Director

Director, Culture and Talent (Chicago, IL | Durham, NC | Washington, DC)

Essential Responsibilities:

Management and Support/Business Partner:

• Provide CAT Business Partnership to support team leaders in retaining top retention talent, integrating culture, and responding to other key firm-identified personnel priorities
• As the lead CAT Business Partner consults with the business’s leadership and management in order to foster and promote the engagement of the firm’s core values at all levels
• Assists management and leadership in resolving employee relation issues and recommending action for sensitive and complex situations
• Coaches the departmental heads and management in performance management processes, compensation and management decision making
• Manage progressive discipline and performance improvement programs and protocols for underperforming team members, including facilitating terminations as necessary
• Conduct exit-interviews for the BP departments, and act as back-up for all exits within the firm
• Collaborates with the business’s departmental heads and management in coordinating on departmental workforce planning with talent acquisition, identifying training needs, and advocating for continuous learning for employees where necessary, providing coaching and mentoring support where required

Development and Performance Management:

• Design, implement and manage Arabella’s performance management program, including individual goal setting, evaluations, calibrations, competency models, and succession planning
• Implement programs to identify and retain top retention talent firmwide
• Collaborate on Learning and Development in building, implementing, presenting, and evaluating training programs to address staff needs
• Review employee relations and performance management trends and submit recommended training initiatives. Assess climate to determine any opportunities for team building, conflict resolution, succession planning, culture and change management
• Design and implement development programs, including regular meetings and trainings for supervisor
• Review salary equity maintenance during reclassification, compression, promotion, and market issues. Partners with compensation specialist to create a response plan in various situations to ensure alignment with business strategy, i.e., new hires, transfers and promotions

Strategy and Change Management:

• Contributes a strategic role in the direction of the CAT function
• Helps facilitate effective implementation and change management of new CAT initiatives within different departments and levels
• Partner with leaders, managers and supervisors in ensuring that the best practices are being adopted, ensuring the delivery of projects as required as well as ensuring that key deliverables are met within the specified timelines

Analytics and Reporting:

• Collect, analyze, and interpret executive-requested people-based metrics for the firm
• Create, administer, review, and analyze firm-wide surveys, including the annual Staff Satisfaction Survey, DEI Survey, and ad-hoc surveys as needed
• Report-out findings to key stakeholders and work with team leaders to develop necessary data-driven interventions
• Use data to identify and communicate staff trends in morale, connection to impact, and engagement
• Works collaboratively with Total Rewards and HRIS to identify client needs and prepare metrics and reports, analyze data, identify trends and make recommendations to clients.

Policies and Communication:

• Ensure the employee handbook is up-to-date with current personnel policies
• Effectively communicate HR policies and programs; Provide HR policy guidance and interpretation
• Ensure personnel policies and programs align with the firm’s values

Knowledge and Opportunity: **

• Maintain a clear and detailed knowledge of the industry trends, best practices, and legislation
• Participate actively in social, cultural, and educational projects that reflect the values and beliefs of Arabella

Additional Responsibilities:

• Participates and plays an active role in the management of varied projects throughout the business, actively participating in project teams, and implementing initiatives while simultaneously ensuring proper communication and collaboration within business departments and with business partners
• Provide ad hoc support to the other team’s functions as needed

To be successful in this role you will need:

• Bachelor's or associates degree and/or equivalent level of experience
• A minimum of 5-7 years of progressive experience in HR, OD, or Employee Relations, or related field
• 3 years of leadership and management experience
• HR certification, preferred (PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, etc.)
• Experience in all aspects of HR, as outlined above
• Excellent emotional intelligence and a demonstrated growth mindset
• Demonstrated cultural awareness and inclusive leadership
• Proven ability to work inclusively with diverse teams, audiences, and stakeholders to achieve shared goals, including excellent teamwork, relationship building, and customer service
• The ability to help effectively communicate difficult messages; to adapt style, tone, and content to meet various needs

Our Core Competencies:

