Director, Employee Experience

Bucknell University; United States; Hybrid; USD 107,000 - 144,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible scheduling

Health benefits

Retirement plan with 10% employer

Paid time off

Tuition remission for employee and/or/

Wellness program

Job summary

Bucknell University in Pennsylvania seeks a Director, Employee Experience, a full-time hybrid leader responsible for strengthening leadership effectiveness, manager capability, and organizational health across campus. The role balances strategic initiatives with hands-on investigations and coaching to foster accountability, fairness, and continuous learning.

Reporting to the Interim VP, Talent, Culture, and Human Resources, the position requires a bachelor's degree, 8+ years of related

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in related field.
• Minimum of eight years of related experience.
• Four years of supervision/management experience.
• Demonstrated experience personally conducting complex workplace investigations.
• Experience coaching leaders and managers on employee relations and performance matters.
• Experience leading organizational effectiveness, leadership development, or culture initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Strategic leadership strengthens leadership effectiveness and organizational health.
• Lead employee relations investigations with careful planning and documentation.
• Provide executive coaching and leadership development.
• Oversee performance development, coaching, and accountability.
• Drive learning, development, and community engagement initiatives.

Skills

Leadership

Employee relations

Investigations

Coaching

Organizational effectiveness

Education

Bachelor’s degree in related field

Job description

Position Title: Director, Employee Experience

Position Type: Full time

Scheduled Weekly Hours: 40

Categories: Staff Exempt

Job Summary: Reporting directly to the Interim Vice President for Talent, Culture, and Human Resources, the Director of Employee Experience is a strategic and hands-on leader dedicated to strengthening leadership effectiveness, manager capability, employee relations, and overall organizational health across campus. Balancing high-level strategy with active execution, this role serves as a trusted advisor to leaders, managers, faculty, and staff by moving seamlessly between consultation, organizational strategy, leadership coaching, and direct case management. The Director designs leadership initiatives, personally conducts complex workplace investigations, facilitates conflict resolution, and advises on sensitive performance and workforce challenges—all to cultivate a supportive, high-performing environment built on accountability, fairness, respect, continuous learning, and compassion.

Job Duties

Reporting Relationships: This role will report to the Interim VP of Talent, Culture & Human Resources.

Work Schedule: This is a full-time role (40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year)

Work Setting: Hybrid role with the expectation of at least 3 days/week on campus.

What You Will Do

Strategic Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness: As a strategic advisor to the Vice President and Bucknell leadership, this role aligns institutional priorities with HR execution by strengthening leadership effectiveness, manager capabilities, and organizational health. By leveraging workforce, engagement, and performance data, the position identifies trends to resolve organizational challenges, clarify roles, and facilitate difficult conversations across academic and administrative departments. Ultimately, it balances long-term strategic initiatives - such as change management, strategic planning, and culture building, with the day-to-day operational demands of a responsive HR function.

Employee Relations and Workplace Investigations: Serving as the senior employee relations practitioner and trusted advisor on complex workplace issues, this role conducts impartial, thorough, and confidential investigations into misconduct, harassment, discrimination, and policy violations, handling everything from planning and interviews to evidence assessment, documentation, and recommendations. In addition to coaching leaders through performance concerns, workplace conflict, and corrective action, the position facilitates conflict resolution and restorative conversations while partnering with the Vice President, General Counsel, and Deputy Title IX Coordinator on high-risk institutional matters. Proactively, analyzing employee relations data and trends to identify systemic patterns, mitigate organizational risk, and recommend policy enhancements, education, and strategic interventions that foster a respectful, engaged, and high-performing culture.

Leadership Effectiveness: This role drives manager capability, accountability, and organizational performance through direct executive coaching, leadership consultation, and practical resource development for building engaged, high-performing teams. The position directs leadership development, supervising onboarding, manager education, and succession planning. Additionally, it continuously evaluates and refines leadership programming using institutional outcomes, performance trends, and organizational feedback to adapt to evolving institutional needs.

Performance Development and Manager Accountability: Leading Bucknell's performance development strategy, this role drives an equitable, consistent, and growth-focused evaluation process across the University by developing practical tools for continuous feedback, coaching, and accountability. The position directly coaches managers on setting expectations, documenting performance, delivering feedback, and implementing performance improvement plans or corrective actions when necessary. By monitoring the quality and consistency of performance activities, it identifies recurring manager capability gaps and collaborates with the leadership and learning team to deploy targeted interventions that elevate organizational performance.

Learning, Development, and Community Engagement: Providing strategic leadership and operational oversight, this role drives key talent, culture, and engagement initiatives across the institution. It leads manager and leadership development alongside comprehensive professional development for both faculty and staff, while ensuring seamless new employee orientation and onboarding. Additionally, the position fuels organizational health and workplace culture by directing employee engagement, community engagement programming, employee recognition, and respectful workplace and prevention education.

Supervision and Team Leadership: Providing direct leadership, coaching, and performance management, this role fosters collaboration across leadership development, learning, employee relations, and community engagement functions while personally retaining accountability for the institution's most complex employee relations matters. It actively supports staff professional growth through mentoring, delegation, succession planning, and hands-on participation in daily operational work. Furthermore, the position partners closely with the Deputy Title IX Coordinator on employee-related prevention education, consultation, and coordinated response efforts while fully respecting the distinct boundaries of the formal Title IX program.

