Director of Human Resources

Department: Human Resources
Reports To: Chief Operating Officer/General Manager
Leadership Role: Senior Leadership Team Member
Supervisory Responsibility: Human Resources Team
Status: Full-Time, Exempt

Position Summary

The Director of Human Resources is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and serves as the organization’s senior human resources leader. This position is responsible for developing and executing people strategies that support business performance, operational excellence, employee engagement, and the delivery of an exceptional guest experience.

The Director leads all major human resources functions, including workforce planning, recruitment, employee relations, compensation, benefits, retirement plan administration, payroll oversight, HR systems, compliance, performance management, leadership development, and international staffing.

This is both a strategic and hands-on leadership role. The Director advises executives and department leaders while ensuring that essential HR and payroll processes are accurate, compliant, timely, and effectively administered. The role requires the ability to balance long-term organizational priorities with the immediate demands of a complex, seasonal hospitality operation.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Executive Leadership and Organizational Strategy

Serve as an active member of the Senior Leadership Team and contribute to organizational strategy, business planning, budgeting, and operational decision-making.
Translate business objectives into practical workforce and people strategies.
Advise the Chief Operating Officer, executive leaders, and department heads on organizational effectiveness, staffing, leadership, employee relations, compensation, and workforce risk.
Provide candid, thoughtful coaching to executives and managers while maintaining appropriate confidentiality and professional judgment.
Support organizational design, restructuring, succession planning, leadership transitions, and change-management initiatives.
Use workforce data and business insight to identify trends, risks, and opportunities requiring leadership attention.
Balance employee advocacy with the operational and financial needs of the organization.

HR Team Leadership

Lead, coach, develop, and hold accountable the Human Resources team.
Establish clear roles, priorities, service standards, and operating procedures within the department.
Mentor HR staff and build their technical knowledge, judgment, confidence, and ability to independently support employees and leaders.
Allocate responsibilities across the HR team while maintaining appropriate oversight, internal controls, and separation of duties.
Ensure the HR department provides timely, consistent, accurate, and professional service.
Create continuity plans and sufficient cross-training for critical HR, payroll, benefits, and compliance functions.

Workforce Planning and Seasonal Staffing

Lead workforce planning for a year-round and highly seasonal hospitality operation.
Partner with department leaders to forecast staffing needs based on business levels, operating schedules, seasonality, and budget expectations.
Develop recruitment and retention strategies capable of supporting significant seasonal hiring demands.
Monitor staffing levels, turnover, vacancies, overtime, labor costs, and workforce productivity.
Help leaders distinguish between immediate staffing requests and sustainable long-term staffing models.
Coordinate the timing and execution of seasonal hiring, onboarding, housing, transportation, training, and offboarding.
Prepare the organization for rapid workforce increases and reductions associated with seasonal operations.

Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

Oversee recruitment for hourly, professional, management, and executive positions.
Establish recruiting priorities and ensure the organization has effective sourcing, interviewing, selection, and offer processes.
Partner with hiring leaders to define job requirements, assess candidates, and make sound selection decisions.
Review and approve offers, compensation recommendations, job titles, and employment terms in accordance with established authority levels.
Ensure background checks, employment eligibility requirements, onboarding documentation, and pre-employment processes are completed accurately.
Maintain relationships with community partners, schools, agencies, and other workforce sources.
Support the selection and onboarding of senior leaders and other business-critical positions.

International Staffing and Visa Programs

Lead the organization’s international staffing strategy, including J-1 and H-2B programs.
Manage relationships and agreements with visa sponsors, immigration partners, recruiting agencies, legal counsel, and government contacts.
Oversee visa petitions, sponsor documentation, contracts, placement records, required reporting, employee files, and compliance deadlines.
Ensure the organization meets all wage, housing, transportation, work-assignment, recordkeeping, and program obligations.
Coordinate international employee arrivals, onboarding, housing, transportation, payroll setup, cultural programming, employee support, and departures.
Maintain current knowledge of the operational and compliance requirements applicable to international employment programs.
Develop contingency plans for visa delays, changing workforce needs, employee departures, and other international staffing risks.

Employee Relations and Workplace Investigations

Serve as the senior point of escalation for complex or sensitive employee relations matters.
Provide managers with practical coaching on performance expectations, attendance, conduct, conflict resolution, documentation, and corrective action.
Ensure managers remain accountable for leading their employees and addressing day-to-day performance concerns.
Lead or oversee investigations involving harassment, discrimination, retaliation, safety, substance use, serious misconduct, or other significant policy concerns.
Review and approve final written warnings, involuntary terminations, and other high-risk employment actions in accordance with company approval requirements.
Help leaders reach decisions that are fair, consistent, well documented, legally compliant, and aligned with business needs.
Identify recurring employee relations themes and recommend leadership, policy, or process improvements.
Maintain a visible and trusted presence for employees while preserving appropriate management accountability.

