Senior Director of People & Talent - People & Talent, Level 5

About Good Roots

Good Roots is a remote team of accountants, consultants, and marketers working exclusively in food and agriculture. We're people who grew up in agriculture, who have run businesses, who speak the language and understand the stakes. Today, that's 35+ consultants across the country bringing over 300 years of combined experience to more than 700 farmers and food entrepreneurs.

We come from different places, farms and ranches, finance and tech, marketing agencies, university extension offices, farmers' markets — but we operate with a single focus: building a better food system for the people, animals, and the earth it depends on.

The work is practical and hands-on. We sit inside our clients' numbers, their marketing funnels, and their operational decisions. We tell the truth even when it's hard. We roll up our sleeves, and we don't disappear when things get complicated. Our team makes an impact to our clients every day, they live our mission through delivering meaningful work.

Position Summary

The Sr. Director of People & Talent leads the People function for Good Roots, a fully remote organization with team members across multiple U.S. states. As the sole dedicated HR professional and a member of the leadership team, this role combines enterprise-minded people strategy with hands-on ownership of every aspect of human resources. The Sr. Director partners with executive leaders to strengthen organizational effectiveness, develop and retain talent, manage employment risk, and build scalable people systems that support business goals and Good Roots’ mission. Success requires independent judgment, discretion, practical execution, and the ability to move fluidly between strategic counsel and day-to-day employee support.

Hiring Timeline & Process (Dates May Be Subject to Fluctuate Slightly)

• Application Screening: Now – November 13th
• First Round Interviews: November 16 – November 27
• Final Interviews: November 30– December 11
• Target Start Date: January 4

Key Responsibilities

• People strategy and executive partnership — Own and execute an integrated people strategy aligned with business priorities, workforce capacity, organizational design, culture, and sustainable growth; serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and leadership team on sensitive people decisions and organizational risk.
• Full-cycle HR operations — Independently administer all day-to-day HR activities, including employee inquiries, policy interpretation, onboarding, offboarding, personnel records, HR documentation, employment changes, and coordination with external service providers; ensure reliable service without a dedicated HR team.
• Multistate employment compliance and risk — Maintain practical compliance programs across employee work locations, including wage-and-hour classification, leave and paid-sick-time requirements, required notices, I-9 administration, recordkeeping, accommodations, investigations, and separation practices; coordinate with legal counsel and specialists when needed.
• Talent acquisition and workforce planning — Partner with managers on headcount and capability needs; direct sourcing and hiring workflows, selection processes, offer approvals, background checks, new-hire integration, and contractor/employee classification considerations.
• Performance, accountability and employee relations — Own performance management practices, coaching resources, corrective action, documentation, investigations, conflict resolution, and fair, timely handling of employee concerns; guide leaders through difficult conversations and defensible decisions.
• Compensation, benefits and total rewards — Maintain job architecture and leveling, salary practices, pay equity reviews, incentive and recognition programs, benefits administration, open enrollment, leave coordination, and vendor relationships; partner with Finance/payroll on accurate processing and regulatory obligations.
• Learning, leadership and succession — Identify organizational capability gaps, deliver practical manager enablement and leadership development, facilitate talent reviews and succession planning appropriate to the organization’s scale, and strengthen career development and internal mobility.
• Culture, engagement and remote employee experience — Advance values-based decisions, psychological safety, inclusion, belonging, feedback, and connection across a dispersed workforce; translate engagement findings into action and lead change communications and adoption.
• People systems, analytics and operational improvement — Own HRIS and related tools, workflow design, data quality, reporting and privacy controls; track meaningful metrics such as retention, hiring, engagement, performance-cycle completion and compliance; simplify and automate processes where practical.
• Governance, budgeting and delivery — Set annual people priorities, manage HR vendors and the function’s budget, maintain employee handbook and employment templates, oversee audit/readiness activities, and deliver agreed initiatives on time with clear stakeholder communication and measurable outcomes.

