What are the responsibilities and job description for the Associate Director Human Resources position at Rhode Island College?
Rhode Island College is seeking a strategic and highly collaborative HR professional to lead our team in the role of Associate Director of Human Resources, Talent Management.
As the Associate Director you will have the opportunity to create and lead programs that make a meaningful difference in the employee experience. This is a highly visible role for an HR professional who enjoys building—not simply maintaining—talent programs and turning ideas into strategies, programs, and results.
If you are energized by developing people, building programs and leading change this is an opportunity to contribute and make a positive impact on the employee eexperience.
Primary Purpose
As the Associate Director you will have the opportunity to create and lead programs that make a meaningful difference in the employee experience. This is a highly visible role for an HR professional who enjoys building—not simply maintaining—talent programs and turning ideas into strategies, programs, and results.
If you are energized by developing people, building programs and leading change this is an opportunity to contribute and make a positive impact on the employee eexperience.
The Associate Director Human Resources, Talent Management plays a central role in enhancing the college’s capacity to adapt, evolve, and thrive in a dynamic educational landscape. The Associate Director is responsible for leading efforts to constantly improve recruiting efforts, implement professional development initiatives, talent development, data analysis, and process improvement. Providing strategic and operational leadership, the Associate Director will lead a team of professionals to deliver comprehensive initiatives.
Essential Duties
Strategic Initiatives & Implementation
- Define and advance the college’s vision and long-term priorities for all staff and faculty learning, management and executive development, organizational effectiveness, and talent mobility impacting the entire college community.
- Serve as a principal advisor on college-wide strategies for staff development, engagement, retention, and organizational effectiveness.
- Build and sustain robust partnerships with HR leaders, academic, and administrative partners to develop and implement integrated, campus-wide talent strategies and ensure alignment with the college’s mission and strategic goals.
- Lead, inspire, and develop a highly effective team.
- Ensure all programs are compliant with college collective bargaining agreements, state procedures, and federal/state laws.
- Remain competent and current through self-directed professional reading, developing professional contacts with colleagues, attending professional development courses, and attending training and/or courses as needed.
- Design and develop new HR processes to improve the efficiency of operations and recommend new approaches to effect continual improvement of processes and operations.
Talent Acquisition
- Oversee full cycle recruiting efforts. Build and maintain recruiting strategies and best practices. Promote a positive image of the college as an employee of choice.
- Identify and propose recruiting strategies and changes, keeping in line with industry best practices, that align with business needs.
- Implement strategies to establish and iterate on pre—boarding and onboarding processes.
Talent Development
- Provide guidance to HR staff and department supervisors on the orientation and onboarding of new employees and troubleshoot as needed. Oversee communications with new employees during the on-boarding process.
- Responsible for monitoring the creation of new job descriptions and edits to existing job descriptions to align requirements across the college.
- Establish structure and evaluations for compensation philosophy, equity, and job families/structure across the college.
- Evaluate retention metrics across college and report on trends.
- Establish best practices for position management utilizing systems and processes.
Professional Development & Employee Engagement
- Design and implement talent development programs to build leadership capabilities, enhance employee skills, and foster a culture of learning and growth.
- Provide strategic oversight for all training and development programs, ensuring accessibility and excellence for staff at every level and across all career stages.
- Lead the design, delivery, and continuous enhancement of college’s comprehensive learning and development ecosystem, including in-person, blended, and digital modalities.
- Lead and support change management, employee engagement strategies (with a focus on retention and meaningful engagement), and organizational transformation initiatives through consultation and facilitation for leaders and their teams.
- Develop and implement strategies to enhance employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Data Analysis and Evaluation
- Track, measure, and communicate the impact and return on investment of talent programs, leveraging metrics such as satisfaction, usage, effectiveness, and organizational outcomes.
- Regularly conduct feedback for stakeholders including candidates on their experience.
- Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.
- Demonstrated proficiency utilizing HR information systems, applicant tracking systems, position management systems, databases, and Microsoft 365 applications.
- Demonstrated experience with HR agile values and agile principles.
- Knowledge of relevant human resources related laws, regulations, and best practices and the ability to apply them appropriately, including those related to HR processes.
- Knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply applicable State, Council, and College policies and procedures related to human resources, recruitment, selection, and employment.
- Ability to drive strategy, work with data and analytics, and a demonstrated capability in executing effective and creative strategies.
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management, Business Administration, Management, or a related field.
- A minimum of eight (8) years of experience in human resources, talent acquisition, talent management, recruitment and selection, onboarding, or a related area.
- Proven work experience in a Talent Acquisition//Talent Management role along with demonstrated experience in designing and implementing overall strategies for an organization.
- Supervisory, staff development or experience coordinating the work of employees.
- Master’s degree in Human Resources or similar field
- Experience working in a higher education and/or unionized environment.
- Experience working with Workday, PeopleAdmin, and/or comparable HRIS and applicant tracking systems.
- Bilingual in English / Spanish.
- Certifications: IPMA, CP or SCP certification through the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) or Professional in Human Resources (PHR) or Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) or related certification.
The employee is not exposed to known adverse environmental conditions.
Position Details
FLSA
Exempt
Salary Grade
14NC
Full Time / Part Time
Full-time
Proposed Starting Salary Range
$115,000 - $125,000
Work Schedule
Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 4:30pm
35 hours/week
This position is located on-site.
35 hours/week
This position is located on-site.
Benefits
Full-time employees enjoy an array of benefits including:
- Health and Wellness – Medical, Dental & Vision
- Wellness Incentives and Rewards
- Paid time Off – Vacation, Sick & Holiday
- Retirement Benefits
- Disability and Insurance Benefits
- Education Benefits – Tuition waivers for RIC, CCRI & URI
For a complete listing, visit Employee Benefits.
Reports To (Title)
Director of Human Resources Operations
Academic or Calendar Year
Calendar
Position Status
Continuing
End of Temporary or Limited Position
Collective Bargaining Unit
Non-union
Posting Information
Number of Positions Available
1
Application Open Date
09/15/2026
Application Close Date
Special Instructions
EEO Statement
Rhode Island College is an equal opportunity employer. The institution does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability religion, age, veteran status, or any other protected status under applicable law. Rhode Island College is committed to maintain a workplace and educational environment that supports equal opportunity, professionalism and respectful engagement for all community members.
Benefits:
Vacation & Paid Time Off, Dental InsuranceSalary : $115,000 - $125,000