Policy, Compliance, and Risk Management: Maintaining up-to-date expertise in employment law and higher education HR practices, this role consistently and equitably develops, interprets, and applies University policies. It recommends proactive policy revisions informed by legal requirements, institutional priorities, and employee relations trends while exercising exceptional judgment and strict confidentiality in sensitive situations. Additionally, the position manages institutional risk by collaborating closely with General Counsel on complex legal issues and partnering with the Deputy Title IX Coordinator to ensure employee concerns comply with institutional policy and state and federal laws. The job description's listed responsibilities and tasks are not exhaustive, additional non-essential tasks and responsibilities may be assigned as needed.

What You Will Bring

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field
• Minimum of eight (8) years of related experience
• Four (4) years of supervision/management experience
• Demonstrated experience personally conducting complex workplace investigations
• Experience coaching leaders and managers on employee relations and performance matters
• Experience leading organizational effectiveness, leadership development, or culture initiatives

Preferred, but not required:

• SHRM-SCP or SPHR certification
• Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI) certification or equivalent investigation training

Physical Requirements

Office environment/no specific or unusual physical or environmental demands

Job Exempt

Yes

Salary Range

106,800.00-144,200.00 The offer rate will be based on a review of the candidate's credentials compared to the qualifications of the position, internal equity, and our overall compensation philosophy.

Benefits

• Flexible scheduling options determined by role;
• Medical, prescription drug, vision, dental, life, and long-term disability insurance options;
• An outstanding 10% employer contribution to your retirement plan (no contribution requirement for non-exempt positions);
• Generous paid time off, including vacation and sick time, a community service day, and 19 paid holidays (including two full weeks off for Winter Break!);
• Full-time and part-time members of the faculty and staff are eligible for tuition remission for themselves.
• Additionally, full-time members of the faculty and staff are eligible for tuition remission for their spouse/spousal equivalent and are eligible for various tuition programs for their children.
• Credit for full-time benefits eligible employment at other institutions of higher education will be applied to waiting periods.
• A comprehensive employee wellness program including program incentives
• A myriad of other benefits, including parental leave, an employee assistance program, fitness center membership, and the power of your Bucknell ID card

Inclusive Excellence

Bucknell is committed to fostering an environment that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion, and seeks candidates who will contribute to a climate that supports the growth and development of a diverse campus community.

We endeavor to enhance our capacity to value and capitalize on the cultural richness that diversity brings.

We encourage all individuals to apply and do not discriminate in admissions, employment, educational programs and/or activities on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy, sex/gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, marital or family status, military or veteran status, or genetic information.

Bucknell is committed to fostering an environment that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion, and we seek candidates who will contribute to a climate that supports the growth and development of a diverse campus community.

The University provides equal opportunity without regard to race, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, national or ethnic origin, marital status, veteran status or disability in admissions, employment and in all of its educational programs and activities. We encourage individuals from historically underrepresented groups to apply.

E-Verify Bucknell University participates with the United States Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS) E-Verify program. We will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. For additional information regarding Bucknell's E-Verify requirements, please contact the office of Talent, Culture & Human Resources [phone] or email [e-mail].

About Bucknell

Founded in 1846 and located along the banks of the Susquehanna River in historic Lewisburg, Pa., Bucknell University is an undergraduate-focused institution that stands uniquely at the intersection of top-ranked liberal arts, engineering and management programs. Our students choose from more than 60 majors and 70 minors in the arts, engineering, humanities, management, and natural and social sciences, as well as extensive global study, service-learning and research opportunities. Bucknell’s 3,700 undergraduate and 30 graduate students enjoy a low 9:1 student-faculty ratio and exceptional opportunities to collaborate with faculty mentors on scholarly and artistic projects. Bucknell’s beautiful 450-acre campus includes first-rate facilities and is home to more than 90 percent of its undergraduate students. Student life is vibrant with about 200 student-run organizations, 27 NCAA Division I athletics teams, a robust arts culture, and a commitment among many of the students to community and global service work.

The Community Lewisburg (pop. 5,700) is located in central Pennsylvania and features beautiful Victorian homes, the restored art deco Campus Theatre (owned by the University), a variety of restaurants, shops and boutiques, and the Barnes & Noble at Bucknell University Bookstore. It is the seat of Union County, which has about 44,000 residents. The city of Williamsport is about a 30-minute drive from campus, and Penn State University’s main campus is about an hour away, as is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s state capital. Bucknell is within a three-hour drive of New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The cost of living is low compared to that of major U.S. cities and suburbs. Bucknell’s surroundings yield fresh produce, cultural activities and events, and outstanding opportunities for outdoor activity on the Susquehanna River and in the nearby state parks and forests. The Lewisburg Area School District receives excellent reviews for its schools at all grade levels. Lewisburg Area High School consistently ranks among the top 50 high schools in Pennsylvania for SAT scores and statewide exams.