Who We Are
Horizon Media, founded in 1989 by Bill Koenigsberg, is recognized as one of the most innovative marketing and advertising firms. We are headquartered in New York City, with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. A leader in driving business solutions for marketers, Horizon is known for its highly personal approach to client service. Renowned for its incredible culture, Horizon is consistently named to all the prestigious annual Best Places to Work lists published by Fortune, AdAge, Crain’s New York Business and Los Angeles Business Journal. Together we are building an agency of belonging.
At Horizon, we understand the value that different perspectives can bring to our clients and culture, so we strive for an environment where our employees feel welcomed, safe, and empowered. We value YOU and believe that your authentic voice and unique perspective allows us to create a more rewarding culture, and experience, together.
Our simple recipe for success? We hire talented people (thinkers, doers, dreamers, makers), challenge them and give them every opportunity to grow.
Job Summary
Our approach to DEI is guided by the creation of Horizon’s Marketing & Equity function – led by the industry’s first Chief Marketing & Equity Officer, Latraviette Smith-Wilson; and is supported by a team of dedicated DEI practitioners. As we continue our Agency of Belonging journey, we have shifted DEI out of HR as a primary talent and culture function and placed it under Marketing as an enterprise-wide business function — one that helps drive innovation, client solutions, product development and more. We have expanded Horizon’s DEI focus beyond traditional talent and cultural programs to create a new model designed to embed DEI into our full business operations. This fundamental refocus is more than an initiative. It is the way we approach our business and culture – as we believe DEI must be done, positioned, and implemented differently to realize its greatest potential.
The Director of DEI and Belonging will play a key role in supporting Horizon’s DEI efforts. The person in this role will develop initiatives, policies, strategies, programs/events, processes, and partnerships intended to cultivate a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community for our employees, clients, vendors and other business relationships. The Director will partner with Marketing & Equity team leadership, DEI team members, consultants, HR leadership, business stakeholders, and Employee Impact Group leads to ensure that DEI programming and initiatives support the needs of the business and employees alike.
What You’ll Do
Strategic Leadership (30%):
- Organizational DEI Engagement
- Partner with DEI executive leadership to identify and track annual DEI goals and identify ongoing DEI needs
- Support DEI executive leadership with annual DEI budget development and management
- Track and leverage Horizon’s suite of data resources (i.e.: employee self-ID data, survey data, program impact data, etc.) to monitor and evaluate the impact of Horizon’s DEI programs.
- Identify opportunities for program, process and policy growth and communicate insights & recommendations for program enhancement and improvement as needed to DEI executive leadership
- Craft internal and external DEI communications to support the organization’s DEI efforts including, but not limited to: internal communications (i.e.: intranet communications, organization-wide emails, etc.), internal-facing DEI content (i.e.: DEI newsletters & guides, heritage month content, etc.), external-facing DEI content (i.e.: social media content, awards and new business submissions, etc.)
- Craft presentation materials for DEI strategic recommendations
- DEI “Embed” Work – Business Integration Focus
- Partner with DEI and business executive leadership to identify and track business specific DEI goals
- Partner with DEI and business executive leadership to craft custom plans/recommendations to impact business specific DEI needs
- DEI “Embed” Work – HR Partnership Focus
- Partner with DEI and HR leadership to identify and track enterprise-wide DEI goals
- Partner with DEI and HR leadership to craft custom plans/recommendations to impact enterprise-wide policy, practice and program needs
- Serve as the primary strategic lead for Horizon’s enterprise-wide mentorship and sponsorship program, managing up to DEI executive leadership and supported by broader DEI team members. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Lead mentorship and sponsorship cohort enrollment and engagement
- Develop strategies for engaging networking, connection, and learning & development opportunities within the platform
- Track engagement and adoption, iterating as needed to ensure resonance with broader organization needs and goals
- Manage ongoing relationship with platform partners
- Employee Impact Group (EIG) Management
- Serve as the primary strategic lead for the Employee Impact Group portion of Horizon’s DEI ecosystem, managing up to DEI executive leadership and supported by broader DEI team members. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Serve as a point person for EIGs to build engagement and ensure consistency across all groups (i.e.: operating practices, branding, messaging, event activation, etc.)