Compensation and Job Structure

Lead the organization’s compensation strategy and maintain a consistent, market-informed compensation structure.
Establish and maintain job levels, salary grades, pay ranges, job families, and compensation guidelines.
Evaluate new and existing positions to determine appropriate classification, level, title, and market range.
Review starting pay, promotional increases, market adjustments, retention recommendations, and other compensation actions.
Monitor internal equity, compression, market competitiveness, and compliance with applicable wage requirements.
Partner with executive leadership on annual compensation planning and budgeting.
Maintain compensation ranges and job information within the HR system.
Ensure job descriptions accurately reflect responsibilities, decision-making authority, qualifications, and organizational expectations.

Benefits Administration

Oversee all employee benefit programs, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, flexible spending, health savings, COBRA, leave, and other company-sponsored programs.
Manage vendor and broker relationships and hold partners accountable for accurate, timely, and effective service.
Lead annual enrollment, employee communications, eligibility administration, deductions, reconciliations, and issue resolution.
Review benefit plan performance, utilization, employee feedback, cost trends, and renewal recommendations.
Ensure benefit enrollments, changes, terminations, deductions, and carrier files are accurate.
Resolve complex eligibility, claims, coverage, and vendor administration issues.
Ensure benefit practices and plan administration comply with applicable requirements.

401(k) and Fiduciary Responsibilities

Serve as, or support the designated, plan administrator fiduciary for the organization’s 401(k) plan.
Fulfill fiduciary responsibilities prudently and in the best interests of plan participants.
Coordinate with the plan recordkeeper, consultant, investment advisor, legal counsel, payroll provider, and company leadership.
Oversee eligibility, enrollment, employer matching contributions, loans, distributions, notices, testing, filings, audits, and participant communications.
Ensure payroll contribution files are accurate, reconciled, funded, and transmitted within required timeframes.
Maintain appropriate separation of duties between file preparation, review, approval, and funding.
Participate in retirement plan committee meetings and maintain appropriate governance documentation.
Monitor vendor performance and ensure identified plan administration issues are resolved promptly.
Support required audits, compliance testing, government filings, and corrective actions.

Payroll Leadership and Internal Controls

Provide leadership oversight for the organization’s payroll function.
Ensure payroll is processed accurately, completely, and on time.
Maintain separation of duties between payroll entry, payroll review, approval, and funding.
Conduct or assign an independent payroll audit each pay period.
Review new hires, terminations, pay changes, deductions, garnishments, taxes, benefit deductions, housing deductions, makeup pay, corrections, bonuses, commissions, tips, and other special payments.
Ensure appropriate documentation and approvals support all payroll changes.
Partner with Finance to reconcile payroll, taxes, benefit deductions, retirement contributions, and general ledger activity.
Oversee year-end payroll processes, W-2 preparation, tax notices, amendments, and payroll-related audits.
Investigate and resolve payroll discrepancies and recurring process failures.
Establish payroll calendars, controls, checklists, and backup procedures.

HR Systems, Data, and Reporting

Serve as the business owner for the organization’s human resources information system and payroll platform.
Maintain system security profiles, workflows, approval paths, organizational structures, reporting relationships, and role-based access.
Ensure termination approvals, pay approvals, offer approvals, payroll approvals, and other workflows are assigned appropriately.
Protect confidential employee and payroll information through effective system access controls.
Maintain accurate employee records, position data, compensation information, reporting relationships, benefit eligibility, and employment status.
Develop reporting and dashboards that support leadership decision-making, labor planning, compliance, and workforce analysis.
Oversee system integrations, upgrades, testing, vendor cases, and process improvements.
Identify opportunities to simplify and automate HR processes while maintaining strong controls.
Ensure electronic and paper records are retained in accordance with company policy and legal requirements.

Performance Management and Leadership Development

Lead the organization’s performance-management approach, including goal setting, performance reviews, development planning, and accountability.
Coach managers on providing timely, direct, and constructive feedback.
Help leaders distinguish between performance issues, conduct concerns, skill gaps, role-design problems, and insufficient management direction.
Support succession planning and the identification of high-potential employees and critical-role risks.
Design or coordinate leadership development, manager training, onboarding, and other organizational learning initiatives.
Mentor leaders and employees to strengthen judgment, communication, accountability, and problem-solving.
Promote a culture in which leaders own the performance and engagement of their teams.

