Human Resources Manager

Los Alamos County, NM (19,675) is seeking a skilled and experienced Human Resources Manager. With slightly over 60 years as a local government, Los Alamos County is relatively young in its role as an incorporated county. Los Alamos is a place of spectacular scenery, diverse wildlife, uncommon high-altitude recreational opportunities, small-town friendliness, diverse cultural activities, fascinating history, and world-changing science and technological development. This recruitment is the result of the planned retirement of the previous manager who served 8 years with the county.

There are two cities in Los Alamos County: Los Alamos and White Rock. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is the largest employer (11,000) in the County with an annual budget of 2 billion dollars. Approximately 7,000 people commute to the Laboratory from the surrounding area. LANL supports high levels of job stability, income and education, with the highest number of PhDs per capita in the nation and a median household income of over $80,000 per year. The public school district is in the top 4% in the nation, the University of New Mexico has a local branch, and the community has a large, home-schooled population.

The Human Resources Manager, reporting to the County Manager, is tasked with planning, directing, and reviewing departmental activities and all human resources operations and services. Responsibilities include oversight of recruitment and employment; compensation and benefits; management education; training and development; employee relations; risk management and workplace safety; labor relations; policy formulation and implementation; and performance development and evaluation programs to ensure compliance with established laws, regulations, policies, and procedures. Serves as or appoints staff liaisons to the Personnel Board. This role also provides comprehensive and high-level administrative support to the county's leadership.

The department is comprised of 17 positions with these responsibilities: Risk Management, Benefits Administration, Classification and Compensation, Budgeting, Labor Relations, and Recruitment. The department has a FY26 budget of $365,000. The County employs just over 943, which includes Regular Full-Time, Regular Part-Time, Casual and Temporary employees.

In seeking to fill this position, the County is emphasizing an extensive background and experience in creating supervisory training programs, developing personnel rules and regulations as well as strong leadership and team building capacity. The following list provides the required attributes a candidate must have to be successful in working for Los Alamos County:

• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university in Public Administration, Business Administration, Human Resources or a closely related field. Master’s Degree preferred.
• Eight (8) years of experience in human resource management with demonstrated expertise across all major HR functional areas, including: recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, employee and labor relations, organizational development and training, performance management, HR Information Systems, policy development and administration, risk management and workplace safety programs. At least Six (6) years of supervisory experience in an HR leadership or management role.
• Demonstrated experience in collective bargaining preferably in the municipal sector.
• Designation as a Professional Human Resource Certification , Senior Professional Human Resource Certification, SHRM – Certified Professional, or SHRM – Senior Certified Professional or Certified Professional from International Public Management Association for Human Resources is preferred.
• Demonstrated success in the areas of team building and working within a similar department structure with a desire to coach and mentor staff to foster personal growth and leadership talent.

The salary range for this position is $128,520 to $209,275. A generous benefit and retirement package is also offered by the county, details are available at Los Alamos County Employee Benefits.

Candidates must apply by October 17, 2025, with resume, cover letter and contact information for five work-related references to www.GovHRjobs.com. Questions may be directed at the attention of Sarah McKee, MGT Senior Consultant, (847)380-3240 ext. 120.

Los Alamos County is committed to compliance with the American Disabilities Act and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Diversity and inclusion are critical to their success. They seek to recruit the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool and strongly encourage all qualified candidates to apply.