HR Director | Director of People Operations

Our growth is limited by hiring, not by demand. Have you ever been the reason a company could grow faster?

We are hiring a Director of People Operations.

GC Realty & Development has spent 23 years building a property management company that actually runs on its people. We manage roughly 1,500 units for 500+ private investors across more than 100 Chicagoland villages, with an in house maintenance team, a stateside operations staff, and a growing offshore bench across Latin America. We are not trying to get bigger by adding headcount. We are trying to get better by getting the right people into the right seats and holding a standard.

This is not a compliance role. You own hiring, manager development, and performance for a company that has grown faster than its people processes.  You report to the CEO. The Recruiter reports to you. No HR layer above you, no committee to route decisions through.

$100,000 to $120,000 base, plus an annual performance bonus of up to 10% of base.

What You Get:

• Salary: $100,000 to $120,000 per year based on experience
• Annual Performance Bonus: Up to 10% of base salary
• Retirement: 401k plan
• Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision
• Additional Benefits: Optional life, AD&D, disability, critical illness, accident, and Healthcare FSA with employer premium assistance
• Paid Time Off: 15 days, accrued
• Paid Birthday: Take a paid day off during your birthday month
• Paid Holidays: 7 paid holidays recognized annually
• Book Club: Better Book Club, up to $500 per calendar year to read
• Leadership Training: Company funded manager and leadership development

What You'll Do:

• Own Hiring End To End: Direct the Recruiter, run the scorecard and screening process, and use behavioral assessments to place people correctly. Attitude and competency first, technical skill second. We hire A Players or we leave the seat open.
• Own The GC Realty Experience™: Our four values are the hiring standard, the review standard, and the promotion standard. You make sure that is true in practice, not just on the wall.
• Keep A Pulse On The Team: Run the engagement survey, act on what it says, lead recognition and morale work, and keep problems reaching leadership before they turn into resignations.
• Build Managers Into Leaders: Coach department heads on setting expectations, giving direct feedback, and building teams that do not need checking on. Most of our managers were promoted from doing the work. Teach them how to lead it.
• Run Performance Management With Teeth: Design and execute the review framework, run talent reviews, reward results instead of effort, and address underperformance early instead of letting it sit for a year.
• Build Onboarding That Works: Structured programs that get a new team member producing in weeks, not wandering for 90 days.
• Plan The Workforce: Decide what work belongs in Roselle and what belongs offshore, forecast staffing against door growth, and put people where they have the most impact.
• Streamline The HR Function: Automate what should be automated, keep us legally clean, and cut anything that slows the business down without protecting it.

What You'll Bring:

• People Operations Leadership: 5 years minimum leading People Operations, 8+ preferred, covering recruiting, onboarding, employee relations, and conflict management. You have run the function, not supported someone who ran it.
• A Hiring Track Record: You can point to specific roles you filled, how long it took, and who is still there. Volume hiring across multiple departments at once is a plus.
• Manager Coaching: Real experience developing managers, including telling a manager something they did not want to hear and holding your position.
• Performance Systems: You have built or rebuilt a review and accountability framework from scratch, not just administered someone else's.
• Data And Assessments: Working knowledge of Predictive Index or a comparable behavioral assessment, and comfort in the numbers behind retention, time to fill, and cost per hire. You know what those numbers should change about your strategy.
• Employment Law Fluency: Familiarity with federal, Illinois, and Chicago employment law, plus a practical approach to staying compliant without building red tape.
• Industry: Property management, real estate, or service industry experience preferred but not required. Multi location or offshore team experience is a strong plus.

Why This Role Exists

We have grown to 1,500 doors with people processes built for a much smaller company. Hiring is reactive, manager development is inconsistent, and we are carrying performance issues longer than we should. Leadership knows it. That is why this seat is open and why it reports to the CEO instead of sitting three layers down.

If you want a role where you inherit a mature HR function and keep it running, this is not it. If you want to build one and own the outcome, keep reading.

The GC Realty Experience™

With over 20 years of industry experience, GC Realty & Development, LLC is a recognized leader in Property Management. Our success is built on providing outstanding service to our clients and residents. Anything less won't cut it.

What makes us different? At GC Realty & Development, we live and breathe The GC Realty Experience™ every day through our core values: RESPONSIVE, OWN IT, GET STUFF DONE (GSD), and BETTER RESULTS. These principles guide our actions, words, and decisions, making every interaction with our brand memorable. We aim to provide the right solutions the first time, leaving a lasting positive impact.

Are you the right fit? We encourage you to check out our reputation online and our podcast, Straight Up Chicago Investor.