Position: Director, People Operations

Department: People

FLSA Status: Exempt

Reports to: Chief People Officer

Direct Reports: Generalist, Specialist

Date Issued: November 30, 2022

Location: Washington, DC (Hybrid)

The Mission

Polaris is leading a data-driven social justice movement to fight sex and labor trafficking at the massive scale of the problem – 25 million people worldwide deprived of the freedom to choose how they live and work.

For more than a decade, Polaris has assisted thousands of victims and survivors through the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, helped ensure countless traffickers were held accountable and built the largest known U.S. data set on actual trafficking experiences. With the guidance of survivors, we use that data to improve the way trafficking is identified, how victims and survivors are assisted, and how communities, businesses and governments can prevent human trafficking by transforming the underlying inequities and oppressions that make it possible.

About Opportunity

We are looking for a Director of People Operations who is passionate about building amazing experiences for employees. As an organization, we are optimizing our infrastructure, and are seeking candidates who have experience modernizing and streamlining processes, building capacity, and strengthening engagement. Our ideal candidate must be enthusiastic about aligning our mission to our people strategy and have a steadfast and courageous commitment to compassion, impact, and excellence.

This person will inherit a team and partner with directors to develop modernized and efficient people operations ensuring streamlined business processes and systems to meet and advance organizational requirements. This Director of People Operations will report to the Chief People Officer.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the day-to-day operations including, but not limited to: employee relations, compliance, total rewards strategy, employee engagement and experience, and HR systems.
• Oversee and manage Employee Relations: Conducts complex investigations and mitigates risk by ensuring compliance with EEO Policies, all Federal, State, and local employment regulations as well as company policies. Recommends solutions to Chief People Officer and facilitates implementation of a resolution that promotes fair employment practices.
• Perform trend and root cause analysis on Employee Relations issues and provide findings and recommendations for mitigating future occurrences.
• Partner with the Chief People Officer on all Human Resources initiatives and projects.
• Design effective organizational engagement strategies with a focus on retention of high performers, high potentials, and key contributors.
• Effectively interface with all levels of the organization to coordinate and oversee all people operations activities.
• Proactively evaluate compensation, benefits, and wellness programs to ensure they are highly competitive and comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
• Manage the staff compensation plan and ensure equity in salaries for new and existing staff.
• Drive excellence through data analysis and capturing critical People & Culture metrics while staying abreast of emerging trends and best practices.
• Communicate and ensure compliance and consistency with physical and remote office practices and policies and compliance with all employment-related laws.
• Support HR administrative systems (e.g., payroll, vendor management) and processes to ensure they are highly reliable and executed seamlessly, with a proactive approach.
• Oversee staffing and recruiting function to ensure best practices for hiring and talent management is executed organizationally.
• Oversee and evaluate the current People & Culture systems and maintain personnel files and Personnel Action Forms (PAFs).
• Conduct research and analysis of organizational trends including review of reports and metrics from the organization’s human resource information system (HRIS) or talent management system.
• Oversee and maintain optimal function of the HRIS, which may include installation, customization, development, maintenance, and upgrade to applications, systems, and modules.
• Manage distributed workforce program to ensure seamless integration with Polaris workforce culture.
• Commitment to the National Human Trafficking Hotline mission and Polaris values;
• Other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

This job description provides a summary of the major duties and responsibilities performed by individuals in this position. Incumbents may be asked to perform other tasks not specifically written in this job.

Required Qualifications

• Deep passion! Mad skills! Low ego!
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressive experience in Human Resources; or seven (7) years of progressive experience in Human Resources and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or a related field.
• Excellent development and execution of strategies, process improvement, culture and system change, meeting facilitation and design, and communications.
• Possess a strong understanding of performance management, change management, benefits, compliance, employee relations, and compensation planning.
• Proven ability to act with sound integrity, tact, and discretion as well as excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
• Must be a trusted advisor, coach, and mentor to the operational leaders.
• Outstanding leadership and communication skills and empathy for employees at all levels.
• Strong interpersonal skills, confident with ability to make informed decisions in a fast-paced work environment.
• Able to think strategically beyond tactical execution.
• Strong analytical problem-solving skills and continuous improvement mindset
• Must have working knowledge of standard employment law and EEO requirements

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in organizational development or related field
• Experience managing people operations in a distributed workforce environment

Communication (“External” Changes based upon position)

• Internal: Ability to communicate with all levels of staff;
• External: Ability to respond quickly and calmly in alarming situations.

Working Conditions

• Typical office setting

Physical Requirements (can change with position)

• Prolonged sitting, chiefly at a computer terminal;
• Occasional bending, stooping and stretching;
• Requires eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate a computer, telephone, calculator, and other office equipment; and
• Requires normal range of hearing and eyesight to record, prepare, and communicate in writing, in person and by phone.

Our priority is the health and safety of our members, colleagues, partners, and community. Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination is required for employment. If you are unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons or sincerely-held religious beliefs, we will consider requests for reasonable accommodations consistent with our policy, and where we are able to provide such accommodations without undue hardship to the company pursuant to applicable law. All requests for proof of vaccination or for exemptions from the vaccination requirement will be subject to any limitations stipulated by current state and/or federal laws.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Organization Background

VALUES: Polaris is grounded in a set of values and organizational beliefs and strives to model and embody these values in all that it does.

We work with humility and a spirit of service. We serve a mission that is bigger than ourselves, and we recognize that we cannot do this work alone. We foster a caring community of mutual support, and we actively pursue collaborations and partnerships to expand our reach.

Victims’ and survivors’ experiences ground our efforts. We honor the dignity, agency, and resilience of victims and survivors of slavery, both past and present. We serve, work alongside, and stand in solidarity with those who have been most affected by modern slavery.

We strive for inclusion and equity. We engage different perspectives to inform our decisions, actions, and positions. We create opportunities that empower individuals of diverse backgrounds and circumstances. We acknowledge the structural inequities that lead to human trafficking and modern slavery, which drives us to create just and equitable solutions.

We approach our work with courage. We promote a culture of inquiry, innovation, risk-taking, and continuous learning. We are resilient and evolve when faced with obstacles or failure. We recognize that what is typical or traditional is not always optimal.

We create positive impact and achieve results. We leverage and cultivate the strengths of our staff, and we work with discipline, integrity, and a commitment to excellence. We embrace a measurement culture to track our progress. We view impact holistically, considering multiple sectors and the effects on individuals’ lives, as we pursue systemic and social change to eradicate modern slavery

DIVERSITY STATEMENT:

Polaris designs and implements data-driven strategies to prevent and disrupt human trafficking, and restore freedom to survivors. Achieving this ambitious goal requires both trafficking-specific systemic interventions and broader cultural and structural shifts that reduce the inequities that lead to human trafficking. While Polaris alone cannot build a more diverse, just, equitable, and inclusive society, both the success of our work and our organizational values require modeling in the workplace the change we want to see in the world.

This means cultivating a workforce, organizational culture, and priorities that respect and celebrate a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team made up of individuals with different identities, lived experiences, and backgrounds. Within both our team and across every part of our work, we strive to integrate and elevate the full range of survivor voices.

This is a living commitment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are values to be manifested daily, in the work we do, the decisions we make, and the way that we treat each other and the people we seek to serve. This means creating space where staff can be included, heard, valued, and set up for success, and w