POSITION SUMMARY:

The Vice President of People & Culture serves as the YMCA of Honolulu’s senior people strategist—partnering with the President & CEO, senior leadership, and the Board to build a high-performing, mission-driven organization. This role leads enterprise-wide people strategy and the full spectrum of human resources functions, with an emphasis on workforce planning, talent acquisition and retention, total rewards, employee engagement, leadership development, and a culture grounded in the YMCA’s values. As one of Hawai‘i’s largest employers, the VP ensures that people, culture, and operating practices scale effectively across diverse programs and locations, using data-informed decision-making, strong governance, and thoughtful change leadership. The VP provides oversight of people-related risk management functions, including required training, certifications, and safeguarding standards (e.g., Praesidium), ensuring alignment with organizational policies and risk mitigation strategies. The VP also provides oversight of HR Board committee work and ensures organizational compliance with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.

OUR CULTURE: 
Our mission and core values are brought to life by our culture. In the Y, we strive to live our cause of strengthening communities with purpose and intentionality every day.  We are welcoming: we are open to all. We are a place where you can belong and become. We are genuine: we value you and embrace your individuality. We are hopeful: we believe in you and your potential to become a catalyst in the world. We are nurturing: we support you in your journey to develop your full potential. We are determined: above all else, we are on a relentless quest to make our community stronger beginning with you.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Recruitment and Retention:

• Set and execute a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy that strengthens candidate pipelines, reduces time-to-fill, and supports mission-critical staffing across the association.
• Partner with department and program leaders to develop workforce plans, staffing models, and hiring forecasts aligned to strategic priorities, seasonality, and funding realities.
• Lead retention and engagement strategies that strengthen culture, improve employee experience, increase performance—using feedback loops, manager capability-building, and targeted interventions.

Strategic HR Leadership:

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on organization design, performance, change management, and people decisions—ensuring alignment between strategy, structure, and culture.
• Establish and continuously improve HR governance, policies, and practices that promote consistency, equity, inclusion, and operational excellence across the association.
• Define key people metrics and dashboards (e.g., turnover, engagement, time-to-fill, internal mobility), evaluate program effectiveness, and drive continuous improvement using data and best practices.
• Provide executive leadership for total rewards, ensuring compensation and benefits support attraction, retention, internal equity, compliance, and fiscal sustainability.
• Lead market benchmarking and pay/benefits analysis to inform a clear compensation philosophy and recommendations to leadership, balancing competitiveness with mission and budget.
• Partner with Finance and executive leadership to plan and manage people-related budgets, projecting cost impacts and supporting responsible resource allocation.
• Design and evolve recognition and incentive approaches that reinforce desired behaviors, support performance expectations, and strengthen engagement.
• Provide strategic oversight of HR systems (e.g., payroll, benefits, learning, and volunteer systems), ensuring data integrity, user adoption, process efficiency, and actionable reporting.

HR Committee Management:

• Lead and facilitate HR Board committee meetings, ensuring strong governance, clear decision-making, and alignment of people priorities with the association’s strategic plan.
• Partner with HR Board committee members to anticipate emerging people risks and opportunities and to shape practical, mission-aligned solutions.
• Prepare and present board-ready reporting and recommendations on workforce metrics, culture trends, compliance, and key initiatives to senior leadership and the Board of Directors.

Compliance and Risk Management:

• Own the association’s employment compliance strategy—providing guidance on federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including but not limited to EEO, ADA, FMLA, and FLSA.
• Oversee HR investigations and employee relations matters with consistent standards, sound documentation, and equitable outcomes in accordance with policy and legal requirements.
• Proactively identify and mitigate people-related risks through policy design, manager training, audits, and continuous improvement of practices.
• Lead employee relations practices that strengthen accountability, fairness, and a respectful workplace—guiding grievance and corrective action processes with consistency and care.
• Provide leadership and oversight of people-related risk areas, including required certifications, background checks, youth protection standards, youth protection standards and training compliance (e.g., Praesidium), ensuring consistent implementation across the association.

Employee Learning and Development Training:

• Build an enterprise learning and development strategy by partnering with leaders to assess capability needs and deliver training that improves leadership effectiveness and frontline performance.
• Implement and sustain succession planning processes that identify critical roles, develop internal bench strength, and support continuity of leadership.
• Champion a culture of continuous learning by embedding development into manager routines, onboarding, and performance expectations at all levels.
• Ensure required organizational training and certifications supporting risk management and compliance are implemented, tracked, and maintained across all departments.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field; Master's degree preferred.
• SHRM-SCP or SPHR certification is highly desirable.
• Minimum of 8-10 years of progressively responsible experience in human resources management, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Strong knowledge of HR best practices, employment laws, and regulations.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills.
• Proven track record of developing and implementing successful recruitment and retention strategies.
• Ability to effectively collaborate with diverse stakeholders and influence decision-making at the executive level.