Director, Operations & Strategy (Human Capital)

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Director, Human Capital, Operations & Strategy team

OMERS Direct Private Equity is looking for a Human Capital Director to join our Operations & Strategy team in New York.

The Director, Human Capital will lead human capital initiatives across OMERS’s Direct Private Equity portfolio, partnering closely with investment teams, portfolio company boards of directors, CEOs, CHROs, operating executives, and external advisors. This individual will help assess human capital opportunities and risks during diligence, build post-close talent and organization plans, and support portfolio companies in strengthening leadership teams, organizational effectiveness, culture, incentives, succession, employee development and change management.

This role will work closely with OMERS Direct Private Equity’s lead operating partners, investment team members, non-executive board directors and portfolio company leadership teams to drive operational and strategic improvements in talent strategy.  

This role requires a strategic and commercially minded human capital leader who understands how talent and organizational design drive value creation. The ideal candidate will bring a combination of private equity portfolio experience, executive talent judgment, operating cadence and the ability to influence senior leaders in a partnership-oriented environment.

Key Responsibilities:

Portfolio Value Creation

• Partner with operating and deal leaders and portfolio company leadership teams to identify and execute human capital initiatives that support value creation, growth, and operational performance.
• Develop tailored human capital value creation plans for portfolio companies, aligned with each company’s investment thesis, strategic priorities, and stage of ownership.
• Advise CEOs, CHROs, and boards on organization design, leadership effectiveness, succession planning, incentive alignment, culture, and change management.
• Support portfolio companies through periods of growth, transformation, acquisition integration, leadership transition, and strategic repositioning.
• Create repeatable playbooks, tools, and best practices that can be leveraged across the portfolio while remaining flexible to each company’s unique context.

Due Diligence Support

• Lead or support human capital diligence for new investment opportunities, including assessment of management teams, organization structure, leadership depth, culture, talent risks, compensation, and HR capabilities.
• Translate diligence findings into clear investment implications, value creation opportunities, risk mitigation plans, and post-close priorities.
• Partner with investment professionals and advisors during diligence processes to ensure human capital considerations are integrated into underwriting and investment committee materials.
• Develop 100-day and longer-term human capital action plans for new investments.

Leadership and Talent

• Assess portfolio company senior leadership teams and identify gaps, development needs, and succession priorities.
• Build and maintain relationships with executive search firms, leadership advisory firms, compensation consultants, interim executives, and functional experts.
• Support executive hiring, onboarding, assessment and succession for key portfolio company leadership and non-executive director roles.
• Help portfolio companies strengthen talent management processes, including performance management, leadership development, workforce planning, and retention of critical talent.
• Support cultural assessment and culture-scaling efforts, particularly in founder-led, carve-out, high-growth, or acquisition-oriented businesses.
• Help portfolio companies build flexible and effective HR functions that are fit-for-purpose for their scale, complexity, and strategic ambition.

Cross-Portfolio Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing

• Identify common human capital themes across the portfolio and develop scalable approaches to address them.

• Facilitate connections among portfolio company leaders to share best practices and lessons learned.

• Represent the Operations & Strategy team as a trusted human capital advisor to internal stakeholders and external partners.

• Contribute to OMERS Direct Private Equity team’s broader value creation agenda, working alongside colleagues focused on strategy, operations, digital, finance, commercial excellence, procurement and other functional areas.

To succeed in this role, you have:

• 10+ years of relevant experience in human capital, talent, organization effectiveness, executive search, leadership advisory, management consulting, private equity operations and/or senior HR leadership.
• Experience working with private equity-backed, founder-led, mid-market, lower-mid-market and high-growth (organic + M&A) companies.
• Demonstrated ability to advise CEOs, CHROs, boards, and senior investors on leadership, talent, organization, and culture topics and create influence without direct reporting lines.
• Experience supporting M&A, post-merger integration, carve-outs is highly valuable.
• Track record of translating human capital insights into measurable value creation outcomes.

Personal attributes

• Collaborative, humble, and partnership-oriented.

• High integrity and strong judgment.

• Intellectually curious and comfortable learning across industries and business models.

• Low ego, high ownership, and highly responsive.

• Balanced style: strategic enough for the boardroom, practical enough to work shoulder-to-shoulder with management teams.

• Comfort in constructively challenging the status quo and influencing senior leaders through insight, credibility, and partnership.

• Passion for building enduring businesses through great leadership, strong teams, and effective organizations.

The annualized base salary ranges for the primary location and any additional locations are listed below. The base salary that is ultimately offered to the successful candidate will consider a wide array of factors including but not limited to the individual’s skill set. 

You may also be eligible to receive an annual Incentive Award pursuant to our Short-term Incentive plan and our Long-Term Incentive plan (if applicable), and to participate in our group benefits and retirement plans – details on these elements of compensation are included within OMERS & Oxford offer letters.

As one of Canada’s largest defined benefit pension plans, our people-first culture is at its best when our workforce reflects the communities where we live and work — and the members we proudly serve.

From hire to retire, we are an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment and selection process that extends all the way through your employee experience. This sense of belonging and connection is cultivated up, down and across our global organization thanks to our vast network of Employee Resource Groups with executive leader sponsorship, our Purpose@Work committee and employee recognition programs.