Human Resources Manager

Allied Reliability is seeking an experienced, hands-on Human Resources Manager to lead and manage the Human Resources function at a Syracuse, New York pharmaceutical facility. Responsibilities include developing and implementing HR strategies and initiatives that align with overall corporate strategies to meet or exceed company goals. Responsible for leading all aspects of human resources functions within the organization and to build, maintain, and continuously improve an employee centered HR department that supports a regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing environment. The ideal candidate will possess strong leadership and organizational skills, HR expertise, and the ability to align HR strategies and systems with organizational goals to support a high-performance culture.

Areas of Responsibility

HR Leadership and Administration

• Lead and manage the HR team to deliver comprehensive human resources services across the organization.
• Develop HR Strategy to align with corporate strategy and goals. Build tactical implementation plan to ensure strategies are integrated into the corporate structure.
• Monitor HR strategies, tactical plan, systems and procedures across the organization track achievement and effectiveness.
• Support current and future business needs through the acquisition, development, engagement and succession of human capital.
• Develop, implement, communicate, and maintain HR policies, procedures, employee
  
  

handbooks, job descriptions, and supporting documentation.

• Establish consistent and scalable HR processes appropriate for a pharmaceutical manufacturing organization.
• Maintain accurate, secure, confidential, and audit-ready employee personnel records,employment documentation, and HR reports.
• Create recurring reports and dashboards for management covering headcount, open positions, turnover, attendance, employee-relations trends, training status, workforce demographics, and other relevant HR metrics.
• Advise managers on staffing, organizational planning, performance concerns, employee development, progressive discipline, workplace conduct, and employment-related decision-making.
• Identify HR risks, process gaps, and compliance concerns, then recommend and
  
  

implement practical improvements

Employment Law and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, New York State, and local employment laws and regulations.
• Maintain working knowledge of wage-and-hour practices, exempt and non-exempt employee classifications, overtime, meal and rest periods, wage notices, paid sick leave, paid family leave, disability benefits, workers’ compensation, leave administration, anti-discrimination requirements, workplace postings, and personnel-record retention.
• Coordinate I-9 employment verification, required employee notices, background checks, drug-testing procedures where applicable, and pre-employment documentation.
• Support accurate payroll, timekeeping, PTO, attendance, and employee-classification practices in coordination with payroll and finance personnel.
• Monitor employment-law changes and communicate necessary policy, process, and training updates to leadership and employees.
• Lead or support prompt, objective, confidential workplace investigations involving employee complaints, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, workplace conduct, policy violations, conflicts, or other sensitive concerns.
• Coordinate with external employment counsel, benefits brokers, insurance carriers, payroll providers, and other professional advisors as needed.
• Ensure HR practices support the company’s broader quality, safety, security, and compliance expectations within a regulated pharmaceutical manufacturing operation.
  
  

Talent Acquisition

• Lead the full-cycle recruiting process for manufacturing, quality, laboratory, engineering, maintenance, warehouse, administrative, professional, management, and leadership positions.
• Partner with hiring managers to define staffing needs, develop accurate job descriptions, establish job requirements, and create effective interview and selection processes.
• Develop recruiting pipelines for specialized pharmaceutical and manufacturing talent, including skilled technicians, operators, quality personnel, scientists, validation professionals, engineers, maintenance staff, and leadership roles.
• Build relationships with local colleges, universities, technical schools, workforce development organizations, industry associations, recruiters, and community partners throughout Central New York.
• Manage job postings, applicant tracking, candidate communication, interview scheduling, reference checks, offer letters, pre-employment requirements, and onboarding coordination.
• Ensure a professional, timely, and positive candidate experience from first contact through
  
  

start date.

• Track recruiting performance through metrics such as time-to-fill, source of hire, candidate conversion, offer acceptance, hiring cost, and early-tenure turnover.
• Support employer-branding efforts that position Hanford Pharmaceuticals as a strong employer in pharmaceutical manufacturing and the Central New York workforce market
  
  

Employee Lifecycle Management

• Manage the employee lifecycle from recruitment through offboarding, ensuring each stage is compliant, well documented, efficient, and employee-focused.
• Develop and administer a structured onboarding process that includes orientation, employment paperwork, payroll and benefits enrollment, company policies, safety expectations, GMP expectations, required training assignments, and new-hire check-ins.
• Partner with Quality, Operations, Environmental Health and Safety, and department leadership to ensure new employees complete required training and understand the importance of quality, data integrity, safety, documentation, and adherence to procedures.
• Coordinate probationary-period reviews, annual performance reviews, compensation changes, promotions, transfers, leaves of absence, return-to-work plans, and separation processes.
• Maintain timely personnel-action documentation and ensure employment changes are properly communicated to appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Conduct exit interviews, analyze employee turnover and retention trends, and recommend actions to improve employee experience and reduce avoidable attrition.
• Help create clear career paths, development opportunities, and advancement processes for employees where appropriate
  
