Senior Director of People and Culture

Program/Department: People and Culture

Reports To: Executive Director

Supervises: People & Finance Specialist; external consultants and specialized partners

FLSA Status: Exempt

Employment Status: Full-time

Work Location: Hybrid- four days/week onsite/in FNC Communities, one remote day

Organization Overview 

Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts (FNC) advances the healthy development of children, caregivers, and communities through parenting education, early childhood engagement, family support, coalition building, and training providers.

Each year, FNC engages more than 8,500 children, caregivers, and professionals across Boston, Chelsea, and beyond. Our work is grounded in equity, collaboration, family leadership, and our commitment to creating nurturing communities in which children and families can thrive.

Position Summary

The Senior Director of People & Culture is a key organizational leader responsible for building the people, culture, and workforce systems that enable FNC and its staff to thrive.

FNC has a close-knit workforce of approximately 30 regular full- and part-time employees, along with a pool of seasonal and part-time staff who support our training programs. This structure requires a People & Culture leader who knows our staff and managers, is visible and accessible, and can build strong relationships while creating consistent systems and practices across a varied workforce.

Reporting directly to the Executive Director and serving on the Executive Leadership Team, the Senior Director leads FNC’s People & Culture strategy and core human resources functions, including employee relations, performance management, talent, learning and development, benefits, compensation, policies, compliance, and employee experience.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role. The Senior Director must be equally comfortable advising the Executive Director and leadership team, coaching a supervisor through a difficult employee matter, strengthening a policy or system, facilitating staff development, and ensuring essential HR responsibilities are executed accurately and consistently.

The Senior Director supervises the People & Finance Specialist and works closely with Finance & Administration while engaging employment counsel, brokers, trainers, consultants, and other specialized partners as needed.

This is also a highly visible role. The Senior Director is expected to maintain a consistent presence at FNC’s Dorchester headquarters and regularly visit other FNC program sites and communities to build relationships with staff, understand their work, and ensure People & Culture practices are responsive across the organization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

People Strategy, Culture & Organizational Leadership

• Serve on the Executive Leadership Team and bring a strong people and culture perspective to organizational strategy, planning, budgeting, risk management, and organizational change.
• Advise the Executive Director and organizational leaders on workforce planning, organizational design, employee engagement, leadership development, and culture.
• Lead implementation of FNC’s People & Culture strategy in alignment with the Strategic Plan, advancing a nurturing, trauma-informed, and equity-centered organizational culture.
• Translate FNC’s commitments to equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression into practical policies, management practices, organizational learning, and employee experiences.
• Lead organizational culture initiatives, including implementation of culture assessment recommendations and ongoing measurement of progress.

Employee Relations, Performance & Manager Development

• Serve as a trusted, accessible, and responsive People & Culture resource for employees and managers.
• Lead employee relations matters, including workplace concerns, conflict resolution, accommodations, investigations, performance issues, and progressive discipline, engaging employment counsel when appropriate.
• Coach supervisors and managers to set clear expectations, provide meaningful feedback, navigate difficult conversations, document performance, and lead equitable and accountable teams.
• Lead FNC’s performance-management approach, including goal setting, supervision, feedback, recognition, performance improvement, and annual reviews.

Talent, Learning & Employee Experience

• Lead equitable and effective recruitment, hiring, onboarding, retention, and offboarding practices.
• Partner with hiring managers on job design, job descriptions, interviews, candidate assessment, and hiring decisions.
• Develop an annual staff learning and professional-development plan that strengthens management capacity, employee growth, compliance, and organizational effectiveness.
• Coordinate organizational learning related to equity, anti-racism, anti-oppression, trauma-informed practice, and other workforce priorities, engaging external expertise as appropriate.
• Use employee feedback and workforce data to strengthen engagement, belonging, retention, collaboration, and accountability.

People Operations, Compensation & Compliance

• Ensure reliable People & Culture systems, records, workflows, personnel files, documentation, and annual HR processes.
• Maintain FNC’s employee handbook and policies and ensure consistent administration of employment requirements, including leaves, accommodations, wage and hour requirements, and required staff training.
• Oversee benefits administration, annual renewal, and open enrollment and manage relationships with brokers and vendors.
• Lead and support competitive and equitable compensation practices, including salary structures, job classification, compensation analysis, and annual compensation processes.
• Partner with Finance on payroll changes, employee data, benefits deductions, workforce reporting, and other shared processes with clear functional ownership.
• Establish meaningful workforce metrics and regularly advise the Executive Director and Executive Leadership Team on workforce trends, risks, and priorities.
• Supervise and develop the People & Finance Specialist, establishing clear priorities and ensuring effective coordination across People & Culture and Finance & Administration.
• Manage the People & Culture budget and external partners, including employment counsel, consultants, brokers, recruiters, and trainers.

What Success Looks Like

The Senior Director will help FNC build a People & Culture function that is trusted, responsive, equitable, consistent, and accountable. Staff and managers will have clear systems and support; supervisors will be better equipped to lead; organizational risks and workforce needs will be identified proactively; and FNC will make measurable progress toward its commitment to a nurturing, trauma-informed, and equity-centered workplace.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Business Administration, or related field.
• Seven or more years of progressively responsible People & Culture, human resources, or organizational development experience.
• Broad HR generalist experience, including employee relations, performance management, benefits, recruitment, policy implementation, compliance, and employee lifecycle management.
• Strong employee-relations judgment and demonstrated experience managing sensitive workplace matters, investigations, documentation, and organizational risk.
• Experience advising senior leadership on workforce strategy, organizational change, culture, or leadership development.
• Demonstrated experience coaching and developing managers.
• Experience building effective people systems and processes within a lean organization or HR function.
• Working knowledge of federal and Massachusetts employment laws and HR requirements.
• Demonstrated experience advancing equitable, inclusive, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed workplace practices.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, judgment, organization, and follow-through.
• Ability and willingness to work regularly across FNC locations and maintain a visible, accessible presence with staff.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Business Administration, Nonprofit Management, or related field.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR, or comparable recognized human resources certification.
• Experience in a nonprofit, family support, early childhood, behavioral health, or community-based human services organization.
• Experience with compensation analysis, benefits renewal, HR technology, workforce analytics, and organizational development.
• Experience managing external consultants, employment counsel, brokers, recruiters, or training partners.
• Bilingual or multilingual skills are welcomed and valued.

Physical and Mental Demands

• Ability to sit, stand, and move throughout the workday
• Ability to lift fifty (30) pounds
• Ability to manage emotional demands associated with mission-driven work

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

FNC recognizes the impacts of institutional racism and other structural inequalities. We believe “marginalized” communities are at the center of our organization and work. As such, People of Color, people with lived experience of immigration, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Family Nurturing Center offers a competitive benefits package, including comprehensive health benefits, generous paid time off, professional development opportunities, and a collaborative, mission-driven work environment.

Bilingual or multilingual skills are welcomed and valued.