Senior Director of People

About High Performance Academy (HPA)

High Performance Academy (HPA) is on a mission to empower individuals to reach their potential through sports enrichment, and positive development experiences. We partner with schools and districts across California to provide dynamic, inclusive, and high‑quality after‑school and enrichment programs, camps and leagues that combine sports, social‑emotional learning, and mentorship. Our goal is to serve 100,000 youth by 2030 through experiences that build confidence, teamwork, and lifelong skills, on and off the field.

The Senior Director of People is HPA's senior People & Culture leader and a full member of the Senior Leadership Team, reporting to the Vice President and partnering closely with the Chief Executive Officer. This is both an operational and philosophical seat: the person in it is responsible for building the systems, leadership pipeline, and employee experience that foster the optimal environment for scaling and for stewarding the deeper question of who we are as a company and why we exist.

This role provides strategic oversight across talent acquisition, employee relations, leadership development, performance management, compensation and benefits, compliance, HR technology, organizational effectiveness, workforce planning, and — distinctly — employee experience, culture, and engagement. Success is measured not only by HPA's ability to attract, develop, and retain exceptional employees, but by whether our people feel the culture we say we're building, and whether our programs consistently reflect our mission in how they're delivered to kids.

• Lead People Strategy:
  Shape organization‑wide strategy as a member of the Senior Leadership Team and advise executive leadership on workforce capacity, organizational design, and growth.
• Build & Develop Teams:
  Lead and scale the People team while creating leadership development, succession planning, and internal career pathways
• Own Employee
  
  Experience:
  
  Drive staffing readiness, recruiting, onboarding, retention, engagement, performance management, and employee‑voice initiatives across HPA.
• Protect & Strengthen Compliance:
  Provide leadership over California and federal employment compliance, employee relations, investigations, workplace safety, and partner compliance requirements.
• Oversee Compensation & Benefits:
  Lead compensation architecture, benefits strategy, incentive structures, open enrollment, and labor‑cost planning in partnership with Finance.
• Build Scalable Systems:
  Own HPA’s HR technology and employee lifecycle processes while driving automation, data accuracy, documentation, and consistent execution across regions.
• Strengthen Culture & Organizational Identity:
  Steward HPA’s culture and employee experience while ensuring the organization’s people practices support its mission, growth, and long‑term success.

We’re looking for someone who lives our HPA Core Values. At HPA, our values start with "I" and end in "us"

• Integrity – You do what’s right, even when no one’s watching.
• Caring – You lead with empathy and put others first.
• Driven – You’re committed to growth, on and off the field.
• Resourceful – You’re a creative problem solver, always finding ways to make things work.
• Team Player – You believe we’re better together and always show up for your team.

• 7+ years of progressive Human Resources / People experience, including 3+ years in a senior leadership role with a seat at the executive table.
• Demonstrated ability to build and lead a genuine employee‑experience and culture strategy, with measurable outcomes — not just employee relations administration.
• Strong working knowledge of California employment law and multi‑site workforce compliance.
• Pr…