People & Culture Manager (Remote)

At WunderLand, our purpose is to help our clients solve their critical digital, creative, and marketing challenges. Our Mission is two-fold: To be the go-to partner for digital, creative, and sales enablement services and to be the long-term employer of choice for creative, digital, and marketing experts. We help all our employees achieve their goals by providing engaging and meaningful work as part of a diverse and inclusive culture, and provide robust benefits, rewards, tools, and community. As part of the Advanced Group family of companies, WunderLand employees are the foundation of our energetic and collaborative environment, where constant learning and service to others take top priority. If you’re a dynamic, hard-working team player who aspires to work amongst diverse backgrounds and perspectives, we want to work with you. From our altruistic mission to outstanding career development opportunities, there’s no better place to grow your career than WunderLand. The People & Culture Manager will be a passionate advisor and key business partner within the WunderLand business, focused on fostering a thriving culture, engaged and high performing teams, and a more productive, agile, and profitable business. This role serves as a partner and liaison to the entire WunderLand employee base, including the 130+ W-2 hourly consultants who support our clients. This individual will collaborate closely with WunderLand’s leadership team, aligning People initiatives across all our employee populations with business strategy to ensure business objectives are met. The Manager works closely with all levels of the organization to inform, reinforce, and put into practice the behaviors that support our culture and, ultimately, enhance productivity and the achievement of our strategy. The People & Culture Manager will oversee the strategy and delivery of an exceptional employee experience; one that develops and retains the best talent and creates a culture of inclusivity and transformation. This includes cultivating and implementing strategies related to the firm’s Consultant Journey, which includes elevating the recruitment, onboarding, support, and retention of our consultants on engagement (CoE). For the internal staff, the Director will partner with leadership to support the employee experience including talent management, talent pipeline and succession planning, manager/leader development, team effectiveness, and overall employee engagement. WunderLand’s employee populations include salaried and hourly billable consultants, and internal staff including sales, marketing, delivery, and operations. This position reports to the President of WunderLand with a dotted line to Advanced Group’s Chief People Officer. Integral to their role, this individual will collaborate closely with HR peers across Advanced Group to leverage shared practices and to help solve complex organizational challenges through people-related solutions, and to implement best practices and programs that support the growth of our business. This role will require a comfortability in challenging convention, as well as a hands-on, strategic approach to business partnership. People Strategy and Transformation: In partnership with the WunderLand senior leadership team, clearly define and execute talent strategies, programs, and policies to achieve short and long-term business objectives Partner with leadership on workforce planning efforts to create an organizational structure that facilitates coordinated work across the company and internal mobility. Develop recruitment, hiring, and pipelining strategies and programs to meet the organization’s current and future needs, that leverage a high-quality diverse talent pool within and outside the organization for all levels Drive results aligned to business priorities through effective management and enhancement of our people programs and practices, including performance management, rewards and recognition, engagement, diversity & inclusion, onboarding/offboarding, and retention. Analyze and leverage employee data, including turnover, employee engagement and exit interviews, to drive action plans to foster an environment that leverages diversity and builds in best practices for collaboration and inclusion Team Leadership and Leadership Coaching: Act as a trusted advisor, consultant, and confidant to the WunderLand senior leadership team, proactively offering advice, counsel and thought partnership related to HR challenges within the business unit Advise and coach senior leaders and people managers as they build and develop their teams, coaching them through change management, performance management, compensation, engagement, and employee relations issues People Relations and Development: Provide proactive leadership, direction, and professional expertise in all areas of human resources management as a business partner within the organization. Deliver strategy across all employee populations (including both W2 and 1099 billable consultants and project resources, as well as W2 corporate roles across sales, marketing, delivery, and operations.) Bring forth concepts, solutions, experiences, and frameworks related to high employee engagement among consultant populations Serve as a partner to our SVP Delivery in the continued rollout of our Consultant Journey initiative, evaluating marketplace dynamics and trends among variable workforces; offer recommendations for continuous innovation around variable workforce planning Lead and provide oversight on any employment and workplace related investigations with the highest level of professionalism, integrity, and confidentiality, objectively and free from bias Own the employee experience and serve as an advocate for all team members, including the collecting, analyzing, and sharing metrics to keep the "pulse" of the current culture and team member satisfaction. Own initiatives to continually improve culture and satisfaction metrics Participate in the development, implementation and effective communication of HR policies and procedures. Maintain responsibility for compliance with federal, state, and local legislation pertaining to all personnel matters, policies, and procedures In partnership with the Learning and Development team, implement onboarding and ongoing learning programs that support the organization's culture and business initiatives Continue to build and evolve Advanced Group’s talent development processes including organizational core competencies, goal setting, performance metrics, 360-degree feedback, coaching, and performance evaluations Partner with leadership to identify the capabilities needed to support the strategic intent of the business; improve the annual performance management process to identify, assess and develop successors and high-potential performers; strengthen the process for evaluating the skills, performance, and potential of talent in all