Director of Human Resources
About the Role
Our client is seeking a strategic and dynamic leader to serve as Director of Human Resources. Reporting to the Vice President for Administration, the Director will oversee all HR operations, policies, and initiatives that support the university’s mission and goals. This individual will lead efforts to attract, retain, and develop a diverse and talented workforce while fostering a culture of collaboration, equity, and inclusion across the institution.
The Director will provide visionary leadership across talent acquisition, employee relations, performance management, organizational development, and compliance. As a trusted advisor and strategic partner to senior leadership, the Director ensures that HR practices align with institutional values and genuinely meet the needs of faculty, staff, and students. Higher education experience is strongly preferred — the regulatory environment, shared governance culture, and workforce complexity of a university are distinct from most other organizational settings.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Develop and implement HR strategies that align with the university’s mission, long-term goals, and the evolving landscape of higher education workforce management.
- Partner with senior leadership and academic deans to provide insights and recommendations on workforce planning, organizational structure, policy development, and institutional culture.
- Foster a workplace culture that values diversity, equity, inclusion, and genuine collaboration across all employee groups — faculty, staff, and administrators.
HR Operations and Policy
- Oversee all core HR functions including recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, benefits administration, compensation, leave management, and professional development.
- Ensure full compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations — including Texas-specific employment law requirements — as well as institutional policies and accreditation standards.
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives for HR systems, processes, and technology to increase operational efficiency, data accuracy, and service quality for all institutional stakeholders.
Talent Acquisition and Retention
- Develop and execute innovative, equity-centered recruitment strategies that attract top-tier faculty and staff talent and position the university as an employer of choice in the Texas higher education market.
- Design and implement programs to enhance employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction, drawing on data and employee feedback to identify and address the root causes of turnover.
- Lead workforce development initiatives including onboarding quality, training programs, leadership development, and succession planning for key institutional roles.
Employee Relations and Compliance
- Serve as a trusted advisor to managers and employees on HR policies, conflict resolution, performance management, and progressive discipline, providing consistent, fair, and well-documented guidance.
- Ensure compliance with employment laws, university policies, and collective bargaining agreements as applicable, maintaining up-to-date knowledge of relevant regulatory changes.
- Oversee investigations related to employee concerns, grievances, Title IX-adjacent HR matters, and workplace issues, ensuring fair, timely, and legally defensible resolutions.
Data-Driven Decision Making
- Analyze HR metrics, workforce data, and labor market trends to identify patterns, inform strategic decisions, and develop proactive initiatives that address institutional people challenges before they become critical.
- Prepare and present regular, substantive reports to institutional leadership on HR outcomes, workforce trends, compensation benchmarking, and program effectiveness.
- Use HRIS and analytics platforms to improve the accuracy, accessibility, and strategic value of workforce data across the institution.
Education, Experience, and Competencies
Key Leadership Competencies
Operates as a genuine strategic advisor to institutional leadership, not just an HR service provider — contributing to decisions that shape the entire workforce and culture.
Embeds diversity, equity, and inclusion into recruitment, compensation, policy development, and workplace culture in ways that go beyond compliance and create genuine belonging.
Navigates sensitive and complex employee situations with consistency, fairness, and legal defensibility, building trust across all employee constituencies in the process.
Builds institutional capacity through structured development programs, succession planning, and a workplace environment that retains and grows top talent over time.
Uses workforce analytics to anticipate people challenges, justify resource decisions, and tell a clear, credible story about the HR function’s contribution to institutional performance.
Runs a well-organized, responsive HR operation where policies are clear, processes are efficient, and every employee who interacts with HR comes away with accurate information and a fair experience.
Why This Role Matters
A university’s ability to recruit excellent faculty, retain talented staff, resolve workplace issues fairly, and build an inclusive institutional culture all depend on the quality of its HR leadership. The Director of Human Resources is not a back-office function at a modern university — it is one of the most consequential administrative roles on campus, with direct influence over the institution’s capacity to fulfill its academic mission.
For an HR leader who understands the specific demands and rewards of the higher education context — the shared governance structures, the dual faculty/staff workforce, the compliance complexity, the mission orientation — this is a senior role with genuine institutional scope and a real opportunity to shape culture over time.
The best university HR directors understand that every hire, every policy, and every employee relations decision either strengthens or weakens the institution’s capacity to do its real work. That awareness is what separates strategic HR leadership from administrative HR management.
What the University Offers
Retained Search by Excelon Associates
Excelon Associates is a retained executive search firm headquartered in Asheville, NC, with additional offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL. Our higher education practice places HR directors, chief human resources officers, and senior people operations leaders at universities and colleges across the United States. Since 2007 we have supported institutions in identifying the HR leadership talent that builds strong workforces and supports institutional mission.
For institutions seeking an exceptional Director of Human Resources, Excelon Associates is a trusted recruitment partner. Reach out to start a confidential conversation, or browse our full sample job descriptions library for related higher education administrative and leadership roles.
Hiring a Director of Human Resources?
Excelon Associates places HR directors and human resources leadership at higher education institutions across the United States. Headquartered in Asheville, NC. Retained search since 2007.