Executive Director of Human Resources

Executive Director of Human Resources

Position Summary

The Executive Director of Human Resources is part of central administration for the Cedar Rapids Community School District, which has a dynamic workforce striving to embrace a wide variety of professional, personal, and demographic experiences and characteristics.  The Executive Director of HR provides strategic and operational leadership for the district's human resources functions with a focus on talent, culture, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, employee relations, investigations, certification, compensation, job descriptions, HR compliance, staffing systems, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.

This position leads the development and continuous improvement of research-based culture-building systems, employee feedback processes, HR training structures, standard operating procedures, data-informed improvement plans, and service-oriented HR practices that strengthen the employee experience and improve support at both the district and campus levels.

The Executive Director ensures that HR practices are clear, consistent, legally compliant, people-centered, and aligned with district priorities, Board policy, collective bargaining agreements, state and federal law, Iowa education requirements, and internal  procedures. The position supports a healthy and high-performing organizational culture by helping leaders apply people practices with care, clarity, consistency, accountability, professionalism, and respect.

The Executive Director works collaboratively with the Chief Compliance Officer, Superintendent, Executive Cabinet, CFO, business officials, principals, supervisors, legal counsel, and cross-functional district leaders to ensure HR decisions are legally sound, financially responsible, operationally effective, and aligned to student and school needs.

This position collaborates with payroll and benefits staff to ensure accurate and timely processing of employment actions and related HR documentation, but does not directly oversee payroll or benefits. The Executive Director supervises the HR Manager and assigned Human Resources staff.

Reports To: Chief Compliance Officer

Supervises: HR Manager and assigned Human Resources staff

Classification: Member of District Executive Leadership Team

Salary: $125,000 to $145,000

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

A. Talent, Culture, and Organizational Effectiveness

1. Leads the district's talent, culture, and organizational effectiveness work through research-based systems, employee feedback tools, data analysis, leadership training, and comprehensive improvement planning.
2. Develops, recommends, and implements culture-building strategies that strengthen trust, belonging, professionalism, accountability, service, clarity, and employee engagement.
3. Designs and supports employee surveys, listening systems, feedback cycles, and action planning processes to identify organizational strengths, employee concerns, and opportunities for improvement.
4. Uses workforce data, culture data, engagement data, retention trends, exit information, vacancy patterns, and employee relations data to identify needs and recommend system improvements.
5. Supports the district's desired culture by ensuring HR practices reinforce care, clarity, communication, consistency, accountability, and respect.
6. Helps leaders navigate staffing transitions, employee concerns, performance issues, and organizational change in ways that are legally sound, timely, transparent, and people-centered.
7. Develops training, tools, and guidance to strengthen leader capacity in employee relations, documentation, hiring, onboarding, performance management, culture-building, and HR compliance.
8. Leads department-level improvement efforts that enhance HR customer service, responsiveness, accuracy, follow-through, and support for schools and departments.

B. Recruitment, Hiring, Onboarding, and Staffing

1. Leads district systems for recruitment, hiring, selection, onboarding, assignment, transfer, resignation, retirement, and offboarding.
2. Provides strategic leadership for teacher recruitment, including hard-to-fill positions, candidate pools, early hiring strategies, career pathways, and long-term workforce stability.
3. Strives to recruit and retain employees from a wide variety of professional, personal, and demographic experiences and characteristics.
4. Works with principals, supervisors, and hiring managers to ensure hiring processes are timely, consistent, fair, legally compliant, and aligned with district priorities.
5. Oversees onboarding processes to ensure new employees receive clear expectations, compliance information, role-specific guidance, and a strong sense of connection to the district.
6. Supports administrator placement, staff assignment, and leadership staffing processes in collaboration with the Chief Compliance Officer, Superintendent, and other executive leaders.
7. Supports staffing models related to district redesign, mergers, consolidations, school transitions, enrollment shifts, program changes, and budget priorities.
8. Works collaboratively with the district's Chief Financial Officer, business officials, operations leaders, teaching and learning office, special services, principals, and executive leadership to align staffing decisions with student needs, fiscal responsibility, collective bargaining requirements, and long-term district goals.
9. Provides data-informed recommendations related to staffing allocations, vacancy trends, position control, recruitment priorities, placement processes (including surplus and other processes), and workforce sustainability.

