Director of Human Resources

Director of Human Resources

Southworth International Group, Inc. (SIGI) is the world's largest manufacturer of ergonomic material handling equipment for vertical lifting and work positioning. Our products are designed to improve worker productivity while reducing the potential for worker injuries. Anywhere where workers are lifting and positioning items, handling pallets, working with parts in containers or transporting loads in a factory or warehouse, SIGI has a product to make the job faster, safer, and easier.

We are seeking a Director of Human Resources to lead human resources function for our mid-sized manufacturing organization with multi-site operations in North America, Europe and China. This position will be based either at SIGI headquarters in Falmouth, Maine or our location in Manila, Arkansas.

The Director will translate global strategy into region-specific talent approaches, while balancing standardization and local responsiveness. This role drives people strategy and operational HR excellence across manufacturing plants and supporting functions, ensuring globally scalable processes and systems, strong employee relations, compliant global and regional practices and a culture characterized by high performance and continuous improvement. The Director is a trusted advisor to senior leadership and a hands-on partner to regional and functional leaders, balancing strategic leadership with pragmatic execution.

The Director of Human Resources' overall objective is the success of SIGI in alignment with the company's growth strategic plan and talent strategies.

HR Strategy and Leadership

• Update and execute multi-year global talent strategy aligned with SIGI growth strategic plan, financial objectives and Balanced Scorecard objectives
• Lead HR organization that supports multi-site manufacturing, including shared services, HRBP support, and local HR compliance
• Serve as an advisor to senior leaders on organizational design, workforce planning, leadership capability, and culture
• Present to Board of Directors on elements of talent strategy

Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning

• Lead global recruitment strategy for corporate, technical and plant roles
• Partner with operations leaders to forecast labor demand, manage staffing models, and reduce time-to-fill / turnover, especially for critical positions
• Implement scalable onboarding and retention programs that improve early tenure success with new hires
• Implement internship, apprenticeship and other early-stage talent acquisition programs in partnership with local educational and training institutions

Total Rewards (Compensation, Benefits, Incentives)

• Design and manage competitive, market-aligned compensation and benefits programs across regions, balancing standardization and local requirements
• Maintain job architecture, leveling and pay governance
• Oversee annual compensation cycles, bonus programs and merit planning
• Partner with Finance to manage benefits cost trends and ensure equitable, compliant rewards practices

Employee Relations

• Manage and mediate employee relations issues to achieve successful resolution of concerns and risk mitigation for the company, in accordance with company policies and local and federal employment laws. Partner with legal support and local counsel as needed to ensure compliance with labor laws and supporting audits as necessary
• Develop frontline leader capability to improve engagement, reduce conflict and strengthen accountability

Performance Management, Learning and Leadership Development

• Develop and implement training programs and training resources that align with and support company goals for business growth, change management, employee development to address skill gaps in the workforce. Collaborating with departments leaders, evaluate training program effectiveness, scalability across SIGI, and make improvements as needed
• Manage the performance management process and facilitate improvement of performance management systems and training to reinforce a culture of measurable goals, feedback and accountability
• Manage the talent roundtable process
• Build training frameworks for product, technical and compliance training

HR Operations and Policies

• Ensure strong HR operations: payroll oversight, HR administration, benefits, leave management, employee data governance
• Lead HR process standardization and adoption; improve data quality and reporting
• Support dashboards that link workforce metrics to business outcomes (key metrics include safety, career advancement and retention)

Compliance and Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with employment laws and regulations in the United States, Mexico, China, Sweden, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other countries as applicable
• Provide inputs into Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) process

Change Management and Culture

• Lead HR's role in transformation initiatives (site expansions, merger integration, automation)
• Drive engagement strategies and culture initiatives that support continuous improvement,…