Senior Director, HR Operations, Employee Relations & Leave

ReNEW Schools; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 104,000 - 127,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascend, Brooklyn’s premier K–12 charter network, seeks a Senior Director of Human Resources- Employee Relations and Leave Accommodations to lead HR operations, employee relations, and leave programs across the network. This executive will partner with senior leaders to ensure legal compliance, scalable people systems, and a positive employee experience.

The role requires deep expertise in employment law, HRIS analytics, and complex investigations, with a track record of building cross-functional

Qualifications

• Minimum 10+ years of progressive Human Resources leadership experience and employee labor law experience.
• Minimum 7+ years leading employee relations, compliance, HR operations, benefits, and leave administration functions.
• Demonstrated experience operating within HR-owned structures.
• Proven experience managing complex staffing issues.
• Strong background in employee relations and labor laws.
• Senior-level experience leading complex operational workflows across Finance, HR, Talent, and Legal.
• Deep expertise in federal, state, and local employment and leave laws, including FMLA, ADA, NY Paid Family Leave, workers' compensation, and wage-and-hour regulations.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategy, design, and continuous improvement of HR operations, employee relations, leave administration, benefits, compliance, and HR technology.
• Serve as trusted advisor to executive leadership on workforce risk, employee relations trends, and people strategy.
• Develop and execute multi-year people operations initiatives to improve scalability and employee experience.
• Identify organizational risks and develop proactive solutions for a compliant, high-performing workplace culture.
• Partner with senior leaders to drive change management and transformation efforts.
• Lead resolution of complex employee relations issues and workplace investigations.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local leave regulations and oversee benefits administration.
• Establish organization-wide employee relations standards and investigation protocols.
• Oversee audits and reporting related to employment laws and benefits.

Skills

HR Leadership

Employee Relations

Labor Law

HR Operations

HR Analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

HR certification preferred

Tools

HRIS (HR information systems)

HR analytics dashboards

Job description

Ascend, Brooklyn’s premier K–12 charter network, seeks a Senior Director of Human Resources- Employee Relations and Leave Accommodations to lead HR operations, employee relations, and leave programs across the network. This executive will partner with senior leaders to ensure legal compliance, scalable people systems, and a positive employee experience.

The role requires deep expertise in employment law, HRIS analytics, and complex investigations, with a track record of building cross-functional