Senior Director of Human Resources- Employee Relations & Leave Accommodations

Ascend is Brooklyn’s premier K–12 public charter network, committed to graduating high-achieving students who have access to boundless choice in their futures—not only through college acceptance, but through meaningful preparation for career readiness and thriving adult lives.

Across our schools, we pair rigorous academics with strong systems, supportive adult culture, and a deep belief in students’ brilliance and potential. Our work is grounded in the understanding that preparing students for long-term success requires excellence in instruction, intentional culture-building, and disciplined execution at every level of the organization.

At Ascend, adults are held to high standards because our students deserve nothing less. How we teach, lead, collaborate, and make decisions every day directly shapes the opportunities our students will have tomorrow.

Join us in shaping learning environments where curiosity is nurtured, excellence is the norm, and every student is prepared for a lifetime of boundless choice.

The Senior Director of Human Resources
- Employee Relations and Leave Accommodations is responsible for defining and leading Ascend's human resources operations strategy, employee relations framework, leave administration, benefits programs, compliance infrastructure, and people systems governance.

Reporting to the Senior Managing Director - People Team, the Senior Director serves as the network's subject-matter expert on employee relations, labor and employment law, leave management, benefits administration, HR compliance, HR operations, HRIS strategy, and people risk mitigation.

This leader drives enterprise-wide HR initiatives that strengthen organizational effectiveness, ensure legal and regulatory compliance, enhance the employee experience, and support Ascend's long-term talent strategy. The role requires both strategic vision and operational excellence, partnering closely with Executive Leadership, Finance, Legal, Talent Acquisition, School Leadership, and Network Operations to build scalable people systems that serve a growing organization.

The Senior Director oversees critical people operations functions, leads complex employee relations matters and investigations, ensures excellence in leave and accommodations management, and establishes best-in-class policies, processes, and controls that align with Ascend's mission, culture, and values.

• Lead the strategy, design, and continuous improvement of HR operations, employee relations, leave administration, benefits, compliance, and HR technology programs across the network.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on workforce risk, employee relations trends, organizational effectiveness, compliance matters, and people strategy.
• Develop and execute multi-year people operations initiatives that improve scalability, efficiency, employee experience, and organizational performance.
• Identify organizational risks and develop proactive solutions to support a healthy, compliant, and high-performing workplace culture.
• Partner with senior leaders to drive change management initiatives and support organizational transformation efforts.

• Lead the resolution of complex employee relations issues, workplace investigations, grievances, performance concerns, and disciplinary matters.
• Provide expert guidance to leaders on federal, state, and local employment laws, HR policies, collective employee concerns, and workplace practices.
• Manage relationships with external legal counsel regarding employment, labor, compliance, accommodations, and employee relations matters.
• Establish organization-wide employee relations standards,…