- Attend individual core meetings at least once per quarter
- Support and coach EIG core members to help them scale, grow and align with Horizon’s DEI strategy
- Identify opportunities for EIG member engagement, reward, and incentives (i.e.: learning & development, conferences, programming, etc.)
- Identify internal and external resources to support EIG’s in achieving their purpose (i.e.: internal team support, core team recruitment, event ideation and development, etc.)
- Facilitate bi-monthly EIG leadership meetings; encourage and support cross-team collaboration and programming development
Project Management (30%):
- Coach and manage direct reports on day-to-day needs, project management, deliverables and timelines
- Ensure timely initiation and completion of all project management needs including heritage month programming, cultural and program engagement and communications
- Support DEI executive leadership with day-to-day management of cross-functional DEI project teams
- Collaborate with DEI team members to plan and manage monthly agency facing DEI programs, delegating where needed
- Support DEI executive leadership with establishing and maintaining an internal audit and reporting system to allow for effective measurement of programs
Relationship Management (30%):
- Coach and manage direct reports on day-to-day needs, learning & development and career growth
- Provide counsel to employees in groups or individually on DEI related matters, elevating trends to DEI executive team to inform DEI approach
- Build and maintain productive relationships with both internal and external stakeholders to advance and support Horizon’s DEI strategy, programs and initiatives including collaboration with the following internal departments/teams to identify:
- Talent Acquisition to intentionally focus on hiring diverse talent at all levels, maintain and grow equitable sourcing practices
- Learning and Development to implement educational strategy throughout the agency, helping employees contribute to Horizon’s Agency of Belonging culture, and maintain legal compliance
- HRBP’s to ensure all employees have equitable access to professional development, advancement and opportunities leading to improved retention of diverse talent, and equitable performance & Employee Relations support
- Branding and communication to ensure visibility of our diversity efforts and that all aspects of internal and external facing communications are filtered through a DEI lens
- Events team to ensure smooth execution of all internal DEI programming and engagement
- HR Operations for reporting and analysis of key metrics
- Benefits to ensure programs and policies accommodate a diverse workforce and their progressive needs
- Business leaders to ensure close partnership on DEI Embed/Business Integration initiatives
- Meet, evaluate, and recommend external partners that support the growth of Horizon’s DEI strategy
Learning & Development (10%):
- Advance knowledge and stay abreast of DEI trends, developments, and best practices through partnerships with professional associations and diversity focused organizations
- Research and monitor diversity best practices and make appropriate recommendations to support the evolution of Horizon’s DEI practices
- Participate in internal and external development opportunities (i.e.: DEI specific trainings, conferences, professional development skills, and more) to continue expanding knowledge across subject matter areas and steward ongoing skill development and career growth
- Participate in DEI and HR team meetings, sharing learnings and iterating on processes accordingly
Who You Are
You are self-motivated, deeply passionate about DEI, have strong project management skills, and can collaborate with employees, departments, leadership teams, and third parties as needed. You have experience developing, implementing, tracking and iterating DEI programs and strategies that can evolve as the demands of the organization shift. You inspire organizational change and can communicate a clear vision. You are a practitioner committed to motivating stakeholders to carry out a bold idea, but also comfortable rolling up your sleeves to bring ideas to life. You are an analytical thinker with the ability to distill and convey information in a captivating and influential way. You are not afraid to challenge status quo.
Preferred Skills & Experience
6+ years of DEI, HR Generalist or HR BP experience with a focus on employee support and organizational change Demonstrated ability to quickly establish rapport, build credibility and create partnerships at all levels internally and externally Excited to challenge the status quo and bring to life a non-traditional DEI practice, rooted in business impact
Proven experience translating vision into strategy and strategy into tactics, delivering against the plan Excellent written and verbal communication skills; including public speaking
Experience leveraging data and analytics to develop insights and drive decision-making Strong project management skills, and ability to operationalize and scale programs with multiple stakeholders Ability to manage competing priorities and ambiguity Attention to detail and a highly organized, process-focused aptitude Proactive in providing solutions and resolving issues Ability to motivate, influence and coach senior leadership, stakeholders, and peer groups Ability to support and develop junior level direct reportsCertificates, Licenses and Registrations
N/A
Physical Activity and Work Environment
N/A
The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.