Director, Human Resources

About the role

As Director of Human Resources, you’ll be Agenda’s senior HR leader and the go-to owner of people operations, employee relations, compliance, and manager support. This is a hands-on director role. You’ll design sound HR systems, and you’ll also personally guide complex work that calls for judgment and discretion. You’ll report to the Chief of Staff, supervise our HR Manager (who handles payroll processing, benefits administration, onboarding and HRIS), and partner closely with the CEO, senior leadership, and outside employment counsel. As Agenda grows, the role offers room to shape how we support our people over the long term.

What you’ll do

• Lead HR operations and compliance. Own our HR policies, employee handbook, and annual HR calendar. Guide the organization on federal and Louisiana employment requirements, oversee benefits strategy and broker relationships, and manage the HR compliance needs of our early childhood and grant-funded work.
• Own employee relations and strengthen managers. Handle performance concerns, complaints, investigations and terminations. Coach supervisors so they can lead with confidence, and build a consistent, organization-wide performance management cycle.
• Shape talent and compensation strategy. Guide recruiting, role design, career paths and compensation analysis, and use HR and market data to inform decisions on retention, workforce planning and pay.
• Support a strong, collaborative culture. Lead manager training, use staff feedback to inform practical improvements, provide clear HR reporting to leadership, and bring a people perspective to organizational decisions.

Required Skills and Experience

• 5–7 years of progressive HR experience, with substantial hands-on work in employee relations, performance management, compliance, policy, and manager coaching (HR leadership or supervisory experience strongly preferred)
• A bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, public administration, organizational development, or a related field, or equivalent directly relevant experience
• Strong working knowledge of federal and Louisiana employment practices, including ADA, leave/FMLA, wage-and-hour classification, and workplace investigations
• A track record of designing HR processes, such as performance evaluations, policies, manager tools, and employee-relations protocols
• Experience with recruiting, compensation analysis, benefits strategy, engagement, and HR analytics
• Sound judgment, discretion with sensitive information, and a clear sense of when to bring in legal or specialist expertise
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to earn trust from senior leaders, frontline supervisors, and staff alike
• Comfort working as both strategic advisor and hands-on practitioner in a lean, growing organization
• Proficiency with HRIS systems (Rippling experience a plus)
• A genuine commitment to Agenda’s mission and to working with a diverse, mission-driven team

Recommended Skills and Experience

• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR, or comparable certification
• Experience in nonprofit, grant-funded, education, early childhood, or similarly regulated settings
• Experience with leadership development or career pathing programs