(Hybrid) Assistant Director (Senior Consultant) - Strategic HR Partner

The department of Talent and Culture at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for an Assistant Director (Senior Consultant) of Strategic HR Partners.

About the Opportunity

Reporting to the Director of Strategic Partners, the Strategic Partner - Senior Consultant (SP-SC) is a trusted advisor and plays a pivotal role in delivering proactive and strategic human resources support to assigned units, as well as providing back-up support to the Director, Strategic Partners and clients. As an expert HR professional, the Strategic Partner-SC serves as a key advisor to unit senior leadership and management teams, contributing to the development and implementation of HR solutions aligned with unit and university strategies. The SP-SC operates as a collaborative partner, ensuring high-quality customer service, fostering employee engagement, and contributing to the positive culture of the unit. In conjunction with the Director, the SP-SC is responsible for a key segment of the SP function (EE Engagement, Talent Planning & Management, Performance Management Advising, Retention/Talent Excellence, or Strategic Management). This role is a leader in the business and function, providing strategic and practical insight and guidance as a co-creator of approaches and solutions to important talent and business challenges. This position provides the Director with assistance on high risk or opportunity issues as well as the implementation of special projects assigned to the SP team for organization-wide impact.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year (for when you're ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family's, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ's.
• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

• Assignment of Units:
  • SP-SC will be assigned a portfolio of areas to serve as the Strategic Partner-SC for that unit and its leadership team. The portfolio of areas for the SP-SC will include areas with a higher-level complexity of organizational and/or HR related needs and may include some of the organizations most senior executives. Those assignments may change as the discretion of the Director.
  • SP-SC may utilize the support of SP-Specialists to deliver services in employee life cycle events such as onboarding, offboarding, delivering training, etc.
• Strategic Partnership and Alignment:
  • Clearly understand and align work with the overall strategic vision and goals of the leaders and units supported, as well as the larger University.
  • Provide strategic HR and project support to leaders and their units, collaborating to meet the needs of the department.
  • Collaborate with unit leadership to understand and support the strategic vision of the unit.
  • Define, build, and implement value-added HR strategies and solutions to align with the unit's goals.
  • Assists the Director in formulating best practices for the SP team as well as collaborating on the design of initiatives rolled out to meet strategic objectives, ensuring alignment and continuity of practice across the client areas.
• Strategic Advisory Role:
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to unit senior leadership and management teams.
  • Provide guidance on strategic organizational needs, driving change, building high-performing teams, and growing leadership capability aligned with unit strategy.
  • Lead strategic Talent & Culture projects and/or project teams as assigned by either the Director or AVP, T&C
  • Will lead development opportunities for other members of the SP Team and/or other T&C colleagues to assist in building strategic skills within the group.
  • Provides senior level mentorship and support to the other SPs and assists the Director in identifying developmental needs, opportunities and plans.
  • May provide training and demonstration of new strategic practices to the SP team.
  • Serves as the back-up leadership support to the SP team in the absence of the Director.
  • Collaborate closely with the SPs across units to ensure seamless support for their assigned portfolio and the organization.
• Employee Engagement Strategy
  • Evaluate and advise on activities that correlate with successful employee engagement, including the following:
    • Onboarding & Offboarding - assess current practices and find opportunities for improvement within colleges, divisions, and units.
    • Engagement Surveys & Focus Groups - partner with leaders to conduct surveys that will assess the engagement levels of employees and identify opportunities for improvement, including follow-up and action plans. Engage employees in facilitated focus groups that allow for feedback on a variety of engagement related topics and provide recommendations to leadership for follow-up action plans and strategies.
    • Appreciation and Recognition - work within units to assess and recommend activities and actions related to appreciation and recognition at the college/division level, often in collaboration with a unit-based committee.
    • Collaboration with SP Team, T&C Centers of Expertise, Shared Services, and other internal partners - ensure seamless support for the organization's people needs by collaborating with other subject matter experts on a wide variety of HR topics.
    • Customer Service - ensure high quality customer service to all employees in assigned client areas by maintaining a high level of engagement with direct employee impact.
• Talent Planning & Management
  • The SP-SC will advise and counsel leadership on advanced talent strategies and work with the T&C subject-matter experts to develop plans and initiatives. This includes planning for anticipated vacancies, identifying the development needs of the current workforce, planning for anticipated changes to the workforce, as well as identifying retention and growth strategies for top performers. Translating organizational needs into a people strategy that will advance organizational goals is a key function of the role. This will include the following:
    • Aligning anticipated workforce changes with strategies that will help the unit meet its objectives.
    • Identifying opportunities for leadership and talent development and coordinating with leadership and subject matter experts to plan and implement development offerings.
    • Attracting, developing, and retaining top talent.
    • Assisting leaders in building organizational structures/models that are strong, effective, and meet the goals of the organization.
    • Proactively engaging in succession planning and identifying hi-potential and critical talent development plans with leadership.
• Performance Management Advising
  • Develop strategies for managing low performers as well as development planning for high performers, including advising on addressing behaviors that may impact performance, and providing techniques to build an engaged, highly productive workforce. This may include:
    • Coaching for success, with people leaders as well as providing coaching advice for individual contributors.
    • Talent Development
    • Assisting leaders with goal setting techniques and prompts as well as teaching others how to monitor and track goal progress.
    • Performance rating calibration and alignment - coaching people leaders through the performance review process, how to avoid rating errors, apply consistency in evaluation, and connect to strategic purpose throughout the units.
• Retention/Talent Excellence
  • The SP-SC will assess current conditions, identify best practices, as well as advise on proactive solutions to address retention and talent excellence. This may include:
    • New hire check-ins - these conversations will inform the organization on best practices and areas for improvement related to the onboarding and new hire orientations.
    • Employee Experience Discussions - the SP-C will engage in this practice as well as teach and coach people leaders on implementing this practice into the life cycle of the employee, which will provide input and feedback into daily best practices as well as opportunities to improve employee engagement.
    • Exit Interviews - the SP-C will participate in the review of exit interview and exit data; identifying trends for improvement needed. They may also identify red flag concerns from this practice that need to be coordinated and addressed with other T&C subject-matter experts.
    • Compensation Partnership - the SP-C should develop an awareness of any compensation concerns that need an intervention with the subject-matter experts in Compensation, and partner with that group and leadership to develop strategies to address the concerns.
• Strategic Management
  • This proactive function will utilize available data and expected variables to address upcoming workforce needs in partnership with college and division leadership. This may include:
    • Change Management Practices - studying and applying change management practices to a variety of situations and environments where change is being implemented, assisting leadership in developing strategies to approach and integrate changes within their units.
    • Business Acumen - the SP-SC must exhibit a strong understanding and grasp of the terminology that defines successful business practices within the units, including understanding the business goals and advising on people strategies that will help the organization achieve those goals. There must be an understanding of upcoming operational initiatives, financial objectives, and the alignment of talent with these objectives.
    • Current and Future Organizational Planning - the SP-SC will understand the current organizational structure and talent needs, aiding in developing organizational charts and people alignment, as well as working strategically with leaders on changes that need to be made to develop future organizational structures and align with future objectives.
    • Utilize available data to analyze trends within the unit and provide recommendations for Talent & Culture programs or initiatives.
• Client Connections
  • The SP-SC seeks to develop successful relationships and partnerships with the employees and people leaders in the client areas that they support. These connections will be successful through:
    • Relationship Development - maintaining a presence in client areas that leads to strong relationships with people leaders and individual contributors within the units.
    • Leadership Coaching - conduct regular meetings with unit leaders for trust-building, relationship fostering, and leadership coaching and development.
    • Action Management - task and action tracking related to T&C objectives and goals being discussed and committed to with organizational leaders.
    • Facilitation of leadership meetings with T&C support teams.
• Other Duties as Assigned:
  • Complete other duties as assigned by the Director or AVP of Talent & Culture.

