and policy compliance across relevant federal, state, and local jurisdictions through policy governance, audits, and corrective-action follow-through.
- Partner with the Chief Culture & Engagement Officer and leaders to strengthen manager capability in performance management, coaching, corrective action, and fair policy application.
- Use data, trend analysis, and case insights to identify systemic issues and recommend practical solutions that improve leadership practices and reduce repeat risk.
Cross-Functional Partnership & Vendor Governance:
- Partner with Finance, IT, Operations, Legal or employment counsel, and the Chief Culture & Engagement Officer to ensure policies, systems, and team member-facing processes are coordinated and scalable.
- Own vendor governance for payroll, benefits, brokers, HRIS partners, and other operational providers, including SLA management and issue resolution.
Payroll, Benefits & Compliance Administration:
- Create and maintain standard operating procedures, internal controls, and documentation for payroll support functions, benefits, HRIS, compensation administration, and compliance workflows.
- Support end-to-end payroll administration in partnership with finance for a multi-state workforce, including payroll calendars, audits, tax and wage notices, garnishments, off-cycle pay, PTO accrual integrity, and controls.
- Lead benefits and leave administration, open enrollment operations, vendor invoice reconciliation, qualifying life event processing, and team member support on administrative benefit matters.
- Own compliance administration for I-9, E-Verify, required notices, record retention, audit preparation, and other recurring people compliance processes in partnership with legal and business stakeholders as needed.
- Maintain high standards for confidentiality, neutrality, documentation, and execution discipline.
HRIS, Data & Service Delivery:
- Serve as the business owner for all HRIS and people systems, including ADP, Workday administration, system configuration governance, workflow design, data integrity, reporting, and integrations.
- Develop and execute a people operations technology roadmap that improves team member self-service, manager enablement, and operational resilience.
- Build and manage a service-delivery model for people operations, including ticketing or case management, knowledge management, talent management, SOPs, SLAs, escalation paths, and service quality metrics.
- Use dashboards, controls, and root-cause analysis to identify errors, improve cycle times, and prevent repeat issues across people operations.
- Provide accurate and timely workforce data, dashboards, and operational reporting to leadership.
Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and Talent Development Operations:
- Own talent acquisition operations, including, but not limited to requisition workflow, ATS governance, candidate communications, interview coordination, offer administration, recruiting dashboards, vendor usage and operational reporting.
- Own recruiting process design, service levels, and hiring-manager support to deliver efficient, compliant, and high-quality hiring execution across the business.
- Own the operational execution of talent-management and talent-development processes, including performance cycles, calibration, talent reviews, succession process administration, promotion workflow, and career-path administration.
- Partner with the Chief Culture & Capability Officer to translate culture, learning, and workforce priorities into practical process design and execution discipline.
- Establish performance philosophy, talent reviews, succession, career paths, promotion criteria, and governance standards.
- Own workforce planning processes to enable business strategy and growth.
- Partner with business leaders to translate workforce strategy into practical recruiting execution—especially for critical roles—through workforce demand planning, critical-role prioritization, candidate experience, and inclusive hiring.
Compensation Administration & Process Excellence:
- Own compensation administration, annual cycle execution, job and salary data maintenance, and operational support for market benchmarking and pay actions in partnership with Finance and the Chief Culture & Engagement Officer.
- Lead process redesign, internal controls, and audit readiness across people operations; establish strong change-control discipline for systems and process updates.
- Evaluate, implement, and optimize automation and AI-enabled solutions that improve operational accuracy, reporting quality, and team member self-service.
Leadership profile:
- Judgment: can assess facts, risk, fairness, and business context without becoming overly legalistic or overly informal.
- Operational rigor: builds repeatable processes, documentation standards, controls, and service expectations.
- Coaching and influence: equips leaders to handle people issues earlier, more consistently, and with stronger accountability.
- Credibility and discretion: earns trust across executives, people leaders, and team members in sensitive situations.
- Balanced orientation: combines empathy, fairness, and human-centered leadership with clarity, standards, and follow-through.
Basic Qualifications - Education and Experience:
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree or professional certification in Human Resources, Business, Systems, Finance, or a related discipline preferred.
- 10 or more years of progressive experience in HR operations, payroll, benefits, HRIS, talent acquisition operations, compliance administration, and/or shared services leadership.
- Demonstrated success leading payroll, benefits, HRIS, talent acquisition operations, and compliance administration in a growth-oriented environment with strong customer-service expectations.
- Deep experience with Workday or a comparable HRIS platform; strong systems thinking and comfort with workflow design, reporting, and vendor management.
- Working knowledge of relevant employment and benefits laws and regulations, including wage and hour requirements, leave administration, ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, I-9 / E-Verify, and recordkeeping obligations.
- Strong analytical and project management capabilities, including the ability to prioritize, standardize, and improve complex operational processes.
Preferred Qualifications and Leadership Profile:
- Experience in energy, utilities, clean energy, professional services, or another multi-state, growth-oriented environment.
- A disciplined operator who can establish controls without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Strong customer-service orientation, sound judgment, and the ability to collaborate effectively with executive leaders, people leaders, and frontline team members.
- Comfort leading through change, implementing new technology, and building credibility in an environment that needs both stabilization and scale.
Travel Requirements
- Up to 30% travel required
Physical Demands and Work Environment
- Required to sit, stand, walk; talk and hear; and ability to touch and handle tools and/or controls
- Ability to lift up to 30 pounds
- Noise level is typically moderate
- Employee could be exposed to fumes and/or airborne particles and risk of potential shock
Note: The physical demand and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Note: Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.
The above information describes the general duties and requirements necessary to perform the principle functions of the position. This shall not be construed as a detailed description of all the duties and requirements that may be necessary in this position.
Walker-Miller Energy Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
At Walker-Miller Energy Services, we Embrace Equity by encouraging qualified candidates from all backgrounds and identities to apply for open positions! We have several optional questions about candidates' demographics, but they do not impact hiring decisions. In fact, all candidate demographic data is anonymized for compliance purposes and to reduce unconscious bias in the hiring process, so none of the information collected here will be attached to your individual application. We ask for this information because Walker-Miller is committed to inclusive recruitment practices, so we hold ourselves to a high standard in developing a candidate pool that is diverse in background, experience, and perspective.
Walker-Miller Energy Services participates in E-Verify. Which confirms employment authorization of all newly hired employees and most existing employees through an electronic database maintained by the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security. For new hires, the E-Verify process is completed in conjunction with the Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification on or before the first day of work. E-Verify is not used as a tool to pre-screen candidates. For up-to-date information on E-Verify, go to www.uscis.gov and click on 'E-Verify' located near the bottom of the page.
E-Verify Notice
E-Verify Notice (Spanish)
Right to Work Notice
Right to Work Notice (Spanish)