C. Employee Relations, Investigations, and Workplace Compliance

1. Leads and supports employee relations matters, including workplace concerns, performance issues, formal and informal complaints, grievances, investigations, corrective action, all of which are to be treated as sensitive personnel matters.
2. Conducts and/or oversees investigations in collaboration with the Chief Compliance Officer, legal counsel, Superintendent, and appropriate district leaders.
3. Ensures employee relations practices are handled with consistency, confidentiality, timeliness, procedural integrity, and appropriate documentation.
4. Provides guidance to leaders on employment law, personnel procedures, documentation, due process, employee relations, performance concerns, accommodations, leave-related issues, and compliance expectations.
5. Supports responses to employment-related legal matters, subpoenas, agency complaints, records requests, compliance reviews, and other personnel-related matters in partnership with the Chief Compliance Officer and legal counsel.
6. Provides oversight and structure for grievances, employee complaints (formal and informal), workplace concerns, issues of workplace equity, and staff-related  discrimination complaints.
7. Maintains strong working knowledge of federal and state employment laws, Iowa education requirements, Board policy, collective bargaining agreements, employee handbooks, and internal  procedures.
8. Ensures adherence to applicable requirements related to employee investigations, mandatory reporting, educator conduct, background checks, state code and administrative regulations including those concerning abuse, neglect, and seclusion or restraint, and federal laws including those concerning equal employment opportunity, medical leave, disabilities, accommodations, and related compliance expectations.

D. Certification, Licensure, Compensation, Job Descriptions, and HR Processing

1. Oversees processes for employee certification, licensure, authorization, evaluator approval, background check, and compliance tracking to ensure staff meet applicable legal and district requirements.
2. Leads compensation-related HR processes, including salary placement, classification review, contract recommendations, extra-duty assignments, stipend processing, compensation documentation, and related HR records.
3. Maintains, updates, and develops job descriptions to ensure role clarity, legal compliance, organizational alignment, and consistency across the district.
4. Ensures HR processing related to hiring, assignments, contract changes, transfers, resignations, retirements, employment status changes, and personnel actions is accurate, timely, and well documented.
5. Coordinates HR documentation and employment-status information needed for payroll and benefits processing while collaborating with, but not supervising, payroll and benefits functions.
6. Ensures personnel records, application materials, certification records, compensation documentation, and employment files are maintained in accordance with federal law, state law, Board policy, and internal  procedures.

E. HR Systems, Technology, SOPs, Training, and Process Improvement

1. Evaluates HR systems, workflows, software tools, and internal procedures to improve efficiency, accuracy, compliance, transparency, and employee experience.
2. Makes recommendations regarding HR software, applicant tracking systems, onboarding platforms, certification tracking, employee records systems, workflow tools, reporting systems, and other technology solutions that strengthen HR operations and enhance compliance.
3. Develops, implements, and maintains standard operating procedures for core HR functions, including recruitment, hiring, onboarding, certification, compensation placement, job descriptions, employee relations, investigations, documentation, and compliance.
4. Uses data and feedback to identify gaps in HR service delivery and leads improvement efforts to reduce delays, confusion, inconsistency, and unnecessary escalation.
5. Ensures HR staff are trained on procedures, timelines, documentation standards, customer service expectations, compliance responsibilities, and service-level expectations.
6. Creates clear, scalable, user-friendly HR processes that support employees, supervisors, principals, and district leaders.
7. Leads data-driven improvement efforts to strengthen HR department performance, improve customer service, and enhance support at both district and campus levels.

F. HR Compliance, Policy, and Education Regulations

1. Ensures district HR practices comply with applicable federal and state employment laws and regulations, the district's Board Manual (of policies, regulations, and procedures), employee handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, and district expectations.
2. Provides technical expertise to district leaders regarding employment law, HR compliance, educator licensure, certification requirements, personnel processes, investigations, employee relations, and employment practices.
3. Works in collaboration with the Chief Compliance Officer, legal counsel, Chief Financial Officer, business officials, and district leaders to reduce organizational risk and strengthen procedural integrity.
4. Supports preparation for audits, compliance reviews, records requests, agency complaints, subpoenas, and other employment-related legal or regulatory matters.
5. Supports review of Board Manual provisions and implementation related to employment, personnel, investigations, certification, employee conduct, compliance, and workplace expectations.
6. Ensures the district maintains appropriate personnel documentation and reporting systems to meet federal, state, Board, and other district requirements.