• The ability to provide excellent service, including being able to effectively manage resources, create and implement enhancements across the firm to efficiently achieve service standards, and to coach junior teammates on how to address complex service challenges.
• The ability to oversee and advise on multiple complex projects, including encouraging workflow and work plan innovations, and ensuring deliverables are high-quality and meet clients’ needs.
• The ability to coach colleagues in how to understand stakeholders’ perspectives and to handle high-level stakeholder challenges.
• The ability to effectively communicate difficult messages, to represent the firm to external audiences, and to mentor colleagues in how to adapt style, tone, and content to various audiences.
• The ability to help teams overcome collaboration challenges and promote compromise, inclusion, and openness; promote and lead activities that support an open, safe, and inclusive organization; understand the context in which we work and build critical cross-team connections; and share useful knowledge firm wide.
• The ability to regularly integrate learnings to improve team operations, to lead learning opportunities that enhance team performance, and to be a mentor to others
• The ability to empower teammates to solve problems and provide guidance only when necessary; to solve complex challenges without clear owners or solutions by identifying innovative approaches; and to facilitating coordination with others and to coach colleagues in thinking through solutions
• The ability to create space for and/or facilitate conversations about DEI, bring diverse networks and relationships to the firm, and model leading through one’s own learning edges

About Arabella Advisors
Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We work on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience. The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Advancing DEI within our firm and in our work with partners is critical to our mission. To be effective partners to philanthropists, nonprofits, and communities impacted by philanthropic dollars, we need to have a highly diverse staff, a workplace where individuals are encouraged to retain their uniqueness and can feel a sense of belonging, and a nuanced understanding of the racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other disparities that undergird the issues we engage in and the interactions we have with one another. For us, equity means that our staff members, our clients, and the people they serve can experience the same level of success, no matter their starting place. We expect all our employees to share this commitment, and always seek ways to improve how well we live these values. Click here to learn more about DEI at Arabella and read our official DEI statement.

Total Rewards (compensation and benefits)
This is a full-time position. We offer a competitive and holistic total rewards package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits. Our base salaries are based on a blend of similar sized organizations from different sectors, including nonprofits, foundations, and professional service firms. They are also based on local market rates and differentiated by geography.
All full-time staff are eligible for our generous benefits package on their first day of employment:

• Health insurance- On average Arabella pays 86% of the medical premium, 80% of the dental premium, and 100% of the vision premium
• Paid time off- 16 days’ vacation, 10 personal days, 11 company holidays (7 federal and 4 more from a list of inclusive cultural and religious holidays and your birthday), 20 hours’ volunteer leave, 8 weeks’ parental leave
• 401(k) retirement plan- We offer a 4% employer match on a dollar-per-dollar basis, and there is no waiting or vesting period; all funds contributed by you and Arabella are yours to keep on day 1
• Reimbursements for your personal cell phone plan and fitness
• Pre-tax withholding for transportation and parking
• Bonus incentive opportunities
• Access to professional development opportunities

Working with Us
While this position must be based in Chicago, Durham, or Washington D.C., Please note that all Arabella Advisors’ offices have reopened, and we work in a hybrid environment.

We reopened our offices in Summer of 2022 and work with a hybrid workplace strategy to ensure continued flexibility for our staff, while deepening our strong culture rooted in collaboration and in-person interactions between colleagues. We expect that after their initial onboarding, all Arabellans will have the choice of two hybrid schedules. Our hybrid schedule options include Flex, with 1-2 days per week in the office, or Office-based, with 3 days per week in the office (or more if preferred) and the remaining days working at home/remotely. We will make reasonable accommodations under the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To center the safety and well-being of its employees, Arabella Advisors requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law.

We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers page to learn more.

How to Apply
Submit a resume and a one-page cover letter online. The cover letter should address why you’re excited to work at Arabella and why you’re qualified for this specific job.

Arabella Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to racial equity. If we can make the application process easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please let us know.
We encourage you to read (or listen to) our DEI statement prior to applying. We make a particular effort to recruit people of color and members of marginalized groups to apply for open positions. Once you have applied, we welcome your feedback on how you have experienced our values around DEI in the recruitment process.

While Arabella is open to individuals from various locations applying to join our team, please note that we generally are unable to pay for relocation expenses, and, except in rare circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis, all applicants must already be legally eligible to work in the United States at the time of application to be considered for this position.

We will review applications as they are received and look forward to hearing from you.

Job Type: Full-time