Director of Human Resources

The City of Syracuse seeks a Director of Human Resources to lead the Office of Human Resources and Labor Relations in support of a large, unionized, public-sector workforce. This role calls for a public-sector HR leader who can strengthen day-to-day operations, support effective labor and employee relations, enhance service delivery to departments and employees, advance process modernization, and guide a consistent, compliant, and responsive HR function within the realities of city government, civil service rules, and shared decision-making.

The Director will oversee the City's personnel, labor, hiring, benefits, leave, and employee-relations functions with a focus on operational reliability, legal and contractual compliance, responsiveness, staff development, and implementation of improved systems and controls. The position requires a leader who can succeed through judgment, partnership, and influence, while establishing clear expectations, strong follow-through, and better accountability across the HR function and its stakeholders.

• Provides leadership and oversight for personnel administration, labor relations, recruiting, onboarding, benefits administration, leave administration, investigations, safety, workers' compensation, policy implementation, and related HR compliance functions for the City.
• Strengthens core HR operations by improving process controls, promoting timely and consistent service delivery, and ensuring transactional work is accurate, timely, and well documented.
• Oversees the City's labor and employee-relations functions in a heavily unionized environment, including grievance administration, discipline, investigations, contract interpretation, bargaining support, and coordination with legal counsel and City leadership.
• Provides practical guidance to supervisors and departments regarding policy application, leave and accommodation issues, investigations, and other people-management matters, ensuring guidance is consistent, timely, and aligned with legal and contractual obligations.
• Oversees the City's recruiting and civil-service-related processes, including coordination with departments, hiring workflows, candidate communication, appropriate use of panels and structured processes, and navigation of title, classification, and County civil service requirements.
• Builds and maintains service-oriented relationships with City departments while ensuring appropriate controls, consistent standards, and sound judgment in matters involving exceptions, escalation, and political pressures.
• Leads staff development and accountability within HR through role clarity, supervision, cross-training, documented procedures, and the conversion of institutional knowledge into durable workflows, guides, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Provides leadership in HRIS and applicant tracking system (ATS) modernization and process redesign.
• Uses metrics, dashboards, and workflow data to improve decision-making, monitor risk, measure service performance, and identify opportunities for operational improvement.

• Strong knowledge of municipal or public-sector human resources administration, including civil service issues, public-sector hiring constraints, employee and labor relations, leave and accommodation administration, benefits administration, and policy implementation in a unionized environment.
• Working knowledge of HR operational controls, process documentation, investigations, compliance risk management, and the implementation or improvement of HR technology systems.
• Excellent judgment, communication, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to respond clearly and effectively to departments, employees, and other…