Required Qualifications

• Substantial progressive HR experience with demonstrated ownership of broad generalist and strategic responsibilities, including senior-level advice to executives and direct delivery of HR operations.
• Demonstrated experience independently managing employee relations, compensation, benefits, recruiting, performance, compliance, HR systems, and policy administration.
• Working knowledge of U.S. federal and multistate employment requirements, with the judgment to identify issues requiring qualified employment counsel or specialized expertise.
• Ability to develop people strategy while executing detail-intensive daily work, prioritize competing needs, manage confidential matters, and exercise sound independent judgment.
• Strong written and verbal communication, coaching, influence, stakeholder management, data analysis, and change-management skills.
• Proficiency with HRIS, payroll/benefits platforms, spreadsheets and collaborative digital tools; ability to maintain reliable employee data and processes. Good Roots utilizes the Rippling HRIS platform.
• Ability to work effectively in a fully remote, distributed team environment.
• Authorization to work in the United States.

Preferred Experience

• Experience as the sole HR leader or in a lean, scaling professional-services or consulting organization.
• Experience operating and leading within an EOS environment.
• Experience supporting employees across numerous U.S. states, including distributed-workforce policy, leave, and wage-and-hour complexity.
• SPHR, SHRM-SCP, or other relevant advanced HR credential; change management or leadership-coaching credentials.
• Experience designing job levels, competency frameworks, succession programs, and modern people analytics.

Core Competencies

• Communication & Collaboration — Communicates with credibility and influence at the leadership table; translates complex people matters into clear recommendations and aligns stakeholders across functions and locations.
• Relationship Management — Builds trusted strategic relationships with the CEO, leaders, employees, and outside partners; handles challenging matters with responsiveness, diplomacy, and clear expectations.
• Leadership & Influence — Leads the People function with significant autonomy; shapes people strategy, influences enterprise decisions, coaches managers, and sponsors organization-wide change without relying on direct reports.
• Culture & Integrity — Helps set the organization’s cultural tone; embeds values, ethics, fairness, inclusion, and confidentiality in employment policies, decisions, and daily leadership behaviors.
• Business Acumen — Owns the People function’s resources and spending; understands business performance and workforce tradeoffs, partners with the CEO on planning, and anticipates organizational risks and opportunities.
• Functional Expertise — Serves as the senior HR subject-matter expert across the employee lifecycle; builds fit-for-purpose programs, scalable infrastructure, and manager capability.
• Delivery & Execution — Is accountable for function-wide quality, operational reliability, compliance follow-through, and timely completion of strategic initiatives while personally executing core HR work.
• Critical Evaluation — Leads complex people-related problem-solving using relevant evidence, data, legal risk assessment, and sound judgment; introduces improvements and ensures their adoption.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements
This is a fully remote position, with some business-related travel. You can work from your home office within an authorized location within the United States. We rely on digital tools like Slack, Zoom and Google Workplace to stay connected. You will collaborate with team members through daily video calls, instant messaging and shared documents. We offer flexible schedules, allowing you to manage your hours effectively while meeting project deadlines and scheduled team/project/client meetings.You are responsible for maintaining a quiet, distraction-free workspace with a reliable, high-speed internet connection.

This role is primarily sedentary. You will spend long periods sitting or standing at a desk while using a computer, keyboard, and mouse. You will regularly view a computer monitor for extended periods and participate in frequent video and audio calls. The job requires repetitive hand movements and finger dexterity for typing, data entry, and navigating software applications. Clear verbal and written communication skills are required to interact effectively with team members and clients through digital channels.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation is fixed and tied directly to a pay tier and level (see compensation framework for full transparency)
• Flexible scheduling, all work is remote
• Health, Vision, and Dental
• Paid Parental Leave (eligible after 1 year of full-time employment)
• 401K with company match
• Paid Time Off (PTO) of 208 hours inclusive of floating/flexible holidays
• Paid Winter Break equivalent of 32 hours
• Time and expenses covered for professional development
• Short Term Disability
• Monthly stipend for office expenses
• Employee ownership after 4,000 hours worked.
  
  
  

Good Roots has an internal pay structure based on role, skills and experience to provide for equity amongst all employees. We do not negotiate salaries outside what is listed.  There is opportunity for increases to pay based on merit and/or career advancement through promotion.