Lead Organizational Design Project Assistant

Overview

Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) employs student-focused professionals with equity-mindsets. Established in 1963, Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) is a non-profit corporation led by a 14-member board of elected student leaders. ASI is an auxiliary organization authorized by the California State University Board of Trustees to perform Student Life functions for Cal Poly Pomona students. ASI provides opportunities for student engagement, student leadership and employment, and a multitude of Student Life programs and services e.g., recreation and wellbeing, student union and activities, student government, clubs and organizations, food pantry, and childcare. The administrative and student support areas of ASI include human resources, financial services, information technology, facilities management, and marketing. ASI employs approximately 500 part-time students and 60 full-time staff members. ASI accepts the responsibility for conscientiously managing mandatory student fees and state-owned facilities: $18M annual operating budget, $5M annual debt service, approximately $24M in reserves, and 294,253 square feet of student space (student union, recreation center, and pool). ASI is in the Cal Poly Pomona Division of Student Affairs with a dashed reporting line to Administrative Affairs. ASI serves the entire campus population, including over 28,000 students. 

As an evolving learning organization, ASI is human-centered and strives to live its values of care and growth. The purpose of ASI is to transform lives by engaging every student. With a commitment to learning, continuous improvement, and innovation, ASI employs dynamic team members who support team learning, co-creation, radical candor, psychological safety, growth mindset, and live out equity, diversity, and inclusion practices. 

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

The Human Resources (HR) department consists of a team of dynamic individuals who are committed to navigating the exciting and unprecedented opportunities presented to them. HR is currently in the process of restructuring into four distinct units (Talent Acquisition, HR Systems and Compensation, Employee Experience and Manager Support), exploring new opportunities, implementing new systems, expanding outreach, cleaning up old processes, reviewing and rethinking policies and practices to add greater value to the humans they serve and the student experiences they support. It’s an exciting journey to be on, where HR can co-create and make positive changes, remove unnecessary barriers, and streamline what they do. With bold ideas, the specialized knowledge, and experiences of team members, learned failures, and constant analysis and execution—the HR department is a powerful strategic asset to ASI!

POSITION DEFINITION

Under direct supervision of the Position & Performance Manager, the Lead Organizational Design Project Assistant provides assistance and support for manager development, position design, and performance management systems, collaborating with stakeholders to maintain a human-centered approach to employee engagement and high performance. The primary focus of the position is to lead the team working on how roles and structures fit together at ASI, supporting and guiding the project assistants, turning complicated information about jobs and reporting lines into clear, usable summaries, and reviewing their work for accuracy and clarity before it goes to the Manager.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES 

Core Responsibilities

• Lead, train, and coordinate the workflow of Organizational Design Project Assistants (2); ensuring consistency and completeness of project tasks.
• Lead the coordination of the team’s organizational design work to ensure tasks are completed thoroughly and consistently, including but not limited to tracking intake progress, checking that feedback cycles are followed, and making sure analysis templates are completed.
• Support and lead assistants on applying provided frameworks and tools, helping them turn raw inputs into clearer summaries following the manager’s direction, including but not limited to, guiding assistants through gap analysis using existing rubrics and flagging inconsistencies for review.
• Help to surface any potential confusion or ambiguity in role design and performance metrics that may affect expectations or feedback, bringing those observations to management
• Maintain and update the organizational design toolkit with manager input, including but not limited to templates, intake checklists, questionnaires, process guides, and briefing formats so the team’s work stays organized and repeatable.
• Synthesize information into user-friendly summaries using provided formats to help highlight key trends, outliers, or alignment concerns to inform manager-level decisions
• Lead the coordination and preparation for stakeholder touchpoints related to role and structure reviews, ensuring feedback is collected, organized, and passed along clearly.
• Review team deliverables for completeness and clarity before escalation, acting as an initial quality check and asking clarifying questions as needed.
• Raise complex or unclear issues with suggested questions or options, deferring final analysis and decisions to the manager
• Communicate emerging patterns or recurring themes to the manager and relevant partners, helping keep alignment on design priorities and potential risks.
• In collaboration with the Employee Experience Unit, assist with the exit assessment data gathering and review to discover trends and opportunities for improved job design

General

• Model a culture of learning and psychological safety, encouraging open feedback, iteration, and inclusive collaboration within the project team.
• Actively stays updated on current management best practices, including forward thinking trends in compliance with all legal requirements  
• Role model the behaviors of ASI core values, constantly challenging one’s mental models as an active learner 
• Performs other related duties, as assigned
• Attends all ASI required trainings, including but not limited to, annual all staff and department retreats

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS 

• Nine (9) credit units in human resources, organizational development, or related field;
• Six (6) months of experience working on an Organizational Design or Development project 
• One (1) year of leadership experience  
• Curious, coachable, and interested in learning how organizations are structured and how role clarity affects performance 
• Practicing analytical skills and ability to interpret data, identify trends and recommend improvement practices in management practices
• Experience within a university or nonprofit environment, preferred. 
• Strong interpersonal skills to establish and maintain effective relationships with staff 
• Skills in prioritizing tasks and ability to coordinate workflow to comply with deadlines and competing priorities in a timely manner under pressure of deadlines and heavy workload
• Skills in working independently and following through on assignments with minimal direction
• Ability to systematically organize material and information to optimize efficiency and minimize duplication of efforts using computer technology
• Analytical skills to recognize relevant factors, and present viable alternatives or solutions
• Ability to work as part of a team and collaborating with colleagues
• Ability to operate and working knowledge of windows software such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Word

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Frequently required to sit, talk and hear; manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, and verbal communication; use of office equipment: telephones, computer, calculator, copier and fax. 

POSITION SENSITIVITY

Based on the duties and responsibilities of this position, this position has been designated to be a sensitive position with access to sensitive data. 

BACKGROUND CHECK

A background check (including a criminal records check) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can begin employment with Associated Students, Inc., Cal Poly Pomona.  Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the application status of applicants or continued employment of current ASI employees who apply for this position.

MANDATED REPORTING REQUIREMENT

In compliance with the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) and the CSU Executive Order 1083, each ASI employee is designated as a mandated reporter and is required to sign an Acknowledgment of Mandated Reporter Status and Legal Duty to Report Child Abuse and Neglect.

SYSTEMWIDE SMOKE AND TOBACCO-FREE ENVIRONMENT EO 1108: 

Cal Poly Pomona is a smoke and tobacco-free campus. Please refer to the link below for policy information.

 http://www.calstate.edu/EO/EO-1108.html 

            COVID-19 VACCINATION

CSU, along with Associated Students Inc., strongly recommends all staff who are physically accessing campus facilities or programs to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which includes obtaining a COVID-19 booster dose. See policy at https://calstate.policystat.com/policy/11030468/latest