Director of People and Culture

Job Description

Job Description

Job Title: Director of People & Culture

Employer: Buffalo Builders, LLC

Location: Little Rock, Arkansas

Division: Human Resources

Reports to: Chief Legal Officer & Administrative President

About Buffalo Builders

Buffalo Builders, LLC is a construction company based in Little Rock, Arkansas, delivering projects across commercial, multifamily, industrial, and institutional sectors. The company is pursuing an aggressive five-year growth trajectory, and this role offers the opportunity to build and shape the HR function as the organization scales significantly beyond its current size.

Position Summary

Buffalo Builders is seeking a Director of People and Culture to lead all people-related functions across the organization. This is a hands-on leadership role reporting to the Chief Legal Officer & Administrative President
, requiring a professional who can operate as both strategist and executor — designing HR strategy at the executive table while personally managing day-to-day HR operations across corporate and field personnel.

This is an especially compelling opportunity for a candidate who wants to build something: as Buffalo Builders executes its growth plan, this role is expected to expand in scope and may evolve into a broader HR leadership position with a growing team, rather than remaining a single-person function indefinitely.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner directly with executive leadership on workforce planning aligned to company growth objectives
• Own full-cycle talent acquisition for both corporate staff and field/project personnel (superintendents, project managers, project engineers, and skilled labor coordination)
• Design and administer compensation structures, annual merit/bonus cycles, and manage the benefits broker relationship
• Handle employee relations matters, including escalated conflicts, performance management, and terminations
• Ensure compliance with EEOC, FLSA, FMLA, ADA, OSHA recordkeeping, I-9/E-Verify, and multi-state wage & hour requirements, including support for prevailing wage and certified payroll compliance on applicable projects
• Draft, maintain, and audit the employee handbook and standalone HR policies
• Own the HRIS platform and coordinate with accounting on payroll administration
• Support onboarding, supervisory training, and safety culture initiatives in partnership with EHS
• Manage workers' compensation claims and monitor the experience modification rate (EMR)
• Develop and execute retention and engagement strategy across a project-based workforce
• Own the HR department budget, including the benefits spend and recruiting costs
• Report workforce metrics (turnover, time-to-fill, compensation ratios, claims trends) to executive leadership

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field
• 8–12 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 3–5 years in a leadership role
• Working knowledge of federal and multi-state employment law (FLSA, FMLA, ADA, EEOC) and ACA employer mandate compliance
• Demonstrated experience with HRIS platforms, compensation benchmarking, and benefits plan design
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to draft clear, enforceable policy documents
• High level of discretion and professional judgment, given regular exposure to executive-level and legally sensitive matters
• Comfort operating with ambiguity in a fast-growing, executive-led environment

Preferred Qualifications

• SHRM-CP/SCP or PHR/SPHR certification
• Prior HR experience within construction, or another industrial/field-based services industry
• Experience supporting prevailing wage or certified payroll compliance
• Experience building or scaling an HR function during a period of company growth
• Experience using artificial intelligence tools to improve HR workflows, recruiting processes, workforce analytics, policy drafting, training content, or employee communications

What Sets This Role Apart

• Direct line of sight to executive leadership and a genuine voice in company strategy
• Ownership of the HR function from the ground up, with real opportunity to shape its structure as the company scales
• A defined growth trajectory: as the organization expands, this position is positioned to grow into a larger HR leadership role overseeing a team, rather than remaining static

Compensation & Benefi