Human Resources Director

HR Director / Strategic HR Business Partner

Direct Hire

Fully Onsite | Harleysville, PA

A well-established manufacturing company in the Harleysville area is seeking a strategic, hands-on HR Director / Strategic HR Business Partner to serve as a key advisor to executive leadership while remaining closely connected to plant operations and the employee population.

This is a high-visibility HR leadership role within a stable, relationship-driven manufacturing environment with strong employee tenure and a laid-back, collaborative culture. The current HR leader is retiring once the role is backfilled, creating an opportunity for an experienced HR professional to step into a true leadership seat with direct executive exposure.

This is not a purely administrative HR role. The company has operational HR support in place for much of the day-to-day work. This person will be expected to operate as a strategic partner to leadership while still being comfortable supporting plant-level HR matters, employee relations, compliance, change management, workforce planning, and broader business initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic HR partner to executive leadership, including the CEO and senior leadership team.
• Advise leadership on workforce planning, organizational design, employee relations, people risk, and change management.
• Partner with plant, operations, and executive leadership on HR strategy and business initiatives.
• Remain visible and credible on the plant floor with hourly employees, supervisors, and operations leaders.
• Support employee relations matters, including investigations, discipline, performance management, terminations, and documentation.
• Coach managers and supervisors on employee communication, leadership, accountability, documentation, and consistent policy application.
• Provide guidance on HR compliance and employment law matters, including FMLA, ADA, FLSA, EEO, OSHA, workers’ compensation, and leave administration.
• Support recruiting strategy for hourly manufacturing, technical, professional, and leadership roles.
• Oversee onboarding strategy with a focus on safety, culture, quality, and retention.
• Partner on compensation, job classifications, benefits, and vendor/broker relationships.
• Support succession planning for key plant, operational, and leadership roles.
• Lead or contribute to change management initiatives, process improvement, workplace innovation, and emerging technology adoption.
• Help the organization evaluate how technology, automation, and AI may impact workforce planning, job design, employee experience, and future skill needs.
• Maintain and strengthen a culture built around trust, accountability, quality, and long-term employee relationships.
• Ensure HR practices are practical, compliant, consistent, and aligned with business needs.

Qualifications

• 7 years of progressive HR experience required.
• Manufacturing, industrial, plant, production, or operations-based HR experience required.
• Proven experience operating as a strategic HR partner to senior leadership, ownership, or C-suite executives.
• Broad HR generalist experience across employee relations, talent acquisition, onboarding, compensation, benefits, training, compliance, and workforce planning.
• Strong employee relations background, including investigations, corrective action, performance management, terminations, and manager coaching.
• Comfortable working directly with hourly employees, front-line supervisors, plant leadership, and executive leadership.
• Strong working knowledge of employment law and HR compliance, including FMLA, ADA, FLSA, EEO, OSHA, workers’ compensation, and leave administration.
• Ability to apply practical HR judgment independently and confidently.
• Experience supporting change management, process improvement, organizational development, or workforce planning initiatives.
• Strong communication skills, executive presence, and business judgment.
• Practical, steady, approachable leadership style.
• Stable career history strongly preferred.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR preferred.
• ADP Workforce Now experience is a plus, but not required.

Work Environment

• Fully onsite in Harleysville, PA.
• Monday through Friday, typical business hours.
• Direct-hire opportunity.
• Stable manufacturing company with strong employee retention.
• Casual, relationship-driven work environment.
• Production staff work four 10-hour days, helping limit weekend HR issues.
• Strategic leadership role with direct executive visibility and the ability to make a meaningful impact.