Assistant Director, People & Culture Generalist

Position:        Assistant Director, People & Culture Generalist 

Location:        Remote  

FLSA Status:    Exempt

Organization Overview

UNICEF USA (“UUSA” or “We”) relentlessly pursues a more equitable world for every child, upholding the rights of all children and empowering every child, everywhere. We also support the fundamental belief that children should have a voice and role in shaping their futures and the futures of their communities.

Over eight decades, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has built an unprecedented global support system for the world’s children, and has boldly taken on the biggest, seemingly impossible challenges facing children. UNICEF relentlessly works day in and day out to deliver the essentials that give every child an equitable chance in life: health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more. UNICEF USA advances the global mission of UNICEF by rallying the American public to support the world’s most vulnerable children.

We know that sustainable change is attainable, but it can’t be achieved alone. It takes a committed team – individuals, governments, corporations, volunteers and staff – who demonstrate a relentless commitment to working tirelessly, day in and day out in some of the toughest, hardest to reach places. Big problems need big solutions, and we harness our collective, global voice and energy to do more good, in more places for children.  We will never stop supporting UNICEF to develop smarter, more cost-effective solutions; scaling up proven, data-driven programs; and harnessing new technologies to create measurable change for children.

UUSA is organized under the laws of New York State as a not-for-profit corporation. As such, UUSA is a tax-exempt organization as defined under Section 501C(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is governed by an independent, non-salaried Board of Directors.

Position Description

The Assistant Director, People & Culture Generalist performs a wide variety of tasks in the service areas of People & Culture, including Employee Relations, Employee Engagement, Compensation, P&C/Operations & UUSA Internal Communications, and Backup Recruitment Coordination.

Position Responsibilities:

Compensation (30%)

•    Serve as the P&C focal point for all compensation requests including new hire offers, promotions, movement-in-range adjustments, and transfers, reviewing and approving against UUSA's salary structure and established guidelines.

•    Administer the annual compensation cycle logistics, partnering with Finance and P&C leadership.

•    Maintain and apply UUSA's salary structure and bands; conduct routine market data review and benchmarking to keep guidelines current.

•    Prepare and route letters for promotions, salary increases, and transfers, ensuring role-change tickets are submitted and processed in a timely manner.

•    Partner with the Assistant Director, P&C Operations to ensure job descriptions remain up to date and aligned with UUSA's salary structure as roles evolve.

Employee Relations (30%)

•    Serve as the primary point of contact for day-to-day employee relations matters including workplace concerns, conflict resolution, and policy interpretation.

•    Lead resolution and documentation of employee relations matters, escalating to P&C leadership and partnering with Legal as needed.

•    Escalate to P&C leadership any matter involving significant legal or reputational risk.

•    Maintain accurate, confidential documentation of employee relations matters, identifying trends or systemic issues and recommending solutions to P&C leadership.

•    Advise managers on performance management and disciplinary action in partnership with P&C leadership.

P&C/Operations & UUSA Internal Communications (20%)

•    Lead P&C and Operations internal communications: policy updates, benefits reminders, and organization-wide announcements.

•    Serve as P&C's representative and oversight lead for UUSA's organization-wide Internal Communications Committee, coordinating divisional channels via Slack, managing a cross-departmental communications calendar, and ensuring consistency, accuracy, and appropriate cadence of internal messaging across the organization.

•    Partner with Marketing & Communications to ensure P&C and organization-wide internal messaging aligns with UUSA's brand voice, identity, and broader external communications where relevant.

•    Maintain P&C content on internal platforms and ensure information stays current.

•    Manage a rolling calendar of P&C internal messaging, including policy updates, benefits reminders, announcements, and heritage months and other recognition/observance dates, to sequence communications appropriately.

•    Support change management through internal communications, applying an ADKAR approach and ensuring messaging is clear and consistent across changes.

Employee Engagement (15%)

•    Lead execution of employee engagement strategy: surveys, recognition programs, and engagement programming including Intentional Engagement Days and P&C led enterprise-wide events.

•    Partner with leadership to translate engagement survey data into concrete, actionable follow-up.

•    Lead culture-building initiatives and organization-wide events in partnership with cross-functional teams, including but not limited to virtual, themed, and/or location-specific events, and supporting organization-wide retreat planning. 

Backup Recruitment Coordination (5%)

•    Serve as secondary back-up across the recruitment communication cadence during peak hiring periods or absence of the Assistant Director, P&C Operations.

•    Maintain working familiarity with recruitment systems and workflows sufficient to step in without disruption to the candidate experience.

Qualifications:

•    Bachelor's degree required; relevant HR certification (e.g., SHRM-CP/SCP, PHR/SPHR) preferred.

•    6–8 years of progressive People & Culture/Human Resources experience, including employee relations, compensation administration, and internal communications.

•    Demonstrated experience administering compensation programs and evaluating compensation requests against established salary structures and guidelines.

•    Experience leading or contributing to organization-wide committee work, with the ability to influence and coordinate across departments without direct authority.

•    Strong written communication skills, including experience drafting clear, organization-wide internal communications; familiarity with change management frameworks (e.g., ADKAR) a plus.

•    Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential and sensitive employee relations matters.

•    A collaborative, relationship-oriented approach consistent with P&C's reputation for employee-centered support.