HR Director

SkyWater Search Partners; Saint Cloud (MN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

SkyWater Search Partners is partnering with a private-equity-backed company to hire their first HR Leader. This is a rare chance to design an HR function from the ground up with direct access to ownership and senior leadership in the Saint Cloud, MN area.

The role requires significant progressive HR experience, including leadership of a broad HR function, and the ability to support acquisitions, integrations, and multi-site operations.

Qualifications

• Significant progressive HR experience, including leadership of a broad HR function at the Director level or equivalent.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, integrations, organizational change, or multi-entity environments.
• Background in a multi-site, operationally complex business with a substantial hourly or blue-collar workforce.
• Strong knowledge of employee relations, compliance, performance management, compensation, benefits, and HR operations.
• Experience implementing or improving HR systems and workforce reporting.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the HR function.
• Assess current HR processes, capabilities, and infrastructure, then create a practical roadmap for what comes next.
• Establish consistent policies and best practices across locations without creating red tape.
• Strengthen the core disciplines: employee relations, performance management, compensation, benefits, talent development, recruiting, retention, and compliance.
• Build a service-oriented HR team that gives managers and employees the tools they need to succeed.
• Partner with executive leadership on the people side of acquisition due diligence and integration.
• Create a repeatable playbook for onboarding acquired businesses and aligning policies, systems, and practices.
• Retain critical talent, communicate change clearly, and protect the culture that made each business successful.
• Coach operating leaders and front-line managers on employee relations, accountability, and team effectiveness.
• Translate growth goals into actionable people strategies.
• Bring consistency and structure while preserving the entrepreneurial spirit that got the company here.
• Lead recruiting and retention for drivers, dispatchers, and operational leaders, partnering with local managers to solve real workforce challenges.
• Track turnover, time-to-fill, and retention to show what’s working.
• Build HR approaches that fit a hands-on, operational workforce.
• Improve HR technology, employee data, and workforce reporting.
• Work with payroll and outside providers to tighten processes and controls.
• Support multi-state compliance, including wage-and-hour, workers’ compensation, and return-to-work coordination

Skills

HR leadership

Acquisitions

Employee relations

Policy development

Compliance

Talent development

Recruiting

HR operations

Multi-site management

HR data & reporting

Tools

HRIS

HR technology

Job description

We’re partnering with a privately owned, private equity-backed company to hire their first ever HR Leader. The growth plan is bold: expand the footprint, acquire strong regional businesses, and build the leading platform in the region. They have the momentum and the backing. Now they need an HR leader who can build the foundation that lets them scale.

Thisa chance to design an HR function from the ground up, with direct access to ownership and senior leadership.

What you’ll do

Build and lead the HR function

• Assess current HR processes, capabilities, and infrastructure, then create a practical roadmap for what comes next
• Establish consistent policies and best practices across locations without creating red tape
• Strengthen the core disciplines: employee relations, performance management, compensation, benefits, talent development, recruiting, retention, and compliance
• Build a service-oriented HR team that gives managers and employees the tools they need to succeed

Fuel the buy-and-build strategy

• Partner with executive leadership on the people side of acquisition due diligence and integration
• Create a repeatable playbook for onboarding acquired businesses and aligning policies, systems, and practices
• Retain critical talent, communicate change clearly, and protect the culture that made each business successful

Be a trusted partner to leadership

• Coach operating leaders and front-line managers on employee relations, accountability, and team effectiveness
• Translate growth goals into actionable people strategies
• Bring consistency and structure while preserving the entrepreneurial spirit that got the company here

Own the employee experience

• Lead recruiting and retention for drivers, dispatchers, and operational leaders, partnering with local managers to solve real workforce challenges
• Track turnover, time-to-fill, and retention to show what’s working
• Build HR approaches that fit a hands-on, operational workforce

Create scalable systems

• Improve HR technology, employee data, and workforce reporting
• Work with payroll and outside providers to tighten processes and controls
• Support multi-state compliance, including wage-and-hour, workers’ compensation, and return-to-work coordination

Your first 12 months

• Assess HR capabilities and address immediate workforce and compliance needs
• Improve recruiting and retention for critical field and operational roles
• Put practical, scalable processes, systems, and reporting in place across locations
• Build the people-integration playbook for future acquisitions

What we’re looking for

• Significant progressive HR experience, including leadership of a broad HR function at the Director level or equivalent
• A track record of building, transforming, or professionalizing HR in a growing organization
• Experience supporting acquisitions, integrations, organizational change, or multi-entity environments
• Background in a multi-site, operationally complex business with a substantial hourly or blue-collar workforce
• Strong knowledge of employee relations, compliance, performance management, compensation, benefits, and HR operations
• Experience implementing or improving HR systems and workforce reporting
• The ability to partner with senior executives, coach operational leaders, and influence business decisions