Vice President of People and Culture

Q CASINO + RESORT Vice President of People & Culture POSITION SUMMARY The Vice President, People & Culture is the chief architect of the Dubuque Racing Association's, DRA's, human capital strategy across an integrated casino-hospitality enterprise spanning gaming, hotel, food & beverage, entertainment, and live events. This role provides strategic leadership for DRA's people strategy by advancing performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness across the enterprise while driving measurable business results through people.

The VP partners directly with the President & CEO and the executive team to align talent strategy with DRA's mission-margin model and the broader Schmitt Island redevelopment vision.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Reports To:

President & Chief Executive Officer Direct Reports:
Human Resources TeamWHY THIS ROLE MATTERS NOWThe DRA is entering an exciting period of growth and investment across its gaming, hospitality, entertainment, and community operations. As new venues, guest experiences, and organizational capabilities continue to evolve, the Vice President of People & Culture will play a key role in building a high-performing workforce and ensuring our people strategy supports long-term organizational success.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES HR Transformation & Performance Management Lead the continued evolution of DRA's enterprise people strategy by integrating performance management, leadership development, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness into a unified approach across all business units.

Design and implement a unified performance management framework (goal cascading, mid-year/annual reviews, calibration, performance improvement processes) across all properties and departments.

Build manager capability to lead performance conversations, coach for development, and hold teams accountable to service and financial standards.

Establish people-performance metrics and dashboards that connect workforce outcomes to guest satisfaction, retention, and financial performance.

Partner with the CEO and executive leadership team to shape organizational strategy, leadership effectiveness, executive succession planning, and long-term workforce capability.

Employee Celebration & Recognition Strategy Initiate and own an enterprise employee celebration and recognition strategy — milestone anniversaries, peer-to-peer recognition, service awards, and culture-building events — that reinforces DRA's values across Q Casino, The Key Hotel, Lock 11, and the Iowa Amphitheater.

Use recognition programming as a lever for engagement, retention, and reinforcing the behaviors that drive guest experience.

Training Strategy — Guest & Customer Experience Own the enterprise training strategy for guest/customer experience, ensuring consistent service standards across gaming floor, hotel, F&B, and entertainment venues.

Build onboarding, brand, and service-standard curricula aligned to DRA's competitive positioning and the distinct brand expectations of both onsite Hilton properties — Hilton Garden Inn and The Key Hotel (Hilton Tapestry Collection).Partner with operational leaders to continuously enhance guest experience through consistent service standards and leadership development.

Develop leadership and supervisory development pathways to strengthen the bench across departments.

HRIS & People Analytics Own the HRIS strategy and platform roadmap, ensuring data integrity, self-service capability, and integration with payroll, scheduling, and performance systems.

Use workforce analytics to inform staffing models, turnover reduction, labor cost management, and executive reporting to the CEO and Board.

Total Rewards, Talent & Organizational Development Design competitive, market-informed compensation and benefits strategy appropriate to the Dubuque/regional gaming and hospitality labor market.

Lead talent acquisition, succession planning, and leadership development to build organizational depth ahead of Schmitt Island's continued capital growth.

Partner with the CEO on senior leadership transitions, organizational design, and workforce planning tied to the broader…