Arena Careers

Job Title: Director of Human Resources

Employee Type: Full-Time

Reports To: VP of People & Culture

Department: Human Resources / People & Culture

Entity: NDWA

Hours per Week: 40

Salary: $120,000 - $130,000

Work Location: Remote

Start Date: As soon as possible with a desired start date Feb. 1, 2026

BACKGROUND:

The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the leading national voice for dignity, respect, and recognition for domestic workers in the United States. NDWA was founded in 2007 by organizers and worker leaders in six cities representing nannies, house cleaners, and care workers, and now represents an alliance of more than 76 organizations across 22 states and 395,000 domestic workers nationally.

We envision a society where domestic work is valued as essential to our collective well-being, domestic workers are leaders in shaping the care sector, and domestic work jobs are good, economically secure jobs.

For over 15 years, we’ve worked to advance our mission by making domestic work visible. We’ve worked to pass policies that enable rights and higher wages for domestic workers across the country, changed public awareness and opinion about the dignity and value of care work, and built the capacity and leadership of domestic workers to organize and advocate for their rights.

We see the next era of our organization as an opportunity to move domestic work from newfound visibility towards transformation, and we’re ready to elevate care workers to the essential workers of the 21st-century economy.

We’re a multi-racial, multi-lingual organization building a powerful movement rooted in the human rights, dignity, and equality of domestic workers, care workers, immigrant women, and women of color.

Position Overview

We are seeking a strategic, empathetic, and highly experienced Human Resources Director to lead all HR functions for NDWA, NDWA Labs, and Care in Action. You will oversee HR operations, union relations, compliance, employee relations, performance management, talent acquisition, benefits, payroll, and organizational development.

As HR Director, you will serve as a trusted advisor to leadership and staff, ensuring a supportive and inclusive workplace culture while mitigating legal risk and promoting best practices. You will lead the HR team, act as the primary liaison with union representatives, and ensure our policies and processes are aligned with our mission, values, and regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities

I. Human Resources and Organizational Development

• Vision, plan, manage, and oversee organizational best practices, policies, procedures, guidelines and tools to meet HR goals that support NDWA, NDWA Labs and Care in Action.

• Oversee implementation of human resources policies, programs, and practices, identify opportunities for improvement, and oversee execution of HR improvement projects.

• Establish, implement, and lead a talent acquisition strategy that includes robust sourcing, selection, and interview practices designed to recruit and hire the sector’s best talent.

• Develop and oversee onboarding and orientation processes and systems to ensure comprehensive organizational integration for incoming staff and their ongoing retention.

• Manage compensation and oversee benefits structures and programs to ensure alignment with organizational goals, values, vision, budget, market competition, and employee priorities.

• Manage relationships with HR vendors and benefits providers.

• Create and maintain a positive and inclusive work culture that promotes employee engagement, retention, and development

• Communicate and champion the organization's values, mission, and goals to all employees.

• Manage other area-specific HR projects, as necessary

• Design and implement a strategy to optimize and integrate HR technology, enabling managers and employees to easily perform people-related transactions (e.g. benefits enrollment), facilitates delivery of effective HR services, securely stores employee data, and supports people-related decisions.

• Provide day to day management of the HR team and coach, mentor and develop HR staff for professional growth.

• Manages complex employee relations matters, including but not limited to investigating complaints and preparing recommendations upon conclusion of investigations in a timely manner with professionalism and sensitivity.

• Oversee and implement annual performance evaluations and professional development programs, including organization-wide staff development initiatives, individual professional development plans, results tracking, career pathways, and succession planning

• Work with staff to support communicating issues to supervisors, colleagues, and supervisees.

II. Union relations

• Play a leadership role as part of management in union negotiations.

• Manage effective relationships with union representatives, fostering open communication and building positive relationships with both members and representatives.

• Interprets and ensures compliance with the collective bargaining agreement and addresses grievances and disciplinary hearings.

• Trains supervisors and managers in labor and employee relations matters.

• Addresses grievances and disciplinary hearings in partnership with legal counsel in a timely manner

III. Compliance

• Ensure compliance with all existing government and legal reporting requirements, including any related to the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Paid Family Leave (PFL), Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Department of Labor, worker compensation, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and other relevant local and state labor laws.

• In partnership with legal counsel, advise management, supervisors, and staff regarding employee relations matters and legal issues related to personnel policies and employment laws.

• In partnership with legal counsel, minimize organizational risk related to employment and personnel matters.

• Oversee all employee-related internal investigations in a timely manner

• Mitigate legal risk to the organization through proactive training and education, clear systems and processes for managing conflicts with and between employees, handling and investigating complaints of harassment/discrimination and other unjust practice allegations.

• Develop and ensure that employment policies and practices promote diversity, equity and inclusion, are consistent with best practices in the field, and are fully compliant with applicable federal, state, and local laws and other regulatory requirements governing employers.

Qualities for Success

• Situational Awareness & Deep Empathy: Understand staff needs and workplace context to promote wellness.

• Extraordinarily Helpful & Solution-Oriented: Proactively support staff in navigating HR processes and challenges.

• Trust Builder: Demonstrate credibility, accuracy, and reliability in all interactions.

• High Emotional Intelligence: Warm, approachable, and coaching-focused in your support of staff and leadership.

• Always Learning: Stay current with HR best practices and trends, continuously improving department operations.

Qualifications

Required:

• 8+ years of progressive HR experience, with 4+ years in a leadership role.

• 4+ years if experience in a unionized nonprofit or mission-driven organization.

• Expertise in HR functional areas: benefits, compensation, payroll, performance management, talent acquisition, and compliance.

• Strong labor relations experience, including union negotiations and grievance management.

• Knowledge of federal, state, and local employment laws.

• Experience leading and developing an HR team.

• Demonstrated ability to design and implement HR systems, policies, and organizational best practices.

• Exceptional communication, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills.

• High emotional intelligence and ability to build trust across the organization.

• Alignment with NDWA’s vision and values, including a commitment to economic, race and gender justice.

• Proven ability to learn quickly, work independently, meet multiple deadlines with a keen attention to detail.

• Ability to work and collaborate with diverse staff in person and remotely and as part of a high-performing team, in a fast-paced, experimental organization.

• Strong organizational skills, and creative problem solver.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Suite required

• Spanish proficiency is a plus.

• Able to Travel if needed.

Preferred:

• Familiarity with the domestic worker sector and issues facing domestic workers and other low-wage workers.

• Multi-state HR administration experience.

• Compensation benchmarking and pay equity expertise.

• Experience with HR technology platforms and systems.

• Advanced degree or HR certifications (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR) and/or certification in Union Relations.

How to Apply: Please apply directly to the job posting and send resume, cover letter, and a recent writing sample. Applications will only be accepted electronically, and solicitations to individual staff are unlikely to be responded to.

NDWA provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.