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Business, or a related field, or equivalent professional human resources business partner or generalist experience.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of experience in the following:
  • Relevant professional experience in human resources with a minimum of 3 years' experience as a human resources partner or comparable experience.
  • Demonstrated successful experience delivering strategic human resources support and consultation to leaders.
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong strategic planning skills.
• Experience in leading multiple projects with strong prioritization skills.
• Ability to work closely and collaboratively with all levels of management.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills.
• Consultative approach to delivering human resources services.
• Exceptional analytical, reporting, and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of employment laws and practices.
• Ability to handle sensitive confidential information.
• Solid data-gathering and problem-analysis skills.
• Ability to apply judgment to solving both HR issues and business problems.
• Has knowledge of strategic planning that aligns the HR/people needs with the goals and objectives of the organization and has facilitated this planning in the past.

Preferred Qualifications

• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or PHR/SPHR certification is preferred.

Requirements

• Maintain a physical presence on campus at least 60% of the time to better understand the culture of the departments supported.

West Virginia University is a place of purpose and community. We take pride in our profound impact on the state of West Virginia and are committed to the personal and professional growth of our employees.

From the groundbreaking R1 research at our flagship campus in Morgantown to the career-oriented programs at WVU Potomac State in Keyser, and the technology-intensive programs at WVU Tech in Beckley, the contributions of WVU employees resonate across the state, touching lives and shaping futures.

At WVU, you will discover a supportive community that champions work-life balance and fosters a collaborative atmosphere. Our core values - service, curiosity, respect, accountability and appreciation - unite us as Mountaineers.

Join us at West Virginia University, where your work will make a lasting impact. To learn more about WVU, visit wvu.edu.

West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We invite all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or Veteran status.