Director, Academic HR; CEHD

Department: Col of Ed and Human Development

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is one of Mason’s largest and most complex academic units, encompassingfaculty, staff, and graduate researchers across programs in education, counseling, social work, and human development. CEHD is committed to equity-minded academic and workforce excellence, and operates as a community deeply invested in the success of every individual the college employs.

The Director, Academic HR is the senior HR leader for the Collegeof Education and Human Development. This role carries fullownership of the college’s people function — sitting alongsideCEHD’s executive leadership team as a strategic partner, managing the college-based HR team to deliver integrated operational HR and strategic support, and serving as the primary point of accountability for all HR matters within the college.

The Director partners closely with the Chief Business Officer andthe Dean to understand, prioritize, and address critical business and workforce challenges facing CEHD — translating those priorities into HR strategies, operational plans, and people solutions thatadvance the college’s mission. This is a leadership role with direct responsibility for outcomes across the full range of HRfunctions that support CEHD faculty, staff, and academicoperations.

While primary accountability is to CEHD and the role reports to the college’s Chief Business Officer, the Director will have a dotted line relationship to the Associate Director, Employee and Workforce Relations and HR partnerships within central HR, maintaining activeintegration with Mason’s HR Centers of Excellence (COE). The Director deploys appropriate HR interventions in collaboration withthese COEs — escalating effectively, surfacing college-level needs,and ensuring CEHD practices remain consistent with enterprisestandards while meeting the operational realities of an academicenvironment.

The work of this role is oriented around three dimensions: localoperational delivery of HR services (50%), strategic workforcepartnership with college leadership (30%), and consultative supportto supervisors, faculty, and staff (20%).

The Director, Academic HR is embedded in CEHD and serves as a fullmember of the college’s leadership community. Primary ownership ofand accountability for the college’s HR function rests with the Director, Academic HR.

• Reports to the Chief Business Officer, CEHD — the primaryrelationship governing college priorities, workforce strategy, and operational direction — and has a dotted line relationship to the Associate Director, Employee and Workforce Relations and HRPartnerships, central HR, which governs enterprise alignment,compliance, and HR practice standards;
• Leads and manages the college-based HR team, including selection, development, performance management, and day-to-day team operations, ensuring the team delivers high-quality strategic and operational HR support to CEHD faculty, staff, and leadership;
• Partners with CEHD executive leadership to understand the college’s critical business challenges and people priorities, andtranslates those into coordinated HR strategies and workforceplans;
• Serves as an engaged member of Mason’s enterprise HR community— participating in CHRO-convened HR leadership forums andcross-institutional communities of practice as a representative ofCEHD and a contributing voice in Mason’s broader HR function;
• Brings the college’s workforce experience and operationalinsight into enterprise HR conversations, and carries enterprise HRstandards and frameworks back to CEHD leadership with clarity andcontext.

Owns and manages the full range of college-level HR operations —executing with…