Senior Manager of People Experience

As the Senior Manager of People Experience, you’ll play a critical leadership role in shaping an inclusive, responsive, and high-performing workplace culture across our network. Reporting to the Senior Director of People Experience, you will lead execution and innovation across core people functions ensuring that every stage of the employee lifecycle is aligned with organizational values and operational excellence.This role is based in our New York office with an expectation of at least 3 days a week spent in-person at the school. 

The Senior Manager of People Experience is responsible for working collaboratively with members of the People Team to foster a positive, professional, and supportive work environment. This position is designed to assist with the administrative and operational aspects of the employee life cycle, including onboarding, terminations, orientations, compliance, and employment verifications.

Who You Are

This role requires an enthusiastic and detail-oriented individual who enjoys managing HR operations and processes.  It also requires a proactive mindset, organizational skills, and a passion for supporting employees through key stages of their employment journey. . If you are eager to grow your career in human resources, we encourage you to apply.

• Culture Champion: You are dedicated to fostering a culture of engagement, growth, and well-being among our faculty and staff, serving as a champion of our organizational values.
• HR Policy Expert: You possess a deep understanding of HR policies and procedures, ensuring their consistent and fair application throughout the organization.
• Problem Solver: You excel in providing guidance and support on complex and sensitive HR matters, supporting thorough investigations and brainstorming effective solutions.
• Collaborative Partner: You thrive in collaborating with leaders and stakeholders across the organization, working together to navigate disciplinary actions, performance improvement plans, and other HR challenges.
• On-the-Ground Advocate and Engager: You are willing to dedicate a significant portion of your time to local travel, engaging directly with employees across our various school locations to understand their needs and drive meaningful change.
• Expert Communicator: Skillfully convey subtle or complex messages clearly, as appropriate for the topic and audience.
• People-Focused Professional: You genuinely care about creating a seamless and supportive experience for employees.

What You’ll Do

• Report to the Senior Director of People Experience and collaborate closely with the other people team departments (Talent Acquisition, and People Ops and Total Rewards) to ensure that people team initiatives meet regional needs.
• Oversee the application, interpretation and implementation of network policies and procedures ensuring fair and consistent application across all employees.
• Lead or contribute to cross-functional initiatives that enhance employee lifecycle processes, DEI, performance management, and culture-building efforts.
• Collaborate closely with the People Operations and Total Rewards Team to ensure correct Implementation of People Related systems and procedures including but not limited to PTO, vacation, leaves, and other assigned processes 
• Independently own tactical workflows related to onboarding, offboarding, and internal transitions for the NY Region, including schools and our Central Management Office. This includes managing compliance, documentation, communication, and logistics, freeing up leadership for strategic focus.
• Oversee I-9 and E-Verify compliance, employment verifications, and employee data management. Ensure all information is accurate, timely, and audit-ready.
• Maintain accurate employee records, including data entry and updates in HR systems.
• Serve as a go-to resource for staff inquiries, coaching managers and employees through questions and concerns with empathy, urgency, and professionalism.
• Fully manage and process unemployment claims, workers’ compensation cases, and respond to accommodation requests in compliance with the ADA, including all documentation, communication, and tracking.
• Support office management functions, such as handling mail and organizing hard copy documents (e.g., transcripts, personnel files).
• Ensure operational efficiency and compliance across administrative systems related to employment records and physical documentation.
• Contribute to broader People Team initiatives as needed, including special projects and peak-period support, to provide added capacity and flexibility.
• Liaise with external partners such as AdTrav (travel) and Bill.com (payments/reimbursements), ensuring smooth operations, timely processing, and issue resolution in collaboration with Finance and Operations teams.
• Own monitoring of Incident IQ tickers in order to manage internal and external requests, responding in an appropriate timeline.
• Proactively monitor time management, adjusting workflows or seeking support as needed to maintain balance between adaptive responsibilities and high-volume procedural work.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Develop communication and training materials: proactively and annually develop materials to communicate messages, policies, and data. Skillfully organize information so that it is clear, digestible, and with the most important information communicated (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint presentations, termination letters, reprimands, and other correspondence)
2. Policy Implementation and Administration: Ensure people team policies and procedures are applied consistently and fairly to all employees. Work with leaders to implement disciplinary actions and performance improvement plans.
3. Strategy: Align HR strategies with organizational goals, develop a cohesive HR vision, and translate it into actionable plans for implementation, monitoring, and adjustment. Evaluate current HR performance by establishing and tracking metrics, analyzing data, and gathering employee feedback.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field required.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of experience in human resources, with a focus on onboarding and compliance.
• Strong understanding of employment laws and regulations.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion.
• SHRM or HRCI certification is a plus.

Compensation

Salary range is $80,000-$90,000, commensurate with your experience. Democracy Prep employees are provided with a benefits package that includes medical, vision, and dental insurance, 403B matching, and parental leave.

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Democracy Prep is an Equal Opportunity Employer and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Our mission is to educate responsible citizen-scholars who will change the world. We strongly believe that by building a DREAM team that represents numerous perspectives, backgrounds, and expertises, we can achieve this goal together. This is a value we highly support and strongly encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply.