About This Role

At Apeel Sciences, we look to nature to help the global food system improve quality, reduce waste, and ensure an abundant future for our planet. We are seeking a (Sr) Director, People & Culture, who will be a leader and business partner committed to delivering high-quality service to Apeel Sciences business leaders, employees and colleagues. This role will partner with our internal clients to engage and retain high performing talent, participate with People & Culture (P&C) leadership in developing strategic direction for the department, identify and drive adoption of best-in-class HR practices, while continuously resolving employee needs at all levels. Success in this position requires modeling and actively promoting a culture of collaboration and cooperation while driving achievement and issue resolution.

The role will have strong knowledge and progressive experience across the spectrum of HR related functions and will be a respected resource within Apeel. An important aspect of this position includes leveraging data to deliver insights and drive action for the business. The ideal candidate will have excellent business instincts, a strong bias toward driving business process efficiency, consistency and continuous improvement and a practical attitude to determine when a situation requires following an established protocol vs. a flexible approach. 

What You'll Do

• Partner with business leaders to develop strategic and operational HR programs that will strengthen culture, improve performance, and enhance engagement within the business.
• Serve as a consultant to management on key organizational and management issues, and as an employee champion.
• Coach business leaders on execution of performance management and talent management processes to promote a culture of high performance, continuous growth and development.
• Help develop global strategies for creating programs for a global workforce.
• Manage the resolution of complex employee relations issues, leading / assisting in the investigation of employee complaints and partnering with legal counsel when needed. Advise and counsel management regarding appropriate disciplinary actions to create consistency and ensure minimal legal risk.
• Manage and develop staff to ensure proper performance standards, education (legal/compliance and general skills development), and guidelines are followed within own team. Will help build and manage the business partner team to ensure consistency with employment practices and to accomplish global initiatives. Provide development where needed to P&C staff to be consultative and strong coaches on people policies and programs for the organization.
• Work closely with management and employees to improve work relationships, build and maintain morale, and increase productivity.
• Maintain knowledge of HR industry trends and new employment related legislation. As necessary, communicate policies, procedures and program revisions to assigned client groups.
• Collaborate with P&C team colleagues to identify and drive improvement opportunities in the delivery of HR services
• Analyze turnover, transfers and exit interview data to proactively identify trends, and provide recommendations for improvement to clients.
• Partner with the Compensation, Benefits, Talent Acquisition and Learning & Development teams to ensure the organization can attract, motivate, develop and retain great talent through effective resourcing, training & development, performance management and reward strategies.

What You Bring

• BA/BS degree in business, communication, psychology industrial relations or related discipline and/or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of 10 years human resources experience that includes Staffing, E/R, OD, Change Management, Compensation, Benefits, Talent Management, HR Systems and Analytics
• Minimum 5 years supervisory/management experience in HR/PO functions.
• Strong international HR experience.
• Demonstrated business acumen, an ability to align people strategy with business strategy and deliver results.
• Proven ability to develop relationships and partnerships (internal and external) at all levels of the organization, exhibit strong leadership and influencing skills, and design, implement, and lead change management initiatives.
• Develop Analytics to help Leaders make insightful and better business decisions. Analytical information may include employee metrics, survey information, hiring data, turn-over stats, etc.
• Facilitate conflict resolution around sensitive issues.
• You will be an excellent problem solver … creativity that is aligned with the Apeel culture is a must.
• Ability to work collaboratively building teams across business groups and functions.
• Agile, flexible and comfortable working in a fast pace, high growth and changing environment.
• Problem solving and judgement will be daily events…. Your integrity, ability to think on your feet, excellent decision making skills and a sense of urgency will be critical.
• As a leader, we expect that you have a willingness to learn, grow and assume expanded duties as the business evolves.
• Your ability to think strategically and produce tactical results is critical.
• This is a fast paced, high growth start-up … your attention to detail and ability to effectively handle multiple priorities, along with the ability to triage will be daily events.
• Exceptional verbal communication and presentation skills

Apeel believes that the scale of our impact is determined by the teams that work with us. As such, we seek to build high-performing teams of people from various experiences and backgrounds who can collectively push our company into new realms. We seek a diverse pool of applicants and consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, ancestry, color, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, citizenship, disability, Veteran status, marital status, or any other protected status. If you have a special need or disability that requires accommodation, please let us know.

Please note that Apeel Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or employment agencies. In the event of a recruiter or agency submitting a resume or candidate without a signed agreement being in place, we explicitly reserve the right to pursue and hire such candidates without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted directly to hiring managers, are deemed to be the property of Apeel Sciences.