Overview

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The Foundation’s People & Culture team has an opening for a Senior Manager. Reporting to the Global Director of People & Culture, the Senior Manager, People and Culture is responsible for aligning the foundation’s operations and objectives with management and People and Culture (P&C) practices. They have a keen understanding of the foundation’s strategy, providing dynamic solutions using experience, knowledge, data analyses, and organizational agility to guide organizational leaders’ decision making.

The Partner acts as a trusted advisor and coach to management and staff and builds effective partnerships at all levels of the organization. They work alongside peers in the partner group and centers of excellence to move work forward.  This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities but does serve as a coach and mentor for the P&C associate role.

This role is also responsible for delivering a comprehensive and client-driven people service aligned with the foundation’s values.  The Senior Manager, People and Culture is responsible for carrying out the day-to-day P&C  functions related to:

  • Organizational design
  • Workforce planning
  • Employee relations 
  • Performance management 
  • Onboarding and Offboarding
  • Employee Engagement and Events
  • Generalist policies design and development.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Principal duties and responsibilities, including but not limited to

  • Working with the Foundation’s leadership to develop and implement organizational design and workforce planning strategies. 
  • Collaborate with organizational leadership to create and implement resource planning models to identify competency, knowledge and talent gaps and develop specific programs for the filling of the gaps.
  • In collaboration with other partners and in consultation with the foundation’s leadership, assisting with the design and development of strategies related to employee relations and performance management and providing support for managers and staff on employee relations, and performance management.
  • Managing and resolving complex employee relations issues, including  conducting effective, thorough and objective investigations in partnership with the Office of Legal Services 
  • Providing day-to-day performance management guidance to managers (e.g., coaching, counseling, career development, disciplinary actions).
  • Partnering with the Global Director to develop and incorporate the foundation’s global diversity, equity and inclusion initiative for the P&C partner function.
  • Responsible for designing and developing employee engagement strategies and events and managing the foundation’s onboarding and offboarding processes
  • Playing a strategic role in the direction of the people management function in the organization by undertaking appropriate diagnostic measures. Analyzing trends and metrics to develop solutions, programs and policies.
  • Facilitating effective implementation of new people management initiatives in different departments and levels of the foundation, as appropriate.
  • Acting as a liaison between departmental heads and management and the Centers of Expertise, ensuring CoEs are brought in where required. 
  • Ensure practices are aligned, uniformed and equitably implemented across P&C partner functions.
  • Conducts research, consistently develops and equitably implements P&C procedures and policies. 

QUALIFICATIONS

  • BA/BS plus 7 years of experience across a range of competencies in human resources as an HR business partner/generalist, or equivalent experience
  • Must possess strong interpersonal and relationship building skills including an ability to quickly form strong connections,  build trusted working relationships with others, and earn the trust of staff at all levels 
  • Knowledge of or experience in talent acquisition, professional and organizational development, compensation and benefits administration, including healthcare and retirement; Knowledge of labor laws and practices 
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills and ability to clearly deliver information and guidance 
  • Ability to demonstrate a passion and skill for drawing actionable insights from raw information and data, and to perform standard analyses on existent people management policies and programs and draw actionable solutions
  • Outstanding coaching, consultative and influencing skills with a desire and ability  to listen and learn from diverse perspectives. 
  • Strong leadership skills and qualities including the ability to work collaboratively with others and effectively in teams.  
  • Must have strong organization and project management skills, and the ability to manage multiple assignments simultaneously
  • Prior experience working in a private foundation, university, or large, global non-profit organization is preferred.  Alternatively, a mix of corporate and non-profit experience, or a combination of corporate experience with strong volunteer/non-profit board experience.  

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

This position is primarily a sedentary role. However, the person in this position may need to occasionally move about inside the office to liaise with internal staff, access files, office machinery and a copy machine/printer. Additionally, domestic/international travel will be expected when it is safe to travel, approximately 20% of working time. Some travel is directly related to grant-making, but also required to attend team conferences, retreats and meetings.

The Ford Foundation is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its programs, and operations. As part of this commitment, the Foundation will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application process, please contact, talentacquisitionhr@fordfoundation.org or call (212) 573-4627.

SALARY: The Ford Foundation is committed to practicing salary transparency. The minimum salary for this position is $172,000 and the maximum is $200,000.

LOCATION: This position is based in the foundation’s New York office. We operate in a hybrid model and require staff to be in the office three days per week.