G. Collective Bargaining, Employee Agreements, and Personnel Recommendations

1. Serves as a lead or key district representative in collective bargaining, meet-and-confer processes, handbook development, employee group discussions, and related labor-management matters, as assigned.
2. Supports the development, maintenance, interpretation, and revision of collective bargaining agreements, employee handbooks, work agreements, and HR procedures.
3. Prepares and recommends personnel actions under the authority of the Board of Directors, including hiring, transfer, assignment, resignation, retirement, termination, and other employment actions in accordance with Board Manual and applicable legal authority.
4. Attends Board meetings as needed to support personnel recommendations, HR updates, Board Manual, negotiations, and sensitive employment-related topics.
5. Provides accurate and timely personnel information to support Board action, district reporting, and executive decision-making.

H. Leadership Support and Capacity Building

1. Serves as a strategic advisor to district leaders on staffing, employee relations, hiring, onboarding, culture, compliance, investigations, compensation, placement, and personnel decision-making.
2. Equips principals, supervisors, and managers with practical tools, guidance, and coaching to manage people practices consistently and confidently.
3. Provides training and support on HR procedures, employee relations, documentation, evaluations, investigations, certification expectations, and compliance responsibilities.
4. Builds strong working relationships with administrators, supervisors, employee groups, business officials, and district leaders.
5. Helps leaders balance care for people with accountability to expectations, policy, law/regulations, and student-centered decision-making.
6. Supports leaders in navigating sensitive employee communication related to HR decisions, staffing, placement, performance concerns, and organizational change.

I. HR Department Leadership and Customer Service

1. Supervises, supports, evaluates, and develops the HR Manager and assigned Human Resources staff.
2. Builds a high-performing HR team with a culture that is both healthy and smart, clear roles, strong internal processes including performance evaluations, shared expectations, and a commitment to excellent service as well as compliance.
3. Establishes customer-service expectations for the HR Department, including timeliness, accuracy, professionalism, confidentiality, responsiveness, and follow-through.
4. Improves the employee and leader experience by ensuring HR support is accessible, respectful, clear, and solution-focused.
5. Uses team data, workflow reviews, feedback, and service indicators to improve department performance.
6. Promotes collaboration across departments so HR functions are aligned with finance, operations, teaching and learning, compliance, school leadership, and district priorities.

J. Performs other duties as assigned 

The nature of this position and district operations require the Executive Director of HR, along with the entire HR department, to be able and willing to accept and execute assignments not expressly listed in a job description. Within reason, the district expects employees to perform such job duties as assigned. 

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated knowledge of federal and state employment laws, Iowa education personnel requirements, Board Manual provisions, collective bargaining agreements, employee handbooks, and HR compliance practices.
• Strong understanding of K-12 education environments, including school staffing, certification, licensure, employee relations, principal support, teacher recruitment, and district-level operations.
• Ability to develop and implement research-based culture-building systems, employee engagement tools, surveys, training plans, and comprehensive improvement strategies.
• Ability to lead data-driven improvement efforts and implement systems related to workforce, recruitment, retention, workplace culture, employee relations, compliance, and service-quality data.
• Experience developing standard operating procedures, improving workflows, documenting processes and the application thereof, and creating consistent HR practices across an organization.
• Ability to evaluate HR technology needs and recommend software, systems, or tools that improve HR processing, reporting, compliance, and employee experience.
• Experience supporting staffing models, workforce planning, school redesign, mergers, consolidations, or organizational restructuring.
• Ability to work collaboratively with CFOs, business officials, legal counsel, compliance leaders, principals, supervisors, and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to supervise, coach, and develop HR staff while improving department service quality, accountability, and responsiveness.
• Strong customer-service orientation with the ability to improve HR support at both central office and campus levels.
• Strong judgment, discretion, confidentiality, emotional intelligence, and ability to manage sensitive personnel matters.
• Strong communication, facilitation, training, problem-solving, documentation, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to lead through complexity, ambiguity, change, conflict, and high-stakes personnel matters.
• Ability to organize, prioritize, meet deadlines, manage competing demands, and maintain accuracy under pressure.
• Commitment to a dynamic workforce with a wide variety of professional, personal, and demographic experiences and characteristics, and a commitment to professionalism, service, continuous improvement, and student-centered decision-making.

