Associate HR Consultant

Work In Progress Consulting; United States; Remote; USD 83,000 - 138,000; Part time

Job summary

Work In Progress Consulting (WIP) seeks an Associate Consultant of Human Resources/People Operations to advise nonprofit and philanthropic clients. This remote US role requires at least five years of HR management or director-level experience, with ability to work on diverse projects and provide high-quality deliverables.

The position is a 1099 hourly contract with variable hours, averaging about 10 hours per week, across multiple clients.

Qualifications

• Minimum five years of management- or director-level HR experience.
• Experience in compliance, hiring, and employee life cycle.
• Experience serving nonprofits, philanthropic foundations, or small businesses.

Responsibilities

• Work from defined scope of work and autonomously decide how to deliver outputs.
• Produce high-quality deliverables for clients without relying on AI.
• Lead client coaching relationships and provide advisory support.
• Schedule and facilitate client meetings and manage timelines.
• Respond to client inquiries within two business days.

Skills

People operations leadership

HR compliance risk

Inclusion & DEI

Compensation planning

Job description

Work in Progress Consulting (WIP) is seeking an Associate Consultant of Human Resources/People Operations to join their team. Ideal candidates will have at least five years of management- or director-level experience in human resources, compliance, hiring, and the employee life cycle, and will be committed to providing high-quality, customized services and advising to progressive nonprofit organizations, philanthropic foundations, small businesses, and organizing groups. They will be ready to tap into their experience in order to work with our clients to provide innovative, accurate, dependable deliverables and build supportive coaching relationships.

This is a 1099 hourly contract position; the number of hours varies as client work becomes available, but we expect an average of 10 hours per week.

About Work In Progress Consulting

WIP was started in 2019 with one consultant working to build equitable and accessible HR and operations systems. Our team currently serves about 45 clients per year in HR, hiring, operations, and organizational strategy through short-term and long-term projects, monthly maintenance-level accounts, and individual and group coaching.

Read more about our values here, and our compensation philosophy + note from our founder here.

Consultant Responsibilities And Workflow

• For each project, consultants will use the scope of work set out in a client contract to independently make decisions about the manner in which the deliverables are met and the work is completed
• Example project types include: HR Compliance Audits, Creating and Interpreting Policy, Compensation & Benefits Analysis, Coaching/Advising in HR, Benefits Implementation, Investigations, Workplace Culture, Reviews and Evaluations
• Facilitate meetings and produce deliverables according to the timeline in the contract or a modified timeline decided on between the client and consulting team
• Create high-quality work product /deliver service to clients consistently without the use of generative AI
• Produce expert-level client deliverables independently or within a team
• Answer internal Slack queries and external client emails within two business days
• Create agendas for and schedule meetings with clients proactively
• Following meetings, the consultant is responsible for sending out tasks and reminders, and keeping comprehensive notes in order to document and project manage

Schedule Requirements:

Candidates must be available for up to 15 hours of work per week across at least three business days within the timeframe of 9am-6pm in their time zone Monday through Friday. (Currently the bulk of our clients are on the east coast or in the midwest, so EST/CST are our preferred time zones, but availability between 7am-4pm PST is also within our scope)

The days you choose to work can be different from week to week, and you will make your own schedule in consideration of clients, who mostly operate in 9-5 positions in all US time zones.

Must be available to work at least 46 weeks per contract year. This initial 6-month contract will run from November 1, 2026 - April 30, 2027 with an option for renewal pending evaluation, so 23 weeks of availability in that timeframe are required.

This role is fully remote (within the United States)

We currently have team members in Eastern and Central time zones, but the majority of our work and our internal meetings are on Eastern Standard Time.

Requirements

Essential Qualifications & Competencies

• A minimum of five years of consultant or director-level work in People Operations, Human Resources, hiring/recruitment, team management, workplace policy creation, or similar function. If self-employment is the only experience a candidate has in Human Resources, we require at least three positive client references and three work samples
• Demonstrated experience leading organizational HR compliance and risk management, including interpreting employment requirements, developing and maintaining compliant policies and practices, identifying potential risks, and guiding organizational leaders in addressing compliance issues. The majority of our clients operate within the USA, but global experience is a bonus
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and/or implementing people-first policies that center inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility
• Experience designing and/or managing compensation strategies, including salary benchmarking, benefits planning, and setting and evaluating performance metrics