Director of Talent and HR

We are hiring a Director of Talent & HR for our client.

A fast-growing national art education franchise with 15+ locations and an ambitious expansion plan is transforming art education. With a growing network of schools across the country and six new franchise locations signed this year alone, they're building a company where creativity and community come together. Our mission is to become the best place to work in the arts

This is a builder's role, not an administrator's.

Their day-to-day HR operations are in good hands: you'll inherit a two-person team that manages payroll, onboarding logistics, and ADP administration. What they don't have; and what you'll create is the strategic layer: scalable talent systems that work not just for our corporate team, but for a national network of franchise schools.

You'll design hiring playbooks our franchise owners can run themselves. You'll build the pathway that turns our best part-time teachers into tomorrow's full-time leaders. And you'll make our people operations sharper, faster, and ready for significant growth.

• Design end-to-end recruitment playbooks for franchise schools: sourcing channels, job posting templates, structured screeners, interview guides, and audition-style teaching demos
• Advise franchise owners on hiring practices and tools (ATS platforms, assessments such as Predictive Index) - you build the system; they make the hires
• Continuously improve the playbook based on what's working across the network

• Build a development pathway that identifies high-potential part-time employees (we have ~250 part-timers, many promo table) and grows them into full-time roles
• Source and adapt training and coaching curriculum - you don't need to write it from scratch, you need to find what's great and make it ours
• Partner with school leadership to spot and develop emerging talent
• Own recruiting for corporate roles as they open, building non-traditional pipelines through art schools, universities, and creative communities
• Design recruiting approaches that evaluate energy, mindset, and behavior - not just credentials

• Lead a team of two handling payroll and HR administration
• Modernize our HR operations: reduce manual processes (I-9 verification, handbook signing, onboarding paperwork) through better use of technology
• Oversee multi-state compliance, employee relations, and performance management with sound judgment and care

• Improved retention across our school teams
• Faster time-to-hire, at corporate and across the franchise network
• More part-time team members promoted into full-time roles

• Experienced in a multi-unit, multi-location, or fast-growing brand - this matters more than the titles you've held
• A proven builder: you can point to systems, programs, or playbooks you created that others now run
• Extroverted and genuinely people-oriented, and equally analytical - you make talent decisions with data, not just instinct
• Mid-career, hungry, and coachable, with real room and ambition left to grow
• Comfortable with a creative workforce - our teams are artists, and you know how to bring structure without crushing spirit
• ADP Workforce Now experience strongly preferred (your team lives in it daily)
• Performance bonus eligibility
• Health, dental, and vision insurance; paid time off
• Hybrid schedule: 2 days per week in Englewood and Montclair, NJ offices (with flexibility toward 1 day per week after onboarding for longer commutes), plus travel to school locations a few times per month

A creative, mission-driven environment and a role you'll build in your own image