Associate Director, Employee RelationsTexas Oncology | Remote (Dallas/Fort Worth area preferred) About the Role You'll step into an established, high-functioning Employee Relations team. As Associate Director, you'll provide senior-level oversight of ER strategy, own escalations for the most complex and sensitive matters, and serve as a trusted, strategic advisor to Legal and senior HR leadership on organizational risk. You'll lead a team of 5-6 ER professionals and supervisors shaping how the business understands and responds to risk.
Responsibilities What You'll Do - Lead Employee Relations projects and cross-functional initiatives from planning through implementation, driving stakeholder alignment, timely execution, and sustainable outcomes, while developing and maintaining the ER policies and procedures that guide the organization.
- Own the organization's ER risk and compliance posture, evaluating exposure across cases and regions, advising leadership on risk appetite, and ensuring decisions are executed in ways that are legal, compliant, and appropriately risk-aware rather than risk-averse.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to senior business and HR leaders on ER risk, workplace conduct, and the people implications of organizational change, including restructuring and workforce reductions, ensuring fair and compliant execution.
- Own the primary point of escalation for complex, sensitive, or high-risk ER matters, researching and resolving employee concerns and grievances, and partnering with Legal, Compliance, Leave, and Security as needed.
- Ensure ER practices, investigations, and employment actions align with company policy and employment law, maintaining investigation standards, playbooks, and confidential documentation that support audit readiness and defensible decisions.
- Analyze ER case data and workforce trends to surface patterns, then translate those insights into prevention strategies, leader education, policy enhancements, and smarter resource allocation, while establishing the metrics and quality standards used to track risk and consistency.
- Build ER capability across HR and leadership through coaching on investigations, performance management, corrective action, and respectful workplace practices.
- Lead, develop, and support a team of 5-6 ER professionals, fully accountable for hiring, performance management, and engagement, while translating organizational strategy into clear team goals.
Qualifications What You'll Bring Required - 7+ years of professional HR experience, including 2+ years in a supervisory or management role.
- A strong risk and compliance background, including prior experience in HR with a focus on compliance, risk, and/or employee relations.
- Progressive employee relations experience, including leading complex, sensitive workplace investigations.
- Strong working knowledge of federal, state, and local employment law and its practical application to ER matters.
- Sound judgment and discretion in handling highly confidential information.
Preferred - Healthcare industry experience strongly preferred.
- Experience operating in a matrixed organization, with the ability to build credibility and hit the ground running.
- Professional HR certification (SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR) or an ER/investigations certification.
- Experience using ER case management systems and translating case data into program improvements.
Why Join Us - Lead at scale: Influence employee relations strategy across a large, complex healthcare organization with a broad footprint and diverse workforce.
- Make an impact: Take on highly visible work spanning employee relations, compliance, organizational risk, complex investigations, and emerging workforce trends.
- Cross-Functional Partnerships: Partner closely with Legal, HR leadership, and business leaders to advise on complex employee matters and help shape proactive solutions.
- Build on a strong foundation: Join an experienced ER team where you can focus on elevating strategy, identifying trends, and mitigating risk rather than rebuilding the function.
- Connect your work to a meaningful mission: Support a physician-led organization focused on delivering high-quality cancer care to communities across Texas.
