Vice President of People

Vice President of People

Salt Lake City, UT

Job Type

Full-time

Description

The Vice President of People is a senior leader responsible for designing and leading Wheeler Machinery’s organizational strategy, people systems, and leadership capability to enable business performance and long-term growth. This role ensures the organization is structured effectively, roles are clearly defined, and leaders are equipped to execute at a high level across a multi-location environment.

The VP of People architects and governs the company’s HR operating model, ensuring that people processes, decision rights, and service delivery are aligned, scalable, and consistently executed across the enterprise. This role drives organizational design, workforce planning, and leadership development to ensure Wheeler has the right structure, talent, and accountability systems in place to support its strategic objectives.

This role ensures that talent, culture, safety, and organizational effectiveness are aligned with Wheeler Machinery’s strategic objectives. The VP of People acts as a strategic integrator, elevating the sophistication, impact, and consistency of People systems across the organization.

As a key member of the senior leadership team, the VP of People partners closely with business leaders to diagnose organizational needs, design solutions, and build a high-performing, disciplined organization where expectations are clear and performance is consistently delivered.

• Define and lead a comprehensive, holistic People Strategy aligned with Wheeler's vision, values, and business objectives for sustained growth and operational excellence
• Serve as a key member of the senior leadership team, influencing enterprise-wide decisions
• Translate business strategy into actionable workforce, leadership, and organizational plans
• Establish a clear philosophy on workforce segmentation and differentiated people strategies
• Ensure alignment with core pillars of operational excellence, growth, and financial performance
• Architect, document, and continuously evolve the Wheeler People Playbook as the single source for how Wheeler attracts, develops, manages performance, compensates, and ensures compliance
• Establish clear standards, frameworks, and repeatable processes — scalable across all locations and aligned with union agreements
• Design and govern Wheeler's HR Operating Model, defining roles, service delivery model, and ownership of people processes
• Establish KPIs, service standards, and accountability structures across all HR functions

• Own enterprise-wide organizational design strategy, ensuring structure supports scalability, efficiency, and operational performance as Wheeler grows
• Define an enterprise methodology to identify critical roles across business units, focusing on roles with disproportionate impact on safety, operations, customer outcomes, and financial performance
• Lead design and redesign of business units, functions, and leadership structures based on growth, M&A integration, and operational needs
• Establish enterprise principles for:
• Span of control
• Role clarity and accountability
• Layering and decision rights
• Drive enterprise organizational effectiveness initiatives, including role clarity models, team effectiveness reviews, and decision-making frameworks
• Partner with business leaders to proactively diagnose organizational gaps and design targeted solutions
• Ensure alignment between strategic priorities, organizational design, and talent investment

• Lead development of a forward-looking workforce planning approach tied to business strategy, ensuring Wheeler has the talent and capabilities needed to compete in the future
• Partner with divisional and departmental leaders to identify future capability and skill requirements, capacity gaps, and workforce risks (retirement, attrition, skill obsolescence)
• Align workforce plans with growth initiatives, digital transformation, and operational excellence priorities
• Establish a consistent framework to identify top talent, high-potential employees,…