Compliance, Policy, and Risk Management

Maintain compliance with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
Oversee compliance related to wage and hour requirements, employment eligibility, leaves of absence, accommodations, equal employment opportunity, workplace safety, benefits, recordkeeping, and required reporting.
Maintain current employee policies, handbooks, forms, notices, and HR procedures.
Coordinate responses to unemployment claims, agency inquiries, employment verifications, subpoenas, audits, and legal matters.
Partner with legal counsel when employment or benefit matters require specialized guidance.
Maintain accurate and confidential employee relations, investigation, medical, payroll, and benefit records.
Monitor changes in employment law and recommend appropriate policy or process changes.
Identify workforce risks and bring them forward to executive leadership with practical recommendations.

Culture and Employee Experience

Help shape and reinforce a workplace culture based on accountability, respect, service, inclusion, and operational excellence.
Partner with leaders to strengthen employee communication, recognition, engagement, and retention.
Ensure employees understand company expectations, available resources, policies, and benefit programs.
Support employee recognition, culture-building, community involvement, and international employee initiatives.
Maintain credibility with employees and leaders by communicating honestly, responding consistently, and following through on commitments.
Help ensure the employee experience supports the organization’s overall guest-service standards.

Leadership Expectations

The Director of Human Resources is expected to:

Operate as a business leader, not solely as a functional specialist.
Understand the operational and financial impact of HR decisions.
Move comfortably between executive strategy and detailed administrative execution.
Provide clear recommendations, even when the message may be difficult.
Protect confidentiality while avoiding unnecessary isolation of HR from operational leaders.
Coach leaders toward ownership rather than taking over responsibilities that belong to management.
Maintain strong controls over payroll, benefits, retirement plans, systems, and employee data.
Establish priorities and remain effective during high-volume and rapidly changing seasonal periods.
Build trusted relationships without sacrificing accountability or professional objectivity.
Develop the HR team and create sustainable processes that do not depend on one individual.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and significant professional experience.
At least 10 years of progressive human resources experience, including leadership responsibility for multiple HR functions.
At least five years of experience leading and developing HR professionals.
Demonstrated experience advising executives and senior operational leaders.
Strong working knowledge of employee relations, employment law, compensation, benefits, payroll, HR systems, recruitment, and performance management.
Experience overseeing payroll processes and establishing effective payroll controls.
Experience administering employee benefit and retirement programs.
Demonstrated ability to conduct sensitive workplace investigations and manage high-risk employment decisions.
Experience leading workforce planning and recruitment in a complex, high-volume, or seasonal environment.
Strong analytical, organizational, communication, and decision-making skills.
Ability to handle highly confidential information with sound judgment and discretion.

Preferred Qualifications

Senior-level HR certification, such as SHRM-SCP or SPHR.
Experience in hospitality, resorts, recreation, tourism, multi-site operations, or another highly seasonal business.
Experience with ADP Workforce Now or a comparable integrated HR and payroll platform.
Experience administering a 401(k) plan and working with fiduciaries, recordkeepers, consultants, and auditors.
Experience with J-1, H-2B, or other international employment and visa programs.
Experience developing compensation structures, job levels, and salary ranges.
Experience participating as a member of an executive or senior leadership team.
Experience supporting a workforce that includes year-round, seasonal, part-time, temporary, and international employees.

Work Environment and Position Demands

This position operates in a dynamic resort environment with significant seasonal changes in staffing and workload.
The Director must be available to respond to urgent employee, payroll, safety, and operational matters when necessary.
Periodic evening, weekend, or holiday availability may be required based on business needs.
Regular interaction with employees and leaders across multiple locations and operational departments is required.
The role requires the ability to manage competing priorities, sensitive situations, firm deadlines, and frequent interruptions while maintaining accuracy and professionalism.

Measures of Success

Success in this role will be demonstrated through:

Accurate and timely payroll, benefits, and retirement plan administration.
Strong internal controls and appropriate separation of duties.
Successful seasonal staffing and international workforce execution.
Improved leadership capability and manager ownership of employee performance.
Timely and credible resolution of employee relations matters.
Competitive, equitable, and sustainable compensation practices.
Accurate HR system data, workflows, security, and reporting.
Effective recruitment and retention of critical talent.
A capable, well-developed, and appropriately structured HR team.
Trusted partnership with employees, managers, executives, and external partners.
Compliance with employment, benefit, payroll, and visa-related requirements.
Meaningful contribution to business performance, workplace culture, and the guest experience.

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