Public Sector HR Director: Labor Relations & Modernization

City of Syracuse; City of Syracuse (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Dental insurance

Health insurance

Paid time off

Parental leave

Vision insurance

Retirement plan

Job summary

The City of Syracuse seeks a Director of Human Resources to lead the Office of Human Resources and Labor Relations in support of a large, unionized, public-sector workforce. This role focuses on strengthening operations, labor relations, and service delivery while ensuring compliance with civil service rules and shared decision-making.

The Director oversees personnel, labor, hiring, benefits, leave, and employee-relations functions, emphasizing reliability, governance, and modernized systems.

Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management, Business Management, Psychology, Sociology, or related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum five years of related experience, preferably municipal or union environment.
• At least three years of leadership experience in municipal and/or union environment.

Responsibilities

• Provides leadership and oversight for personnel administration, labor relations, recruiting, onboarding, benefits administration, leave administration, investigations, safety, workers' compensation, policy implementation, and related HR compliance functions.
• Oversees labor and employee-relations in a heavily unionized environment, including grievance administration, discipline, investigations, contract interpretation, bargaining support, and coordination with legal counsel and City leadership.
• Leads staff development and accountability within HR through role clarity, supervision, cross-training, documented procedures, and the creation of durable workflows and SOPs.
• Provides leadership in HRIS and ATS modernization and process redesign.
• Uses metrics and dashboards to improve decision-making and monitor risk.

Skills

Public sector HR

Labor relations

Policy interpretation

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR Management or related field

Master's degree preferred

Tools

UKG HRIS

Job description

The City of Syracuse seeks a Director of Human Resources to lead the Office of Human Resources and Labor Relations in support of a large, unionized, public-sector workforce. This role focuses on strengthening operations, labor relations, and service delivery while ensuring compliance with civil service rules and shared decision-making.

The Director oversees personnel, labor, hiring, benefits, leave, and employee-relations functions, emphasizing reliability, governance, and modernized systems.