Director, Strategic HR Business Partner (Remote)

Cengage is a global education technology company dedicated to helping students discover the power and joy of learning. The Director, Strategic HR Business Partner will drive the talent agenda within a business unit, partnering with senior leaders to develop and implement talent strategies that align with business objectives.

Responsibilities:

• As a member of the leadership team for a business unit or function, form effective partnerships with senior leaders to understand the business strategy and translate that strategy into strategic and operational Talent plans
• Serve as a trusted advisor and coach to senior leaders (VP+) on highly critical and often complex talent and people related issues
• Accountable for driving toward excellence in Talent Management across the Employee lifecycle. Bring the voice of the customer back to the broader HR team to ensure program design incorporates the needs of the business
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to recruit and onboard senior leaders; create and implement targeted TA strategies to achieve business goals
• Lead the performance management and talent review process and partner with leaders to ensure appropriate development plans are in place to support employee growth
• Guide leaders to identify functional competencies and performance dimensions for specific roles
• Coach and build capability of managers to be effective people leaders
• Partner with SVP, Talent Strategy Partner and senior leadership teams to develop a workforce planning strategy that helps develop accurate forecasts for near and long-term hiring and skill development needs
• Implement plans to ensure adoption of new processes and protection of Cengage’s culture and values
• Partner with the Inclusion & Diversity lead to support development and execution of inclusion programs
• Lead projects that are prioritized and critical to the talent agenda – examples include, but not limited to – compensation reviews, proactive retention, etc
• Be a catalyst for organizational change; orchestrate organizational re-design efforts as needed, including Mergers & Acquisitions
• Leverage data and business mentality to pull out insights and proactively anticipate implications for talent strategy; present recommendations to influence actions
• Actively contribute to the global HR community to increase the capability and strategic value of the human resource function through high levels of performance and customer service. Share standard processes and seek input on solutions to tough problems
• Effectively communicate progress and key findings and results from projects and discussions with key partners including HR team members, employees, and leaders within the business and the function

Requirements:

• Minimum 10 years of experience as an HR professional with a minimum of 5 years supporting an organization's leadership team
• Experience in developing and implementing talent strategies for high performance organizations
• Superior collaboration and communication skills with executive presence. Strong presentation skills and comfort level with addressing groups of all types and sizes
• Experience in supporting and driving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming
• Comfortable operating in a dynamic and sophisticated environment
• Ability to use data to develop insights and recommendations
• Strong coaching, conflict resolution and ability to have difficult conversations
• Ability to lead-by-example and promote a positive, team-based environment
• Comfort with ambiguity and constant change, able to methodically work through sophisticated problems, set priorities and complete commitments
• Proficiency with Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Ability to travel up to 20% for required team meetings and other business unit events
• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred or equivalent experience
• Experience working with Global/International teams
• Workday experience a plus