areas Minimum of 8 years Human Resources experience, with a minimum of 4 years’ experience as a strategic HR Business Partner in a global, fast-paced, high rate-of-change environment Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience Certification in HR (PHR/SPHR and/or SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP) preferred Experience and/or understanding of the Staffing or Professional Services industry, experience in the Creative/Digital space would be a plus Strong knowledge of federal, state, and local HR related laws and regulations. Established knowledge of ADA/ADAAA, FMLA and all relevant DOL employer requirements Proven experience in handling complex employee relations issues; can quickly investigate and uncover, and adeptly address root cause issues with manager and employees Results-driven, agile change agent with demonstrated ability to manage execution of large-scale projects or programs Strong leadership presence with the proven ability to influence and drive change with senior leaders in a scaling organization, aligning the people strategy with business goals and growth Unquestionable personal integrity, fairness, and credibility. Able to manage confidential information and act with discretion. Listens well and empathizes with others Ability to deal with conflict and have difficult conversations Ability to communicate with conviction, clearly and effectively Project Management skills, multitask and easily prioritizes Role Competencies Functional Expertise: Proficiency of the skills and knowledge relevant to the function. Success in performing most complex assignments with little supervision. Communication: Communicates complex issues clearly and credibly with widely varied audiences. Ensures appropriate individuals are informed. Influence: Develops consensus and alignment on ideas and recommendations affecting own team or other teams. Facilitates discussions and considers a range of interests, opinions, possibilities, and situational variables. Managing Programs and Projects: Initiates and/or manages major or complex projects. Engineers work processes. Gives direction to team members. Redirects the overall strategy, goal, or project as external and internal requirements change. Problem Solving: Anticipates problems. Creates innovative working methods to generate new ideas. Serves as a resource for problems affecting large scale projects or systems. Process Excellence: Assesses the effectiveness of systems and current processes; streamlines standards and processes and develops innovative approaches to program development and implementation. Relationship Management: Builds and manages strategic relationships to establish mutually beneficial working arrangements, openly sharing knowledge and insights. Self-Awareness: Demonstrates awareness, flexibility, and willingness to adapt approach and/or apply different leadership styles when the situation or individual requires it. Can test assumptions and own stories by seeking ideas and stories of others. Depicts high level of self-discipline. Authentic Listening : Establishes reputation as a credible and trustworthy source for employees to voice concerns and share anything that might be negatively impacting their competence and commitment on current goals and tasks. Identifies and responds to underlying attitudes or behavior patterns such as cultural norms and personality differences. Reacts purposefully to frustrations of others. Resolves escalated conflicts among stakeholders through effective dialogue. Emotional Intelligence: Accepts constructive feedback and adapts leadership style/actions/behaviors. Creates a sense of well-being by taking an active interest in the opinions and ideas of others and partnering in efforts to align. Plays to the different strengths and development levels within a team to maximize effectiveness. Helps others through emotional or tense situations, tactfully bringing disagreements into the open, engaging in healthy debate. Foresight: Facilitates the creation of effective SMART goals by team members, ensuring they tie to wider team and company strategies. Stays knowledgeable on industry trends. Anticipates outcomes of decisions made by the business based on experience and following trends. Monitors financial performance and efficiency of own team. Commitment to Growth of People: Help and encourage others to identify and leverage transferrable skills and develop the goal or job specific skills necessary for current and future roles. Able to diagnose development level on goals and tasks and provide the matching leadership style to build competence and commitment, thereby accelerating development. Conceptualization: Establish strategies or methods for accomplishing major new directives. Keeps informed on trends in the industry and develops strategies to realize opportunities or mitigate risks. Courage: Swiftly administers action if needed and deals with difficult questions head on. Commits to completely new activities that are innovative and feasible or styles of approach that are necessary but feel less comfortable. Measures the risks involved while taking a course of action. Role Model of REAL Values: Holds self and team accountable to upholding the REAL values. Integrate the REAL values into team processes. Celebrate when witnessing team members exhibiting these values. At Advanced Group, our commitment to diversity and inclusion in every part of our organization is crucial to fulfilling our mission and demonstrating our REAL values. A diverse staff allows us to effectively draw on different perspectives and enhance our efficiency and effectiveness. Diversity thereby strengthens the legitimacy and relevance of Advanced Group in delivering services to our clients. We seek talented, creative individuals from a variety of backgrounds and cultures to work with us. It is our priority that our workplace be inclusive, welcoming of diverse ideas and appreciative of valuable experience. We are committed to a long-term flexible, hybrid work model. Our company offices are where we gather for collaboration and culture-building, and available for "heads down" work when it is the employee's choice. It is Advanced Group’s practice not to discriminate against any employee or applicant because of sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or sexual preference, pregnancy or maternity, genetic information, marital status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state or local law. This practice applies to all terms and conditions of employment including, but not limited to, hiring, training, compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, layoff, Company-sponsored education, social and recreational programs, and treatment on the job. If you have a disability or handicap and would like us to accommodate you in any reasonable way, please inform your recruiter so that we can discuss the appropriate alternatives available. #LI-CW1