Head of People and Culture

ActBlue is a nonprofit organization that builds technology platforms and infrastructure for Democratic campaigns, progressive-aligned causes, and people trying to make an impact. The organization seeks a proactive and strategic people and culture leader who can bring a collaborative approach to build and refine the systems and teams needed to support an evolving remote-first organization. The Head of People and Culture (HoPC) reports to the CEO and President and is a member of the senior leadership team.

Since its founding in 2004, ActBlue has transformed political fundraising, helping Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations raise more than $11 billion and more than 21 million small-dollar donors make an impact on the causes they care about.

Effective people strategy and a strong operational support system are particularly important to ActBlue’s success in the next decade.

The HoPC will lead the organization’s workforce strategy with the passion, patience, technical expertise, and people skills to inspire and guide ActBlue’s talented team toward a collaborative culture based on trust, transparency, equity, inclusion, and accountability. The HoPC will be responsible for the strategic development and advancement of the organization’s human resources functions and will provide leadership to a diverse professional team. They will work closely with operations leadership, staff leaders, and staff in implementing a mission-focused, enterprise-level DEI and human resources strategy.

In strong partnership with the CEO, Executive Team, and people managers, the HoPC will build thriving, engaged teams, contributing to a sense of trust, community, and belonging across the organization. This position provides overarching leadership for all Human Resource functions, including recruitment and selection, employee relations, benefits, compensation, training and development, organizational talent planning, performance management, rewards and recognition, and labor relations and management of Collective Bargaining Agreements. The position is also responsible for leading ActBlue’s advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion and culture building for the organization.

The HoPC will be a transformational leader and will create a new vision for the employee culture at ActBlue that will include establishing new practices, policies, and vision for the organization.

THE ORGANIZATION AND IMPACT

ActBlue builds tech and infrastructure for Democratic campaigns, progressive-aligned causes, and people trying to make an impact in order to fuel long-term, people-powered change. If you’ve ever given online to a Democrat or a progressive organization, chances are you gave via our platform.

ActBlue makes it easy for campaigns and nonprofits to raise money online and for donors to give to the candidates and causes they care about. And we’re looking to continue finding ways to make it easy for people to participate: We envision a democracy where everyone looking to make progressive, people-powered change can easily and effectively deploy their resources, energy, and creativity to shape our country and futures.

Small-dollar donors have proven themselves to be a powerful force for good, supporting Democratic campaigns and progressive causes at historic levels and meeting this consequential moment in our democracy with action. ActBlue has scaled its tools, teams, and services to match demand while also laying a foundation for the future by investing in data work, cross-organizational workstreams, and dialogues with the changemakers using our tools daily.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

The Head of People and Culture will report to the CEO and will work with ~ 300 dedicated and high-performing staff members and a devoted board. In partnership with Executive Leadership, the Head of People and Culture will build and lead a best-in-class and values-aligned People & Culture function. Essential duties and responsibilities include:

o Align HR strategy with the organization’s strategy, evolving a people agenda with modern policies and practices that supports mission execution.

o Guide senior leaders in implementing employee engagement initiatives at the organizational, team, and individual employee levels.

o Serve as the primary point of contact for leaders, providing professional expertise and acting as a sounding board for all aspects of talent management and employee engagement, and partnering to resolve staff issues and challenges.

o Serve as a resource for managers on employee relations issues, including conflict resolution and employee investigations.

o Oversee innovative and comprehensive wellbeing strategies, and employee engagement surveys and related initiatives. Design and support opportunities for all-staff connection and help re-envision workplace practices and organization design in a fully remote environment.

o Support ethical and effective leadership practices by advising the CEO in areas of compliance, employee relations, labor relations, and consistent enforcement of policies and procedures.

o Build strong and trusting relationships with all staff, fortifying the People & Culture team’s ability to work with union representatives and stakeholders.

o Play a leadership role in the implementation of ActBlue’s collective bargaining agreements and provide ongoing interpretation and administration of the final contract.

