Managing Director, Human Resources

    Human Resources, Managing Director

Department: Human Resources

Division: Finance & Administration

Location: Brooklyn, NY (Hybrid)

In-Office: Twice a week; additional as needed

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Status: Full Time/ Regular/ Exempt/Non-union

Salary: $120,000 - $150,000

THE ROLE

The Managing Director, Human Resources (MDHR) directs and oversees StoryCorps’ Human Resources department in ways that actively advance the mission, organizational strategy, and health of the workplace culture. This role holds primary responsibility for shaping, stewarding, and sustaining an inclusive, engaged, and high-performing culture, particularly within a distributed workforce.

The MDHR is a senior leader and strategic partner who ensures that StoryCorps’ values are embedded into leadership practices, people systems, and the day-to-day employee experience. This role balances hands-on execution with strategic leadership, using data, new technologies, listening, and collaboration to strengthen organizational effectiveness, trust, and accountability.

The MDHR is an effective people and team manager and mentor, a problem-solver and innovator, and someone with demonstrated experience in ensuring accessibility, connection, and a variety of perspectives.

Key responsibilities include the development of HR policies and procedures; management and oversight of talent acquisition, employee and intern recruitment, onboarding and offboarding; employee and labor relations; compensation and benefits; staff learning strategies and professional development; performance management; and legal compliance.

The successful individual must be a hands-on generalist who is comfortable rolling up their sleeves and doing the work, while also being able to think strategically and analytically. The MDHR role requires excellent judgment, high ethical standards, strong interpersonal skills, cultural competency, emotional intelligence, and discretion in dealing with confidential and sensitive information. The MDHR must demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills, impeccable attention to detail, and the ability to prioritize and multitask in a fast-paced, changing, and deadline-oriented environment.

The Managing Director, Human Resources, reports to the Chief Executive Officer and supervises a staff of three HR professionals and the Director of Legal Contracting.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Manage a department of three full-time HR staff and the Director of Legal Contracting, focusing on skill development, performance coaching, and promoting individual growth through constructive feedback.
   
• Manage the HR budget, including overseeing the organization’s training and professional development budget.
   
• Contribute to organizational strategic planning activities, developing recommendations for HR and people strategy.
   
• Develop annual departmental goals and priorities and monitor their completion while building a highly competent and service-oriented HR team.
   
• Lead department priorities that strengthen organizational culture, employee engagement, and manager effectiveness, ensuring HR services reinforce StoryCorps’ values and ways of working.

Provide leadership and guidance in delivering people processes that strengthen performance, engagement, retention, and organizational culture, including professional development and learning strategies.

• Advise and support managers in the appropriate resolution of HR-related issues, including employee relations, performance management, training, progressive disciplinary actions, and involuntary terminations.
   
• Conduct thorough and confidential investigations in response to formal complaints.
   
• Oversee the recruitment function, which is directly managed by HR staff; participate in interviews for manager-level and above positions; review and approve employment offers.
   
• Identify and track workforce recruitment metrics, including new sourcing channels.
   
• Coach and support managers in fostering healthy team cultures, clear expectations, and psychologically safe work environments.

• Partner with senior leadership to define, reinforce, and evolve company values and translate them into clear expectations and practices.
   
• Assess organizational health through engagement surveys, listening sessions, and qualitative feedback; translate findings into actionable strategies.
   
• Lead culture-related initiatives during periods of growth, change, or organizational transition.
   
• Identify and proactively address cultural risks, including burnout, inequity, misalignment, or breakdowns in communication and trust.

• Attend collective bargaining meetings, tracking agreements, issues, and follow-up tasks.
   
• Administer the collective bargaining agreement, including overseeing grievance procedures for bargaining unit staff.
   
• Perform other duties to support the labor relations function, as assigned.

• Manage benefits program renewal and design in consultation with benefits brokers and with support from the Manager of Payroll and Benefits.
   
• Develop salary and title structures, policies, and procedures; oversee the annual salary planning process and ensure pay equity and transparency across StoryCorps.
   
• Oversee benefits and payroll administration, directly executed by the Manager of Payroll and Benefits Operations, who supervises and audits the biweekly payroll (with support from the HR Generalists) and manages all employee benefit programs, including leaves and accommodations.

• Lead the development and implementation of IDEA strategies that embrace and incorporate inclusive and equitable management practices.
   
• Foster a company culture that advances IDEA principles through policies, leadership practices, decision-making, and accountability structures.
   
• Lead the continuous review and evolution of internal policies and practices to support IDEA in areas including advancement, IDEA group and board support, and staff inclusion and engagement. Ensure outcomes can be measured, tracked, and communicated through metrics.

• Develop and update HR policies and procedures following industry best practices and current employment laws and regulations, and ensure consistent application of policies across the organization.
   
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of national and local laws, regulations, and developments in the human resources field, and ensure the organization’s compliance.
   
• Perform other duties to support the organization’s Human Resources function, as assigned.

ABOUT YOU

• Bachelor’s degree.
   
• At least eight years of experience in Human Resources, including talent management, employee and labor relations, benefits and compensation, change management, recruitment, and compliance; at least three years in a management-level HR position.
   
• At least three years of experience providing staff supervision, coaching, and performance management.
   
• Expert knowledge of federal employment law and wage and benefits regulations.
   
• Demonstrated experience and strong commitment to developing a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce.
   
• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage change.
   
• Strong interviewing and candidate assessment skills.
   
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
   
• Impeccable attention to detail, strong organizational ability, and commitment to high-quality and timely work products.
   
• Strong consensus-building and conflict resolution skills.
   
• Strong computer skills, with proficiency in Microsoft Office applications; experience utilizing HR information systems to manage employee information and reporting.
   
• Demonstrated ability to function exceptionally in a rapidly growing and fast-paced work environment.
   
• Professionalism, integrity, and sensitivity in maintaining confidentiality.
   
• Cultural humility and the ability to work successfully with diverse groups of people.
   
• Service-driven leader who focuses on meeting the needs of those they lead and understands that it is their job to develop employees to their fullest potential.

• Master’s degree in a related field.
   
• HR certification (PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP).
   
• Experience administering HR for a multi-state organization; knowledge of New York and California employment law strongly preferred.
   
• Experience in labor relations and administration of collective bargaining agreements.
   
• Demonstrated effectiveness and ability in public speaking, training, workshop, and meeting facilitation, and presentations

ABOUT STORYCORPS

StoryCorps' mission is to help us believe in each other by illuminating the humanity and possibility in us all — one story at a time. Since 2003, more than 600,000 people, in all 50 states, have recorded StoryCorps interviews about their lives. We preserve and archive their recordings at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered, and share select stories with the public through StoryCorps’ podcast, NPR broadcasts, animated shorts, digital platforms, and best-selling books. These powerful human stories reflect the vast range of American experiences, engender empathy and connection, and remind us how much more