Qualifications

Required

• Master's degree in  Human Resources, Business, Business Administration, Educational Administration, Organizational Leadership, Public Administration, or related field; or an equivalent combination of education and senior-level HR experience.
• Significant leadership experience in human resources, employee relations, talent management, organizational operations, education administration, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience leading employee relations, investigations, hiring, recruiting, onboarding, compliance, staffing, compensation-related processes, and/or HR systems improvement.
• Strong working knowledge of employment law, personnel practices, employee relations, documentation, compliance, and policy implementation, combined with ability to discern when to seek counsel.
• Demonstrated ability to build systems, improve processes, lead teams, develop SOPs, and support leaders across a complex organization.
• Experience using data to improve recruitment, retention, HR service quality, compliance, staffing, culture, or organizational effectiveness.

Preferred/ Not Required 

• PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or other HR certification.
• Experience with collective bargaining, employee handbooks, compensation systems, job descriptions, school staffing, administrator placement, and Board personnel processes.
• Experience leading culture-building efforts, employee engagement systems, surveys, training, feedback cycles, and improvement planning.
• Experience evaluating or implementing HR software, applicant tracking systems, onboarding systems, certification tracking, or employee records systems.
• Experience supporting staffing models related to school or other organizational redesign, mergers, consolidations, enrollment shifts, or organizational restructuring.
• Experience in K-12 education or public-sector systems.
• Experience with Iowa education rules, educator licensure, certification, evaluator approval, issues associated with abuse, neglect, and seclusion or restraint, and school district personnel requirements.
• Iowa administrator licensure, evaluator approval, or ability to obtain, if applicable to district expectations.

Measures of Success

The Executive Director of Human Resources will be successful when:

• HR processes are clear, documented, consistent, timely, legally compliant, and easy for employees and leaders to navigate.
• The HR Department demonstrates a high degree of quality in customer service, response time, accuracy, follow-through, and support at both district and campus levels.
• Teacher recruitment improves, especially in hard-to-fill areas.
• Hiring, onboarding, certification, compensation placement, job description, and HR processing systems are accurate, timely, and well-managed.
• The quality of employee culture, engagement, trust, and clarity is sustained at a high level, based on research-based systems, surveys, feedback loops, training, and action planning.
• HR standard operating procedures are developed, implemented, monitored, and regularly updated.
• Employee relations matters, investigations, grievances, and compliance issues are handled with consistency, confidentiality, timeliness, documentation, and procedural integrity.
• Staffing models related to redesign, mergers, consolidations, enrollment shifts, and school transitions are supported with strong data, collaboration, compliance, and planning.
• HR technology and workflow improvements are recommended and implemented to improve efficiency, service, reporting, and compliance.
• The entire HR team operates with clear roles, expectations, accountability, collaboration, and a shared commitment to service excellence as well as compliance.
• District leaders feel more confident managing employee issues, staffing decisions, HR processes, documentation, and compliance responsibilities.
• Employees experience HR as responsive, respectful, clear, consistent, and solution-focused.
• The district strengthens workforce stability, organizational culture, employee trust, and operational effectiveness during periods of change.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand; walk; use hands and fingers to handle and/or feel objects, tools or controls; and talk and hear.  The employee will frequently use their hands and fingers to type/word-process, file documents, manipulate papers, and operate a copying machine. The employee frequently must squat, stoop or kneel, reach above the head and forward 0 -24 inches, and on occasion up to 36 inches.   The employee continuously uses hand strength to grasp items.  The employee will frequently bend or twist at the neck and trunk while performing the duties of this job.  The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds, 0 - 12 feet, and occasionally up to 20 feet, such as office materials, desks, chairs, and boxes.  The employee will sometimes push/pull items such as tables and carts.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus while working with computers, written materials, reports, assessment data, etc.

WORK ENVIRONMENT: 

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in the work environment is often quiet but may become loud in large group settings.  The position requires the commitment of professional working hours that will require the employee to arrive and leave as directed and may require the employee to extend beyond a typical 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. workday. The employee will usually work in indoor environments but will occasionally be required to work in outdoor environments. 

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER   

The Cedar Rapids Community School District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  The district does not discriminate based on race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability. 

Federal law obligates an employer to provide reasonable accommodation for the known disabilities of applicants, unless doing so would pose an undue hardship on the employer.  If you or someone you know requires accommodation in the hiring process, contact the Department of Human Resources at 319-558-2747.