Director HR

Eden Prairie Office, 7078 Shady Oak Road, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States of America ● Midlothian Facility, 4126 Power Way, Midlothian, Texas, United States of America Req #1926

Thursday, November 14, 2024

SunOpta Overview:

SunOpta (Nasdaq:STKL) (TSX:SOY) is an innovative and sustainable manufacturer fueling the future of food. With roots tracing back over 50 years, SunOpta drives growth for today’s leading brands by serving as a trusted innovation partner and value-added manufacturer, crafting organic, plant-based beverages, fruit snacks, nutritional beverages, broths and tea products sold through retail, club, foodservice and e-commerce channels. Alongside the company’s commitment to top brands, retailers and coffee shops, SunOpta also proudly produces its own brands, including SOWN, Dream, and West Life. For more information, visit SunOpta and LinkedIn.

SunOpta is looking for talented individuals that demonstrate our most valued behaviors: Passion, Dedication, Speed, Entrepreneurship, Customer-Centricity, and Problem-Solver, to help create a brighter, healthier, and sustainable future of food

Job Summary:

SunOpta is seeking a seasoned HR Director to be the dedicated business partner to our VP Manufacturing and to lead our Plant HR Manager team.

They will be responsible for:

• All HR strategies for manufacturing operations (design and execution)
• Thought / business-partnership and employee relations & manager development for the manufacturing operations organization.
• People leadership over all plant HR Managers/Sr HRMs (6) & their HR Assistants / Plant Admin Assistants (5).

Essential Functions of the Job:

Business Partnering -

• Contribute to and implement HR (aka Org Effectiveness, Talent & Culture) strategy for assigned clients to achieve business objectives and drive employee engagement.
• Coach and guide managers / leadership to increase their effectiveness as leaders, providing direct, transparent, and timely feedback and coaching.
• Provide insights and trends to leadership as well as solutions and strategy ideas to solve problems.
• Ensure execution of / personally facilitate talent / team development sessions, performance calibrations, talent reviews, compensation review, employee relations, and talent acquisition support / onboarding for key roles.
• Inspire, demonstrate, and teach strategic HR business partnering capabilities.
• Coach and guide HR Managers to increase their effectiveness including providing direct, transparent, and timely feedback, set goals, team meetings, best practice sharing, program/process completion tracking, etc.
• Ensures each plant has a documented “Org, Talent & Culture” plan-on-a-page / strategy for the year that syncs up to overall Ops leadership & HR priorities and ensures the plans are progressed throughout the year through the HR and plant leadership teams.
• Actively participate in plant Quarterly Business Reviews with C-suite leadership.
• Travels to and builds personal relationships with plant regularly and headquarters teams.
• Review line staffing, staffing costs to budget, turnover, time-to-fill, org health (engagement) survey, focus groups, safety, etc. data for trends and offers insights & coaching to leadership / HRMs for action planning as appropriate.
• Leads projects personally or through others to streamline and improve HR processes, tools, and programs & build people manager capabilities (i.e., lead People Pillar of Ops Transformation, onboarding, manager/supervisor training, career pathing, performance process, talent review, Roles, Accountabilities & Measures, Role Profiles, etc.)
• Ensures organizational effectiveness through ongoing organizational design, analysis and implementation, and change management consulting/leadership.
• Drive the people strategy & change leadership on significant organizational changes that include transformations, reorganizations, downsizings, acquisitions, factory moves, and start-ups.
• Develop and coordinate all aspects of communication relating to change initiatives.
• Partner with HR Centers of Expertise in learning & development, OD, talent management to facilitate and/or ensure execution locally of programming (i.e., may lead/co-lead team effectiveness and/or manager/supervisor trainings at some plants).

Employee Relations & Safety -

• Stay current in general recent federal, state and case law changes and monitors labor law updates / changes that affect HR.
• Ensures effective safety procedures, tools and record keeping are managed through site leadership.
• Adheres to company GMP’s (good manufacturing practices), safety procedures and all other quality processes.
• Leads / ensures call-in line investigations are conducted.
• Assist with communication and interpretation of HR policies and procedures.
• Other duties, as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• People leadership over all plant HR Managers/Sr HRMs (6) & their HR Assistants / Plant Admin Assistants (5).

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, HR or related major required.
• Minimum ten (10) years' experience gained through increasingly responsible management positions within Human Resources, with direct experience in multi-cultural environment.
• Experience in a multi-location, manufacturing / distribution center environment. Experience coaching and mentoring others, influencing without authority.
• One or more of the following project or process leadership experience: Talent Management / Learning / Change / Org Design / Team Development.
• People leadership experience.
• Experience facilitating leadership discussions and / or training programs.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA and/or other HR certifications.
• Proficient in Microsoft Suite and payroll / HRIS systems.
• Food and Beverage or other regulated industry manufacturing environment experience.
• Remote people leadership experience.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Combination of Generalist/HR Business Partner & HR Specialist / HR project leadership experiences.
• Broad knowledge of employment law, compensation, organizational & talent planning, employee relations, performance management, and training & development.
• Experience working in a culturally and geographically dispersed organization, managing employees remotely.
• Strong interpersonal and business partnering skills along with project management and program design skills; effective partnering with stakeholders to achieve success in attracting, developing, measuring, and retaining the best talent.
• Experience effectively creating & leading HR initiatives & strategies that drove business & employee engagement & retention results.
• Courageous, creative, scrappy problem solver that leads with strong listening skills, seeks to be a consultative partner and is solutions oriented.
• Strong investigations / employee relations experience; high level of personal integrity.
• Ability to work well under pressure and flexible in adapting and responding to changing situations.
• Highly accountable & customer centric.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - ability to present, train, influence, and build consensus / alignment, up and down levels of the organization.
• Experience with hourly employee base (non-union).
• Proactive problem solver, knowledge of Lean Six Sigma, Value Stream Mapping or Agile methodologies preferred.

Additional Considerations:

• Travel Expectation: Up to 25%.
• This role is located in Eden Prairie, MN or our Midlothian, TX facility.

Work Environment/Physical Demands:

Approximately; 90% of the work is performed in an office environment. 10% of work involves being in the manufacturing environment.

Work location: For Eden Prairie office- Hybrid, onsite at office Tue-Th, “SunFlex” benefit offered to WFH M & F; occasional flexibility required for investigations support.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time, with or without notice.