Director HR - Manufacturing - SunOpta

Job Summary:

SunOpta is seeking a seasoned HR Director to be the dedicated business partner to our VP Manufacturing and to lead our Plant HR Manager team.

They will be responsible for:

• All HR strategies for manufacturing operations (design and execution)

• Thought / business-partnership and employee relations & manager development for the manufacturing operations organization.

• People leadership over all plant HR Managers/Sr HRMs (6) & their HR Assistants / Plant Admin Assistants (5).

Essential Functions of the Job:

Business Partnering -

• Contribute to and implement HR (aka Org Effectiveness, Talent & Culture) strategy for assigned clients to achieve business objectives and drive employee engagement.

• Coach and guide managers / leadership to increase their effectiveness as leaders, providing direct, transparent, and timely feedback and coaching.

• Provide insights and trends to leadership as well as solutions and strategy ideas to solve problems.

• Ensure execution of / personally facilitate talent / team development sessions, performance calibrations, talent reviews, compensation review, employee relations, and talent acquisition support / onboarding for key roles.

Team Leadership -

• Inspire, demonstrate, and teach strategic HR business partnering capabilities.

• Coach and guide HR Managers to increase their effectiveness including providing direct, transparent, and timely feedback, set goals, team meetings, best practice sharing, program/process completion tracking, etc.

• Ensures each plant has a documented "Org, Talent & Culture" plan-on-a-page / strategy for the year that syncs up to overall Ops leadership & HR priorities and ensures the plans are progressed throughout the year through the HR and plant leadership teams.

• Actively participate in plant Quarterly Business Reviews with C-suite leadership.

• Travels to and builds personal relationships with plant regularly and headquarters teams.

Org Effectiveness, Talent & Culture -

• Review line staffing, staffing costs to budget, turnover, time-to-fill, org health (engagement) survey, focus groups, safety, etc. data for trends and offers insights & coaching to leadership / HRMs for action planning as appropriate.

• Leads projects personally or through others to streamline and improve HR processes, tools, and programs & build people manager capabilities (i.e., lead People Pillar of Ops Transformation, onboarding, manager/supervisor training, career pathing, performance process, talent review, Roles, Accountabilities & Measures, Role Profiles, etc.)

• Ensures organizational effectiveness through ongoing organizational design, analysis and implementation, and change management consulting/leadership.

• Drive the people strategy & change leadership on significant organizational changes that include transformations, reorganizations, downsizings, acquisitions, factory moves, and start-ups.

• Develop and coordinate all aspects of communication relating to change initiatives.

• Partner with HR Centers of Expertise in learning & development, OD, talent management to facilitate and/or ensure execution locally of programming (i.e., may lead/co-lead team effectiveness and/or manager/supervisor trainings at some plants).

Employee Relations & Safety -

• Stay current in general recent federal, state and case law changes and monitors labor law updates / changes that affect HR.

• Ensures effective safety procedures, tools and record keeping are managed through site leadership.

• Adheres to company GMP's (good manufacturing practices), safety procedures and all other quality processes.

• Leads / ensures call-in line investigations are conducted.

• Assist with communication and interpretation of HR policies and procedures.

• Other duties, as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• People leadership over all plant HR Managers/Sr HRMs (6) & their HR Assistants / Plant Admin Assistants (5).

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business, HR or related major required.

• Minimum ten (10) years' experience gained through increasingly responsible management positions within Human Resources, with direct experience in multi-cultural environment.

• Experience in a multi-location, manufacturing / distribution center environment. Experience coaching and mentoring others, influencing without authority.

• One or more of the following project or process leadership experience: Talent Management / Learning / Change / Org Design / Team Development.

• People leadership experience.

• Experience facilitating leadership discussions and / or training programs.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA and/or other HR certifications.

• Proficient in Microsoft Suite and payroll / HRIS systems.

• Food and Beverage or other regulated industry manufacturing environment experience.

• Remote people leadership experience.

• Bilingual in English and Spanish

Knowledge and Skills:

• Combination of Generalist/HR Business Partner & HR Specialist / HR project leadership experiences.

• Broad knowledge of employment law, compensation, organizational & talent planning, employee relations, performance management, and training & development.

• Experience working in a culturally and geographically dispersed organization, managing employees remotely.

• Strong interpersonal and business partnering skills along with project management and program design skills; effective partnering with stakeholders to achieve success in attracting, developing, measuring, and retaining the best talent.

• Experience effectively creating & leading HR initiatives & strategies that drove business & employee engagement & retention results.

• Courageous, creative, scrappy problem solver that leads with strong listening skills, seeks to be a consultative partner and is solutions oriented.

• Strong investigations / employee relations experience; high level of personal integrity.

• Ability to work well under pressure and flexible in adapting and responding to changing situations.

• Highly accountable & customer centric.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - ability to present, train, influence, and build consensus / alignment, up and down levels of the organization.

• Experience with hourly employee base (non-union).

• Proactive problem solver, knowledge of Lean Six Sigma, Value Stream Mapping or Agile methodologies preferred.

Additional Considerations:

• Travel Expectation: Up to 25%.

• This role is located in Eden Prairie, MN or our Midlothian, TX facility.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

Approximately; 90% of the work is performed in an office environment. 10% of work involves being in the manufacturing environment.

Work location: For Eden Prairie office- Hybrid, onsite at office Tue-Th, "SunFlex" benefit offered to WFH M & F; occasional flexibility required for investigations support.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time, with or without notice.