  

Total Compensation Management

• Provides direction and oversight for all employee benefits programs, including health, dental, vision, life, disability, retirement, and leave-related programs. Ensure programs are competitive, equitable, and aligned with institutional objectives while promoting employee engagement and well-being.
• Conduct RFP process as needed, to include, discovery and planning, drafting RFP inclusive of technical specifications, submission guidelines and weighted evaluation criteria, distribution of RFP, evaluation and shortlisting, selection, draft statement of work and finalize contract.
• Manages and negotiates employee benefit packages, including health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off. Oversees vendor relationships, monitors plan performance, and ensures cost-effectiveness
• Ensures adherence to federal and state regulations such as ACA, FMLA, HIPAA, IRS reporting requirements, and retirement plan standards. Tracks eligibility, hours of service, and coordinates with payroll and HRIS systems to mitigate compliance risks
• Program Evaluation and Improvement: Analyzes program costs, utilization, participation, and workforce trends to guide decision-making. Develop policies, procedures, and performance metrics to continuously improve benefits administration and employee satisfaction
• Supports communication strategies to ensure employees understand available benefits. Provides guidance to HR colleagues, managers, and employees on benefits, absence, and wellness programs
• Developing and implementing comprehensive compensation strategies and salary structures.
• Conducting market analysis and benchmarking to maintain competitive pay practices.
• Managing incentive programs and any applicable bonus payouts.
• Collaborating with Executive Management and departmental leaders to align job descriptions and compensation with organizational objectives.
• Advising senior management on compensation trends, policies, and regulatory compliance.
  
  

Employee Relations, Engagement and Culture

• Act as a trusted, accessible, and professional resource for employee questions and concerns.
• Foster a workplace culture built on respect, fairness, accountability, safety, professionalism, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Coach supervisors and managers on communication, feedback, documentation, conflict resolution, performance management, corrective action, and difficult employee conversations.
• Help ensure employee performance expectations, disciplinary practices, and policy enforcement are clear, consistent, and equitable.
• Develop employee-engagement, recognition, communication, retention, and professional development initiatives.
• Conduct employee surveys, stay interviews, pulse checks, and other feedback efforts to identify opportunities to improve the employee experience.
• Use employee feedback, exit-interview findings, and HR data to recommend tangible improvements to management practices, communication, training, benefits, scheduling, working conditions, and career-development programs.
• Support a culture in which employees understand how their work contributes to product quality, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and company succes
  
  

HR Systems, Technology and Automation

• Evaluate, implement, administer, and optimize HR technology that supports an efficient, scalable, and compliant HR department.
• Administer or help select Human Resources Information Systems, applicant tracking systems, payroll and timekeeping platforms, learning-management systems, benefits administration tools, document-management systems, and employee-engagement platforms.
• Identify manual, repetitive, and error-prone HR workflows and automate or streamline them where practical.
• Develop digital workflows for hiring requisitions, candidate tracking, interview coordination, onboarding, personnel files, policy acknowledgments, performance reviews, PTO requests, training records, approvals, employee changes, and offboarding.
• Ensure HR systems maintain appropriate security, access controls, confidentiality, document retention, data quality, and reporting capability.
• Use HR analytics and dashboards to provide leadership with actionable workforce insight, not simply administrative data.
• Remain current on practical HR technology, automation tools, AI-enabled recruiting capabilities, employee self-service tools, and workforce analytics that may improve the employee and manager experience.
  
  

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in HR, Business or related field, equivalent experience may be considered.
• Ten or more years of progressive Human Resources experience, including meaningful responsibility for one or more HR functions
• 4 or more years’ experience managing an HR department, that included responsibilities for workforce planning, full-cycle recruiting, HR regulatory, legal compliance and safety, performance management, employee training and development, compensation and benefits and employee relations.
• Experience auditing current company processes and implementing HR best practices
• Strong working knowledge of federal and New York State employment practices, including wage-and-hour, leave of absences, anti-discrimination, workplace conduct, workers compensation, and personnel-documentation requirements.
• Proficiency with HR Information systems
• Demonstrable experience implementing HR metrics allowing for data-based decision making
• Demonstrable competence with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and ChatGPT or similar tools.
  
  

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification.
• Experience supporting pharmaceutical, medical devices, food manufacturing, or other FDA regulated manufacturing, or other highly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with GMP, cGMP, quality systems, controlled documentation, training, compliance, data integrity, and regulated-manufacturing culture
• Prior experience conducting RFP for broker services of benefit plans
• Experience conducting an assessment, selection and implementation of an HRIS or HR platform
  
  

SKILLS

• Proven experience in supervising HR teams with strong leadership capabilities.
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills
• Excellent active listening, conflict management, negotiation skills.
• Competence to build and effectively manage interpersonal relationships at all levels of the company
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to present information clearly to diverse audiences
• Ability to handle confidential information with integrity while demonstrating strategic thinking in HR leadership roles.