Associate Director of Human Resources

Job Description

The Department of Family Medicine has an outstanding opportunity for an Associate Director of Human Resources to join their team.

Reporting to the Vice Chair for Finance & Administration, the Associate Director of Human Resources serves as the senior human resources and workforce strategy leader for the Department of Family Medicine. This position provides strategic direction and oversight for workforce planning, organizational design, human resources governance, employee relations, and faculty and staff workforce operations across the department’s clinical, research, and education missions.

As a member of the department’s senior leadership team, the Associate Director advises the Department Chair, Vice Chair for Finance & Administration, Section Heads, and other senior leaders on complex workforce decisions, organizational change, risk mitigation, and long-range workforce strategy. The position also serves as the department’s primary liaison to the School of Medicine’s Integrated Resources Shared Services teams, central UW Human Resources, Academic Human Resources, and other institutional partners.

The Department of Family Medicine is a large and complex academic department with an annual budget of approximately $60 million. Its workforce includes approximately 280 paid faculty, 30 residents, six fellows, 120 staff, and more than 1,400 volunteer faculty working across diverse programs, clinical sites, and academic settings throughout the WWAMI region.

• Human capital strategy and HR governance (20%): Provide strategic guidance to the Department Chair, Vice Chair for Finance & Administration, and senior leadership regarding workforce planning, organizational design, staffing models, talent management, compensation, employee relations, and workforce risk.

• Organizational planning and implementation (15%): Participate in departmental strategic planning and independently develop workforce strategies, implementation plans, governance recommendations, and organizational structures that align operational resources with departmental priorities.

• Integrated Resources and institutional partnership (10%): Serve as the department’s primary liaison to School of Medicine Integrated Resources and central UW Human Resources. Align departmental workforce needs with shared-services delivery, monitor service effectiveness, and elevate complex or high-risk matters when necessary.

• Administrative governance and compliance (10%): Lead departmental implementation of institutional workforce policies, regulatory changes, and human resources initiatives. Ensure departmental practices comply with federal and state requirements, University policies, Faculty Code provisions, ethics requirements, and collective bargaining agreements.

• Process improvement and risk mitigation (10%): Identify operational risks, process inefficiencies, service gaps, and compliance concerns. Develop and implement standardized systems, policies, and corrective strategies that improve service delivery, operational consistency, and audit readiness.

• Academic workforce strategy and oversight (10%): Partner with Academic Human Resources on faculty and academic personnel recruitment, appointments, promotions, reappointments, merit reviews, academic pathways, and faculty lifecycle processes. Serve as an ex officio member of the department’s Appointments and Promotion Committees.

• Staff workforce and employee relations leadership (10%): Provide senior-level guidance on complex staff human resources matters in collaboration with Integrated Resources, Employee Relations, and Labor Relations. Advise leaders regarding performance management, organizational restructuring, workforce optimization, employee engagement, retention, and high-risk personnel matters.

• Leadership recruitment and workforce analytics (5%): Lead recruitment efforts for key faculty and staff leadership positions and provide reports, workforce data, trend analysis, and actionable recommendations to support leadership decision-making.

• Departmental leadership and institutional engagement (5%): Represent the department on committees, task forces,…