Vice President of Human Resources - Confidential Contracted Executive Opportunity
A complex, highly regulated, unionized organization based in Rhode Island is seeking an experienced human resources executive to lead its day-to-day HR operations and translate executive workforce strategy into consistent, timely, and compliant services.
This is a senior contracted role performed under a professional-services agreement. It is not an employee position. The selected professional will serve as the organization’s principal operational HR advisor, lead the HR team, strengthen accountability and internal controls, and provide practical guidance to executives and managers.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead daily Human Resources operations, establish priorities, assign responsibilities, monitor deadlines, and ensure responsive service to employees and managers.
- Supervise, coach, and evaluate HR professionals while establishing clear performance expectations, quality-control practices, backup coverage, and accountability for deliverables.
- Advise management on employee relations, attendance, performance, conduct, corrective action, workplace conflict, and consistent application of policies and collective bargaining agreements.
- Conduct or oversee workplace investigations and ensure allegations, evidence, findings, recommendations, and resulting actions are timely, impartial, and appropriately documented.
- Administer performance-management processes, including goal setting, evaluations, performance improvement plans, management guidance, and completion tracking.
- Manage grievance intake, investigation, hearings, responses, deadlines, and labor-contract administration.
- Support senior leadership in collective bargaining, arbitration, labor strategy, and significant employee-relations matters.
- Oversee recruitment, workforce planning, job postings, candidate screening, interviews, testing, background checks, offers, onboarding, and hiring metrics.
- Oversee payroll and benefits administration, workers’ compensation, occupational injury matters, employee leave, workplace accommodations, return-to-work processes, and related vendor performance.
- Maintain effective HR and payroll controls, including appropriate approvals, segregation of duties, reconciliations, audit trails, exception reporting, and corrective-action tracking.
- Lead employee training, manager development, succession planning, retention initiatives, engagement efforts, and other workforce-development programs.
- Monitor compliance with applicable employment laws, collective bargaining agreements, benefit-plan requirements, reporting obligations, record-retention standards, and organizational policies.
- Develop and maintain HR policies, procedures, templates, service standards, compliance calendars, and documented workflows.
- Produce and analyze workforce metrics addressing vacancies, time to fill, turnover, overtime, absenteeism, leave, grievances, investigations, payroll corrections, training compliance, and overdue actions.
- Prepare regular workforce, compliance, risk, and operational reports for senior leadership, auditors, and other authorized stakeholders.
- Partner with legal counsel on significant discipline, accommodations, litigation, administrative charges, subpoenas, investigations, labor matters, and preservation obligations.
- Lead special projects and perform other related services as assigned.
Leadership Responsibilities
The Vice President will:
- Directly supervise and develop a multidisciplinary HR team.
- Provide functional guidance to managers throughout the organization.
- Manage HR consultants and vendors within delegated authority.
- Monitor service quality, cost, compliance, and performance.
- Establish reliable processes for delegation, review, escalation, and quality assurance.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in human resources, labor relations, business administration, public administration, organizational leadership, or a related field.
- At least ten years of progressively responsible human resources experience, including significant employee-relations and supervisory responsibility.
- At least five years of experience leading an HR function or major HR program in a complex, regulated, unionized, public-sector, or similarly operational environment.
- Demonstrated experience with workplace investigations, discipline, performance management, recruitment, leave and accommodation administration, payroll and benefits oversight, HR compliance, and policy implementation.
- Demonstrated ability to interpret and administer collective bargaining agreements and work effectively with legal counsel.
- Strong judgment, discretion, writing, analytical, presentation, project-management, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to handle confidential, sensitive, and privileged information appropriately.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in human resources, labor relations, business administration, public administration, law, or a related field.
- SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or comparable senior-level professional certification.
- Experience with public-sector labor relations, collective bargaining, arbitration, or public-authority employment practices.
- Experience implementing HR information systems, workforce dashboards, payroll controls, succession-planning programs, and organizational-development initiatives.
Core Competencies
- Executive judgment and trusted-advisor capability.
- Operational leadership, delegation, and quality assurance.
- Labor and employee-relations expertise.
- Accountability, consistency, fairness, and sound documentation.
- Workforce analytics and evidence-based decision-making.
- Ability to balance legal compliance, employee considerations, operational needs, and organizational risk.
- Professional discretion and the ability to manage sensitive matters in a high-accountability environment.
Decision-Making and Escalation
The Vice President will have authority to manage routine HR operations and provide guidance consistent with approved policies, collective bargaining agreements, budgets, and delegated authority.
Matters requiring prompt escalation include significant discipline; executive personnel matters; material investigations; discrimination, harassment, retaliation, fraud, violence, or protected activity; collective bargaining strategy; arbitration or side agreements; litigation or agency action; material policy exceptions; and issues presenting significant financial, regulatory, operational, or reputational risk.
Engagement Requirements
- This role is primarily performed in a professional office environment and requires regular on-site availability in Rhode Island.
- Attendance at meetings, hearings, investigations, and off-site activities may be required.
- The selected professional must be available to respond to urgent labor, employee-relations, operational, or executive matters outside normal business hours when necessary.
- The engagement is subject to applicable confidentiality, conflict-of-interest, information-security, records-retention, insurance, and other contractual requirements.
- Supervisory and functional authority may be exercised only within the authority expressly delegated by the organization.
Contracted Engagement
This opportunity is structured as a professional-services engagement and not as an employee position. The selected individual or firm will provide services under a written agreement governing the scope, term, deliverables, compensation, performance standards, confidentiality, insurance, termination rights, and other conditions of the engagement.
Nothing in this posting guarantees a minimum term or volume of work or authorizes the selected contractor to bind the organization except as expressly delegated in writing.
How to Apply
Qualified candidates should submit a résumé and letter of interest describing their experience leading an HR function in a complex, unionized, and regulated environment. Application materials will be handled confidentially.
The organization is committed to equal opportunity and evaluates qualified candidates without regard to any status protected by applicable law.
Pay: $160,000.00 - $180,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
Work Location: In person
