Director Of Talent And Culture

The Clean Slate Initiative is pleased to work with DRG to conduct this search.

About Clean Slate Initiative

The Clean Slate Initiative (CSI) was founded in 2019 as a national bipartisan organization advancing policies to automate and expand eligibility for record clearance. One in three Americans lives with a past record of arrest, conviction, or incarceration that limits their ability to find work, continue their education, obtain a professional license, or fully participate in family and civic life.

The Clean Slate Initiative’s vision is that everyone in America should have a fair opportunity to work, have a safe home, take care of their families, and contribute to their community. We achieve this vision by uniting businesses, advocates, community members, and impacted people across the country to ensure that conviction and non-conviction records are no longer a life sentence to poverty, and past mistakes will no longer define our futures. Since its inception, the organization has won clean slate policies in Utah, Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Altogether, these policies will remove barriers and increase opportunities for more than two million Americans.

CSI’s strategic plan includes the goal of clearing conviction and non-conviction records for at least 4.4 million people, including nearly 1 million Black people, by 2025. To achieve this scale, CSI is growing its geographically dispersed staff.

The Clean Slate Initiative promotes a culture of collaboration, accountability, and learning. Eighty percent (80%) of our staff are directly impacted, and fifty-six percent (56%) are employees of color. By centering the experiences of people directly impacted by the criminal legal system at all levels of the organization, we transform pain into power. All staff gather for several days each quarter to develop quarterly priorities and think creatively together. In addition, we engage in at least one learning trip a year as part of our goals for stakeholder development and building shared values.

The Clean Slate Initiative is in the process of spinning off from our fiscal sponsor to become our own 501c3 and c4 organizations. This process will be complete by December 2023.

About the Role

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of Talent and Culture is a critical role in setting up our new organization’s human resources systems, selecting our PEO vendor and building out our policies and procedures that will support a growing and ambitious team. The successful candidate will be an individual that models our values both in strategy development and execution. As a full-time employee, the Director of Talent and Culture will be our most senior human resources professional after the spin-off from our fiscal sponsor. The organization currently has 18 employees based in Washington DC, Arkansas, Florida, California, Maryland, Delaware and North Carolina and we expect to grow to 35 by the middle of 2024.

Our organization is open to candidates wishing to work remotely or in our office in Orlando, Florida. We will discuss a hybrid or in office work location with candidates located in proximity to Orlando. The position requires travel at least 5 times a year.

Responsibilities and Tasks

Strategy and Culture

• Within the confines of the law, be accountable for meeting the organization’s key performance indicators of hiring and retaining a staff that is made up of 80% directly impacted individuals and at least 60% employees of color
• Work closely with the CEO and COO to develop the organization’s Racial Equity Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) framework
• Design, develop and implement the organization’s specific people strategy that attracts, retains and engages highly successful and mission-driven staff
• Identify and enact specific activities and norms that live out the organization’s values and promotes employee engagement, creativity and advancement

HR Compliance, Risk Management and Benefits

• Serve as the organization’s most senior person for HR compliance and provide guidance to the Executive Team and people managers
• Regularly assess performance of the PEO
• Manage a contracted PEO for the delivery of payroll and benefits and ensure excellent service for employees and cost management for the organization
• Serve as a confidential member of the organization’s leadership, bring decision-making matters to the CEO and COO and the Board of Directors as needed
• Collaborate with outside counsel on matters of employment law, state by state compliance etc. for a remote team working across the country in a growing state-based footprint.

Performance Management and Learning

• Hiring and Onboarding
• Support a growing team of managers in setting a unified culture of supervision and performance review
• In collaboration with the operations team, refine and execute a high-value onboarding process for new employees so that they are committed to the organization’s mission and prepared to excel at their specific role
• Coach and support managers in addressing performance issues
• Manage consultants to regularly benchmark salaries and set compensation to remain competitive as an organization
• Execute and continually improve the organization’s annual performance review process
• Lead all hiring activities including managing contracts for recruiting firms, conducting in-house recruiting, refining and standardizing hiring practices
• Guide hiring managers and supervisors in defining new roles, developing new employee training and assessing 30-60-90-day performance
• Refine the organization’s approach to professional development and execute continuous learning opportunities for staff at all levels of the organization

Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Ability

• Experience advising senior leaders of an organization
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with a talent for listening and making people feel heard
• At least 10 years of experience in a senior management role; ideally at least 6 years of broad human resources and culture development experience
• Proven success building relationships across differences, finding common ground and facilitating understanding
• Experience managing large, long-term projects with many stakeholders
• Deep commitment to hiring directly impacted people and nurturing their career growth
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in human resources with progressive responsibilities
• Impeccable judgment based on best practices in people management and a balanced assessment of risk
• Firm grasp of the principles of people management, human resources risk, REDI (Racial Equity Diversity and Inclusion), employment laws and practices
• Comfort in a start-up environment where most systems haven’t been built yet or are evolving

Valued and Non-Essential Qualifications

• Collaborative and oriented towards working with others inside and outside the organization
• Experienced as a directly impacted person who has a record or with a family member who has a record is valued
• Able to wear many hats in a collaborative environment
• Comfortable with accountability: transparency when you make mistakes, reliability as a colleague who can be counted on to do the things you commit to
• Tolerant of ambiguity and the understanding that as a new organization we are still developing our internal and external processes
• Committed to building a resilient organization that has the strategy and systems in place to deliver significant impact

Compensation and Benefits

The Clean Slate Initiative is committed to transparent and fair compensation. The hiring range for this position is an annual salary range of $145K-$165K per year. The final salary within this range will be determined based on work location and relevant experience. This position is considered exempt for federal wage-hour laws.

Comprehensive benefits package that includes 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance, 3% automatic contribution and a 3% employer match on 401k contributions, pre-tax transportation benefits, and 13 paid holidays, 4 weeks of paid time off, 10 days of health leave, 2 days of casual leave, and 20 hours of volunteer time off.

Clean Slate Initiative is a project of New Venture Fund (NVF), a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. NVF is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. NVF’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

COVID-19 Policy

To center the safety and well-being of its employees, New Venture Fund requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law by contacting human resources at [email protected].