The Organization: Merit America

The American economy is broken. Today 53 million working adults–nearly half of the U.S. workforce–do not earn a living wage. And these talented workers have few options to advance: college is too long and expensive, full-time bootcamp programs don't offer enough flexibility, and online courses don't have the structure or support to translate learning into a new career. The result? Talented workers, disproportionately people of color and women, get stuck in low-wage roles with no way to build a better life for themselves and their families.

Merit America is a national nonprofit that creates pathways to family-sustaining careers for Americans without college degrees, stuck in low-wage work. Our fast, flexible solutions are built for working adults: we start by analyzing tens of millions of job postings to identify in-demand, high-paying tech careers, and then work with industry-recognized partners to train for these roles with part-time programs that combine flexible online learning with best-in-class coaching. Finally, we work with a broad constellation of local and national employers like JPMorgan Chase and Infosys to place learners into higher-earning, family-sustaining jobs, driving an average wage gain of $19k. Merit America is on a mission to build a scalable pathway for workers to join the middle class through merit, not money. We're on track to generate $1B in wage gains by 2024.

About the Role:

The Director of People Operations will play a critical role in developing, implementing, and continually improving the core policies, processes, and systems essential to meet the era of engaged, strategic, and compassionate People Leadership at Merit America. This role is an invaluable lynchpin to Merit America's greatest asset-the extraordinary and diverse teams and people who work at Merit America. The Director of People Operations will oversee preboarding, onboarding, employee relations, compliance, talent rewards, and day-to-day people operations. Reporting to the Chief People and Planning Officer, this role is an exempt position, and will be a People and Strategy Leadership team member, managing a growing People Operations team and serving as a strategic business partner to senior leaders and managers within the organization.

What You'll be Doing:

The responsibilities of the Director of People Operations (POPs) will include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategic People Operations and Culture Leadership

Model Merit America's core values and uphold Merit's policies at the highest level in spirit and in practice
Provide overall leadership and guidance to the People Operations team by overseeing preboarding, onboarding, employee relations, compliance, talent rewards, and day-to-day people operations
Oversee execution and analysis of bi-annual engagement surveys and equity analysis to measure the impact of organizational processes, etc., as well as to make and implement recommendations to leverage our strengths while constantly improving
Function as a strategic business partner to senior leaders and managers of each business unit regarding key People policies, systems, and processes
In partnership with the People and Strategy leadership team, develop comprehensive strategic retention plans to meet the human capital needs of strategic goals
Create and implement a comprehensive talent rewards strategy to attract and retain top talent
Lead People Operations (POPs) team to create operational efficiency and partner with stakeholders to develop process improvements

Employee Relations, Pre-boarding, Onboarding, and Talent Rewards

Lead the vision and strategy for employee relations at Merit America throughout the employee lifecycle
Oversee the administration of our promotion and compensation philosophies and policies to ensure we fairly and effectively reward, motivate and retain our top talent

Oversee the effectiveness of our preboarding, onboarding, and offboarding processes, and continually improve them using human-centered and evidence-based approaches
Oversee the strategic planning of talent rewards, including executive deferred compensation, 401K plan, stipends, incentive pay, professional development, and other perks

HR Administration, Growth, and Technology

Ensure Merit's People policies are innovative, sustainable, equitable, and aligned with best practices and our growth strategy
Evaluate, vision, and execute the current People Operations infrastructure/delivery model to scale with Merit America's headcount and national growth to facilitate effective and cohesive workforce planning and development
Develop the HR digital roadmap to enhance the employee experience, reduce administrative burden, manage data pools, and improve data integrity
Own HR systems, including HRIS, and performance management, benchmarking and other tools. Lead as the subject matter expert in optimizing these systems
Serve as the primary liaison with our HR vendor, Insperity, to manage core people operations including payroll and basic benefits
Oversee the work to ensure that Merit complies with labor laws ensuring we remain compliant across regions as we rapidly scale

What Makes a Successful Candidate:

We know that women and people of color are often less likely to apply to a position if they don't match 100% of the job qualifications. Don't let that be the reason you miss out on this opportunity! We encourage you to apply if you can demonstrate many of these skills and competencies. Below are the skills that are relevant for thriving in this role:

Must haves:

Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice
6 + years experience in HR operations, ideally in a start-up or high-growth organization
Demonstrated track record of setting ambitious equity centered People Operations (POPs) goals and meeting those goals
Deep experience in HR strategy, employee relations, labor laws compliance, benefits, workforce planning and HR best practices
Demonstrated passion and commitment to using data to drive policies, processes and systems
Extraordinary judgment, including but not limited to:

Strong verbal and written communication skills and strong interpersonal skills across lines of difference
Experience and adeptness at handling very sensitive and highly confidential matters;
Ability to have direct and honest conversations with care about sensitive topics,
Strength in navigating ambiguity and gray spaces, holding fast to policies and expectations while holding to legal and equity centered principles/laws to responsibly evolve related policies or procedures as needed

Takes initiative and has a high degree of ownership and accountability
Is energized by our organizational mission, impact, and values

Nice to haves

Views their attention to detail and order as vital to others' success and positive overall employee experience.
Proven commitment to ensuring a strong employee experience while maintaining compliance within an organization

What to expect in our process

Submit cover letter and resume for the role

Performance Task (2 hours)

Phone Screen

(Virtual) Interview Day

Reference checks

Offer

Other Logistics

This position is full time: 4-day work week (Fridays are an operating day if there is a holiday closure during the week)
Location: Remote
Salary : $147,300 - $147,300

Our goal is to have competitive and equitable compensation. We have a market-based compensation approach which means that we benchmark each role from reputable data sources. We compare our benchmarks against similarly sized non-profit organizations with comparable annual budgets and geographical areas. We pay the same rate for the same roles and adjust to comply with statutory mandates.

We take care of our employees by providing the following perks and benefits:

4-day work week (Fridays are an operating day if there is a holiday closure during the week)
Medical, Dental and Vision insurance (100% Paid Employee Only Coverage)
Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account
Dependent care Flexible Spending Account
Health Reimbursement Account fully funded by Merit
Education reimbursement & personal development stipend
Short and long-term disability
Unlimited vacation (after a 90-day introductory period)
Paid Parental Leave and Adoption benefits (after 1 year of employment)
10 federally recognized holidays
1 week office closure in July (week of July 4th)
2 week holiday office closure in December/January
401(k) retirement plan with automatic Merit contribution
Employee Assistance Program | Talkspace | Sanvello
Discount perks at work program
Phone/technology stipend
Home office setup stipend

Remote Work & Sponsorship

Candidates must reside within the 50 states or District of Columbia and have full authorization to work in the 50 U.S. states & the District of Columbia (international work abroad, including the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and other islands are excluded). In addition, Merit America doesn't offer employment visa sponsorship.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Building an inclusive, high-performing team that is diverse across lines of personal identity is integral to our success and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

This means we do not discriminate against any job applicant or employee because of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This applies to all terms and conditions of employment.

We actively strive and evolve to develop and maintain workspaces that are fully inclusive. We encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply.

Still excited about our work? You can learn more about our work in this video we made with our founding partner, Google.

E-Verify Statement

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the I-9 Form.