o Advise leadership and supervisors of unionized employees on policy and practice to ensure compliance with the contract.

o Manage and continuously build ActBlue’s relationship with union representatives. Productively address conflict and resolve any grievance and arbitration, in partnership with other senior leaders and the General Counsel.

o Preside and facilitate the Labor Management Committee meetings and execute the CBA.

o Develop and oversee the organization’s performance management to support employee development, continuous feedback, and mission impact.

o Develop an employee handbook to systematically develop and reinforce organizational beliefs, values, codes of conduct while ensuring compliance with applicable Local, State, and Federal employment laws.

o Support the continued development, refinement, articulation, and implementation of a DEI strategy to embed equity across the organization.

o Ensure DEI strategy and policy is integrated across talent acquisition, compensation, talent development and retention.

o Serve as a conduit to create a culture of engagement, inclusion, wellbeing, trust, and positive excellence in the workplace.

o Help set the tone and nurture a collaborative and culturally competent workplace environment and promote a culture of belonging and respect.

o Provide organizational leadership around culture assessment and development, introducing and managing organizational change and development initiatives.

o Direct the development of training and organizational development programs through staff or external consultants that address personal, professional, and organizational needs of employees and departments, supporting equitable opportunities for continuous learning.

o Enhance the utilization of data to build leadership and talent development plans. Formulate cross-organizational processes to facilitate aligned succession plans.

o Design and align HR strategy, including a best-practice organizational design, talent acquisition process and talent management strategy, to support the overall mission and strategic framework of the organization.

o Provide coaching/advising of senior leaders on team development and key organizational and management issues. Develop a unified approach and corresponding tools for executive and senior leaders to evaluate, design, and align their structures to build high-performing teams.

o Evaluate and redesign the processes, tools, and activities to manage, maintain, and/or improve the performance of employees.

o Implement human resources best practices via regular attendance at industry-related conferences, seminars, and networking events; maintain membership to related professional associations, conduct human resources audits, and maintain requisite professional human resources management credentials.

o Direct overall management of ActBlue’s staff recruitment and employment processes, ensuring that all federal and state laws, regulations, and standards are met, and that the organization’s equal opportunity and diversity goals are met.

o Develop predictive models, scenario planning, risk analysis and mitigation, integration with strategic planning.

o Ability to read, analyze, and interpret complex legal and policy documents, including laws, contracts and collective bargaining agreements, regulations, and court opinions, as well as statistical and financial reports.

o Recognize and define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions in the context of a variety of situations with multiple variables, both predictable and unpredictable.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

This is an exciting position for a passionate and experienced transformational people and culture leader with a commitment to mission and an interest in joining a fast-paced, dynamic organization. The HoPC will be charged with reimagining the power of HR to be a leading driver of excellence and organizational transformation, through advancing an innovative vision for People & Culture, leveraging proven and emerging approaches to talent management.

The successful candidate will have broad and deep HR and culture experience, and will be approachable, collaborative, empathetic, optimistic, proactive, solution-minded and an effective listener/communicator. They will have a proven track record of change management, and working successfully with creative and technical talent and familiarity with the needs of a unionized work environment as they implement, train, and comply with the terms of new collective bargaining agreements to ensure effective labor/management relations.

They will be a primary representative in collective bargaining negotiations and will ensure compliance with these agreements.

Additional skills and qualities desired include:

INCLUSION STATEMENT

Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and members of other minority or underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

ActBlue is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against candidates on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, or veteran status.

ActBlue is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities throughout the interview and employment process, including using our online system to apply for a position.

EDUCATION

Bachelor’s Degree preferred.

HR Certification from an HR professional organization such as the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) or the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) preferred.

Prior experience working in a unionized environment, directly managing Collective Bargaining Agreement compliance.

APPLICATIONS/NOMINATIONS

ActBlue invites all nominations and applications for the position of the Head of People and Culture. Please send your recommendation or resume to actblue@kornferry.com.