Director of Human Resources - Cincinnati Opera

Description

The Director of Human Resources reports to the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer and partners directly with the General Director & CEO on matters involving the senior leadership team. A hands-on HR leader, the HR Director is responsible for the day-to-day administration and ongoing development of Cincinnati Opera’s human resources function. The HR Director oversees and coordinates recruitment; onboarding and offboarding;

employee benefits; leave and PTO administration; payroll; employee relations; HR compliance; training and development; performance management; compensation administration; and the communication and maintenance of employment policies and procedures. This work is performed in close partnership with Cincinnati Opera’s shared-services providers and other external partners.

Cincinnati Opera maintains a small year‑round staff and expands significantly during its summer production season. The successful candidate will be comfortable working independently, balancing strategic and administrative responsibilities, and supporting employees and leaders in a highly collaborative, seasonal environment. The ideal candidate will be a trusted advisor, thoughtful listener, clear communicator, meticulous record-keeper, and practical problem-solver.

Cincinnati Opera receives administrative support through a shared services agreement with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO). As part of the application process, you may receive communications from CSO team members.

• Serve as the primary HR resource for employees and people leaders, providing guidance on employee relations, performance management, workplace concerns, policy interpretation, and other employment matters.
• Partner with people leaders on employee relations matters and conduct workplace investigations as appropriate, consulting with legal counsel or other advisors when needed.
• Advise leadership on compensation planning, salary benchmarking, job classification, workforce planning, organizational design, and staffing changes.
• Manage recruitment for assigned open positions in partnership with hiring managers, including position postings, candidate screening, interview coordination, offer creation, and related hiring activities.
• Manage onboarding and offboarding processes for employees, including required documentation, system setup and removal, orientation coordination, and related employee communications.
• Administer employee benefits, leave, and PTO programs, including employee communications, eligibility and enrollment administration, and coordination with benefit providers and shared-services partners.
• Oversee payroll preparation and processing, including reviewing employee data, hours, compensation changes, deductions, and other payroll inputs, and partnering with the payroll provider or shared-services team to ensure accurate, timely processing.
• Maintain accurate employee data in the HRIS (currently Paycor), and prepare recurring and ad hoc workforce, payroll, benefits, and other HR reports for leadership and key stakeholders.
• Maintain personnel files and HR records associated with recruitment, benefits, leave and PTO, employee demographics, compensation, performance, and other employment matters in accordance with applicable record-retention requirements.
• Serve as Cincinnati Opera’s primary day-to-day liaison with shared-services, benefits, payroll, and other HR vendors; clarify responsibilities, monitor service delivery, resolve issues, and ensure that the organization’s HR needs are met.
• Support implementation of new HR systems, vendors, or shared-services arrangements, including process design, data validation and migration, testing, employee communications, training, and transition planning as…