Human Resource Manager

Habitat for Humanity of Dane County Inc.; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Habitat for Humanity of Dane County, Inc. in Madison, WI, is seeking an experienced HR Manager to lead people operations and shape our culture.

You’ll drive recruiting, coach managers, manage employee relations, and partner with Paylocity Elevate HR + Payroll to deliver exceptional HR services. You’ll focus on building strong teams, implementing fair policies, and delivering an outstanding employee experience across the organization while aligning with our nonprofit mission.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive Human Resources experience.
• Strong hands-on recruiting and talent acquisition experience.
• Meaningful employee-relations experience, including coaching and investigations.
• Strong knowledge of employment law and HR best practices.
• Experience supporting benefits, leaves, compensation, performance management, and HR compliance.
• Experience working with Paylocity Elevate or similar HRIS/payroll platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead the full recruiting lifecycle from workforce planning to offers.
• Coach managers on interviewing practices and selection.
• Lead or coordinate workplace investigations and sensitive employment matters.
• Support performance management, goal setting, and employee development.
• Partner with leadership on discipline, terminations, and policy updates.
• Oversee benefits coordination, leaves, compliance and HR communications.

Skills

Recruiting & TA

Employee relations

HR policy & compliance

HRIS systems

Confidentiality & discretion

Communication & relationships

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR/Business

PHR/SPHR/SHRM

Tools

Paylocity Elevate

HRIS familiarity

Job description

Human Resource Manager

Habitat for Humanity of Dane County Inc. Madison, Wisconsin, United States

About this position

Description:
Habitat for Humanity of Dane County | Madison, Wisconsin
Full-Time | 32–40 Hours per Week | Exempt

Build Great Teams. Support Great People. Help Build a Stronger Community.

At Habitat for Humanity of Dane County, our mission is about people—and that includes the people who make our work possible every day.

We’re looking for an experienced, people-focused HR Manager to serve as our internal HR leader. This is an opportunity for an HR professional who wants to spend less time processing paperwork and more time recruiting great employees, coaching managers, strengthening employee relations, and creating an exceptional employee experience.

You’ll be the trusted, approachable HR presence our employees and managers can turn to, while working alongside our leadership team and our external HR partner, Paylocity Elevate HR + Payroll.

If you love the people side of HR, enjoy solving problems, and want your work to have a direct impact on both employees and organizational culture, this may be the role for you.

What You’ll Focus On

Recruiting & Talent Acquisition

This is a major focus of the position.

You’ll lead our recruiting efforts and help Habitat Dane find, attract, and hire great people.

• Lead the full recruiting lifecycle—from workforce planning and job postings through interviews, selection, offers, and hiring
• Partner closely with hiring managers to understand staffing needs and develop effective recruiting strategies
• Build candidate pipelines and identify new recruiting sources and community partnerships
• Manage applicant communication, screening, interview coordination, references, and candidate follow-up
• Create a professional, timely, and welcoming candidate experience
• Coach hiring managers on consistent and effective interviewing and selection practices
• Use compensation and market data to support hiring recommendations
• Track recruiting metrics such as time to fill, source effectiveness, and turnover trends

Employee Relations & Manager Coaching

This is the other major focus of the position.

You’ll be the primary internal HR resource for employees and managers.

• Build trusted relationships throughout the organization and maintain an approachable HR presence
• Coach managers through performance concerns, attendance issues, conflict, corrective action, documentation, and difficult conversations
• Lead or coordinate workplace investigations
• Partner with leadership on disciplinary actions, terminations, organizational changes, and other sensitive employment matters
• Identify employee‑relations trends and recommend proactive solutions
• Help ensure policies and workplace practices are applied fairly and consistently

Employee Experience & Performance

Great HR goes beyond solving problems. You’ll also help us create an environment where employees can thrive.

• Serve as a coach and thought partner to managers on day‑to‑day people leadership
• Lead the performance‑management cycle
• Support managers with goal setting, feedback, performance improvement, and employee development
• Support employee engagement, retention, recognition, and workplace culture initiatives
• Identify training and professional development needs
• Help ensure new employees feel welcomed, informed, and connected
• Lead the employee‑facing offboarding experience and use exit feedback to identify trends and opportunities

Benefits, Leave & Employee Support

You’ll serve as the internal connection point for employees while partnering with our external providers.

• Serve as the employee contact for benefits questions
• Partner with our benefits broker, carriers, and Paylocity
• Coordinate open enrollment communication and employee support
• Coordinate workers’ compensation, FMLA, STD/LTD, workplace accommodations, and return‑to‑work processes
• Help employees navigate important employment and leave events with clear, timely communication

Compensation, Policies & Compliance

• Support compensation planning, merit processes, pay changes, internal equity reviews, and compensation recommendations
• Partner with Paylocity Elevate on policies, handbook updates, compliance resources, acknowledgements, and training
• Interpret and communicate HR policies and recommend organization‑specific improvements
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of employment law and HR best practices
• Escalate legal or compliance concerns when appropriate

A Different Kind of HR Manager Role

We have intentionally designed this position so our internal HR leader can focus on people rather than transactions.

Habitat Dane partners with Paylocity Elevate HR + Payroll for significant HRIS administration, payroll processing, onboarding/offboarding workflows, compliance support, benefits administration, and other routine HR functions.

As our HR Manager, you’ll oversee that partnership, make sure we are getting the value and service we expect, and step in when HR expertise or employee support is needed.

You will not be expected to spend your time routinely processing or approving payroll or performing repetitive HR administration that can be handled through our managed‑service partnership.

Instead, we want your time focused where an experienced HR professional makes the biggest difference: our people, our managers, our culture, and finding great employees to join our team.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for an experienced HR professional who combines strong HR knowledge with excellent judgment and an ability to build relationships at every level of an organization.

Our ideal candidate brings:

• 5+ years of progressive Human Resources experience
• Strong hands‑on recruiting and talent acquisition experience
• Meaningful employee‑relations experience, including manager coaching, performance concerns, corrective action, conflict resolution, and workplace investigations
• Strong knowledge of employment law and HR best practices
• Experience supporting benefits, leaves, compensation, performance management, and HR compliance
• Experience working with HRIS systems; Paylocity experience is preferred but not required
• Excellent communication, relationship‑building, organization, and follow‑through
• The ability to handle confidential and sensitive matters with professionalism, discretion, consistency, and sound judgment
• The ability to work independently as an internal HR leader while effectively partnering with outside HR, payroll, benefits, and legal resources

A bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field—or an equivalent combination of education and experience is preferred.

PHR, SPHR, SHRM‑CP, SHRM‑SCP, or similar HR certification is also preferred.

Experience working in a nonprofit or mission‑driven organization is a plus.

What Success Looks Like

You’ll know you’re making an impact when employees know where to go for support, managers have a trusted HR partner to help them lead effectively, recruiting is proactive and well managed, employee‑relations concerns are addressed promptly and consistently, and our Paylocity Elevate partnership is being fully utilized for the transactional work it is designed to handle.

Most importantly, you’ll help us continue building a workplace where talented people want to join, contribute, grow, and stay.

About Habitat for Humanity of Dane County

At Habitat for Humanity of Dane County, we bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Our work is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves a decent place to live and that affordable homeownership can create lasting change for families and communities.

We are committed to equal opportunity and to maintaining a diverse, inclusive, and respectful workplace.

Interested in using your HR expertise to make a difference? We’d love to hear from you.