Director, HR Operations

Director, Hr Operations

The 1916 Company is a premier luxury watch and fine jewelry retailer with showrooms and boutiques across the US, Collector's Lounges in major domestic and international markets, and four international offices - with 25 locations in total. We are committed to delivering exceptional client experiences and building teams of extraordinary individuals who share our passion for excellence and the world's finest timepieces and jewelry.

The Director, HR Operations is a newly created senior role reporting directly to the COO. This role owns the operational and compliance backbone of the HR function - policies, benefits administration, payroll oversight, performance management, retail compliance, training programs, and company-wide HR communications and rollouts - ensuring that our people infrastructure scales reliably across 500 employees in 25 locations.

The Director, HR Operations works in close partnership with the Director, Strategic HR Business Partner and serves as a key thought partner to the COO and CFO on workforce planning, compliance strategy, and organizational effectiveness. Payroll processing is supported by coordinators jointly shared with Finance; this role owns payroll accuracy, compliance, and escalation. The HRIS Generalist carries a dotted-line to this role for benefits enrollment execution, compliance documentation, leave tracking support, and Work Ramp administration.

Policies, Retail Compliance & the Employee Handbook

• Own the development, maintenance, and consistent application of all HR policies and procedures across all domestic locations.
• Maintain and update the employee handbook, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws across all operating jurisdictions — with particular attention to California and multi-state wage-and-hour requirements.
• Own retail-specific compliance policy and monitoring: predictive scheduling laws, rest break requirements, wage-and-hour rules, and other location-specific obligations across all operating cities.
• Monitor regulatory changes and proactively assess impact on existing HR policy; develop and communicate responses in partnership with legal counsel as needed.
• Maintain audit-ready compliance reporting: EEO-1, ACA, FMLA tracking logs, and unemployment claims oversight.

Benefits Administration & Enrollment Compliance

• Own benefits enrollment administration and compliance — including open enrollment execution, qualifying life event processing, ACA reporting, ERISA compliance, and HIPAA data privacy requirements.
• Partner with the Director, HR Business Partner on plan design and vendor strategy; translate those decisions into compliant, well-executed enrollment processes and employee communications.
• Direct the HR & Systems Coordinator on benefits data entry in vendor portals and BambooHR, and on first-line employee benefits support escalations.
• Maintain audit-ready benefits records and ensure all required notices, filings, and disclosures are completed accurately and on time.

Payroll Oversight

• Oversee and administer multi-state payroll compliance in partnership with Finance-shared payroll coordinators — owning accuracy, compliance, and timely resolution of payroll issues across all locations.
• Stay up to date on payroll compliance rules & regulations changes in key states and lead implementation of changes that impact the company.
• Ensure payroll processes reflect current employee data, leave statuses, and compensation changes in coordination with the HR & Systems Coordinator.
• Serve as the escalation point for complex payroll questions involving multi-state taxation, or leave-related pay calculations.

Performance Management

• Own and administer the company-wide performance management cycle — including the monthly one-on-one review process, goal-setting frameworks, and year-end evaluation processes.
• Build and maintain the systems, templates, and cadences that make the performance management process consistent and actionable across all 25 locations.
• Partner with the Director, HR Business Partner on individual performance concerns and escalations that arise from the review cycle.
• Report on performance cycle…