Director, People & Culture

Work Friendly Consulting; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Work Friendly Consulting in Durham, North Carolina, is partnering with Fleet Response to identify a Director of People & Culture. This role leads employee relations, compliance, and HR operations across multiple sites, with a hands-on, influential approach to HR as a core business function.

The position requires 8+ years in progressive HR roles, experience supporting distributed teams, and strong knowledge of multi-state employment law. Travel to partner sites is anticipated as needed.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive HR experience with ownership of complex employee relations
• Experience supporting a multi-site, field-based, or distributed workforce
• Working command of multi-state employment law — wage and hour, classification, leave, etc.

Responsibilities

• Own employee relations, compliance, and HR operations across sites; run sensitive matters end-to-end
• Standardize onboarding, offboarding, performance, and leave processes across sites; enable leadership with actionable reporting
• Develop and coach HR team members with standardized processes and accountability measures
• Design and implement a career path method to improve retention and talent development
• Act as culture ambassador to further SERVE values across the organization
• Partner with Safety and Operations on OSHA records and return-to-work programs

Skills

HR leadership

Employee relations

ADP experience

Multi-state employment law

HRIS ownership

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, or related field

Tools

ADP

HRIS

Job description

Director, People & Culture

Work Friendly Consulting Durham, North Carolina, United States

About this position

About This Opportunity

Work Friendly is excited to partner with FLEET Response in the search for their next Director of People & Culture.

As FLEET's HR consulting partner, Work Friendly provides ongoing strategic and hands-on HR support, including talent acquisition, employee relations, compliance, and people operations. We're working closely with FLEET's leadership team to identify an experienced HR leader who can help strengthen and scale their People function.

This is a direct-hire opportunity with FLEET Response, reporting directly to their CEO. The selected candidate will also work closely with Work Friendly as an ongoing HR consulting partner, collaborating on people strategy, HR initiatives, and organizational priorities.

FLEET Response is a national network of industry leading restoration companies. When water, fire, storm, or mold damage disrupts a home or a business, our teams are the ones who show up, and stay until life is back to normal. Leadership and innovation are at the heart of everything we do, and we continually raise our standards for quality and safety built within a team focused culture.

We treat every customer the way we would want to be treated: reliable workmanship, strong values, and real accountability. Our local specialists guide people through recovery with clear communication and daily support. Restoration starts here, and it starts with the people who do the work.

WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

We are building the HR function this company deserves. Today, too much of HR is reactive: issues surface late, managers handle hard conversations without a playbook, and execution of processes varies from site to site. This role changes that.

The Director of Human Resources owns employee relations, compliance, and HR operations across our sites, and reports directly to the CEO. It is a hands-on seat with real authority: you will run the sensitive matters yourself, build the systems that keep them from recurring, and give leadership a clear-eyed read on people risk before it becomes a problem. If you want a role where HR is treated as a business function and not a paperwork department, this is that role.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

• HR operations you can trust. ADP runs clean, accurate, and on time. Onboarding, offboarding, performance, and leave standardized across sites, with room for how each location actually operates. Reporting leadership can act on.
• Talent and team. Critical roles filled with a consistent hiring process. An HR team that is coached, developed, and clear on the standard — so the function does not run through one person.
• Manager capability and culture. You translate leadership's direction into practices managers actually use. You coach people-managers through difficult conversations and performance issues so problems get handled early — and you are credible in the field, not just at headquarters.
• Career path and retention. Development and implementation of a career path methodology that ensures a high retention of talent within the organization.
• Culture ambassador. You are creative and assist with the implementation of initiatives that further the organization’s core values of SERVE, (Speed, Excellence, Relationships First, Vital Communication, Enjoyment) amongst our team members.
• Employee relations. You are the company's senior-most resource for sensitive and high-risk matters — harassment, discrimination, misconduct, policy violations. You proactively identify and address employee relations risks before they elevate, and when issues do arise, you handle them start to finish: fair, timely, well-documented, and legally defensible. You bring counsel in early when a matter warrants it, and you close the loop with everyone involved.
• Compliance across every site. Multi-state wage and hour, classification, I-9 and E-Verify, personnel files, handbook and policy. You partner with Safety and Operations on OSHA recordkeeping, incident response, and return-to-work. You watch the law change and update practice before it becomes a problem.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

First 30 days

You know the open ER caseload, the HR team, and the compliance posture. You have named the top people risks and installed a clear intake and triage rhythm. You have made yourself visible to the people you support.

By 60 days

You understand the big picture company vision and goals. Corrective and communication plans are live on the top risks. Weekly case review is running. Manager coaching standard is defined. You have a baseline for engagement and turnover.

By 90 days

HR is visibly moving from reactive to proactive. Leadership is not surprised by people issues. Compliance gaps are closed or on a documented path. Next-quarter priorities are set.

After the first 90 days, performance is measured against a written scorecard: investigation timeliness and defensibility, repeat escalations, manager coaching coverage, compliance findings, engagement and regretted turnover, and time-to-fill on critical roles. You will know exactly what good looks like.

WHAT YOU BRING

• 8+ years of progressive HR experience, including direct ownership of complex employee relations matters you ran yourself — intake to resolution
• Experience supporting a multi-site, field-based, or distributed workforce (restoration, construction, skilled trades, logistics, healthcare services, or similar)
• Working command of multi-state employment law — wage and hour, classification, leave, accommodation, and termination risk
• Proven experience leading and developing HR team members through standardized processes, coaching, and accountability measures that create a scalable, sustainable function
• Demonstrated experience fostering a company-wide culture transformation, carefully determining where standardization is needed versus bespoke solutions based on region-al or location needs.
• Hands-on HRIS ownership and demonstrated experience translating people data into meaningful insights and recommendations; ADP experience strongly preferred
• A track record of coaching managers at all levels of the organization while providing practical guidance on performance management, accountability, and workplace challenges.Experience building and standardizing core HR processes that balance organizational consistency with site-specific business needs
• Judgment under pressure: you stay calm in high-tension situations, keep confidences, and tell leadership what they need to hear
• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, or a related field — or equivalent experience that clearly did the job
• Willingness to travel to partner-company sites

NICE TO HAVE

• SHRM-SCP, SHRM-CP, SPHR, or PHR
• Experience in a private-equity-backed or multi-brand environment, or integrating HR practice across acquired companies
• Exposure to OSHA recordkeeping, workers’ compensation, and return-to-work programs
• Conversational Spanish

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Salary range: $120k – $140k annually, depending on experience.

Bonus eligibility: 10-20% of base compensation target.

Benefits include [medical, dental, and vision insurance; company-paid short-term disability and life insurance; 401(k) with company match; unlimited PTO and holidays; mileage / travel reimbursement].

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