Director, Human Resources - Manufacturing Operations

Location: Fond du Lac, WI

Workplace Category: Onsite

Travel Required: Occasional; 20%

Direct Reports: Yes

Pay Range: $132,500 - $196,000

Visa Sponsorship: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States. This position is not eligible for employment visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Relocation: Yes

Innovation is the heart of Brunswick. See how your contributions will help transform vision into reality:

Position Overview:

The Director of Human Resources, Manufacturing Operations, will lead the people and labor strategy for our Wisconsin-based manufacturing operations. Based in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, this role supports a complex, multi-plant manufacturing environment of approximately 2,200 employees and serves as a key member of the operations leadership team.

Reporting to the Senior Human Resources Director, Global Operations with a strong matrixed partnership to the Vice President of Global Manufacturing, this leader will provide executive HR counsel, operational partnership, and deep labor relations expertise across a fast-paced manufacturing environment.

This leader will have broad accountability for labor relations, employee relations, talent strategy, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, succession planning, compliance, employee experience, and HR team leadership. Labor relations expertise is a primary differentiator for this role, including depth of experience in collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance management.

This is a high-impact opportunity for an experienced HR leader who can balance strategic influence with hands-on manufacturing leadership. The successful candidate will translate business priorities into people strategies that strengthen workforce, operational performance, employee engagement, leadership capability, and labor-management effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic HR Leadership & Operations Partnership

• Translate operational priorities into people strategies that support safety, quality, productivity, engagement, retention, and business performance.
• Lead HR strategy and execution across a complex, multi-site manufacturing environment, ensuring alignment with enterprise HR priorities and site-specific operational needs.
• Provide counsel on organizational design, workforce planning, leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, succession planning, and change management.
• Use workforce data, employee insights, and operational metrics to identify trends, diagnose root causes, and recommend practical solutions that improve business outcomes.

Employee Relations and Labor Relations Leadership

• Provide guidance on complex employee relations matters, investigations, corrective action, performance management, workplace concerns, and policy interpretation.
• Ensure consistent and compliant execution of HR policies, employment practices, labor agreements, and applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.
• Support employee welfare, engagement, and retention initiatives that enhance the employee experience and improve operational continuity.
• Maintain current knowledge of labor law, employment law, collective bargaining trends, and emerging labor relations practices.
• Lead labor strategy, collective bargaining preparation, contract negotiation support, implementation planning, and ongoing collective bargaining agreement administration for unionized worksites.
• Provide expert guidance to leaders on contract interpretation, past practice, labor obligations, work rules, and consistent application of collective bargaining agreements.
• Coach plant leaders and HR team members on managing in a unionized environment, including contract administration, documentation, discipline, investigations, and dispute resolution.

Talent, Workforce Planning & Organizational Effectiveness

• Partner with operations leaders to build talent pipelines for hourly, salaried, skilled trades, supervisory, and leadership roles.
• Strengthen succession planning, leadership development, and talent review processes across the manufacturing organization.
• Support organizational design and capability-building efforts that improve speed, accountability, consistency, and operational effectiveness.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, inclusion, engagement, accountability, and high performance.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition and site leaders to improve recruitment, onboarding, retention, and workforce readiness.
• Use employee engagement insights, absenteeism trends, turnover data, and other workforce metrics to identify opportunities and develop targeted action plans.

HR Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of HR professionals supporting manufacturing operations.
• Set clear priorities, expectations, and standards for HR service delivery, business partnership, labor relations support, and employee experience.
• Build HR capability in labor relations, investigations, leader coaching, data analysis, change management, and manufacturing partnership.
• Foster a collaborative, accountable, responsive, and high-performing HR team culture.
• Ensure the HR team operates with integrity, confidentiality, sound judgment, business acumen, and credibility with leaders and employees at all levels.

Diversity of thought and experiences is fundamental when imagining the unimaginable. Certain skillsets/experiences are necessary; however, others can be developed along the way.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Labor Relations, Business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive Human Resources experience in a manufacturing, industrial, supply chain, or operations environment.
• Significant labor relations experience supporting a unionized workforce in a manufacturing or production setting.
• Demonstrated experience administering collective bargaining agreements and advising leaders on contract interpretation, grievances, investigations, discipline, and dispute resolution.
• Prior experience leading or materially supporting collective bargaining negotiations; first- or second-chair negotiation experience strongly preferred.
• Experience managing arbitration, mediation, employment charges, labor disputes, and other complex employee/labor relations matters in partnership with legal counsel.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop HR professionals.
• Strong knowledge of employment and labor law, including practical application in complex operational environments.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect people strategies to operational priorities and business outcomes.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders, build trust across a matrixed organization, and communicate effectively with executives, plant leaders, HR teams, employees, and union representatives.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, prioritization, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, multi-site manufacturing environment with competing priorities and sensitive employee/labor matters.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in Human Resources, Labor Relations, Industrial Relations, Business, Organizational Development, or related field.

• HR or labor relations certification such as SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or comparable credential.

• Experience supporting large-scale manufacturing operations, multi-site operations, or global operations.

• Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, TPM, continuous improvement, or other manufacturing operating systems.

• Bilingual English/Spanish capability.

• Experience using HR analytics, workforce metrics, HRIS platforms, and data-driven insights to support decision-making.

The hiring range for this position is $132,500 to $196,000 annually. The actual base pay offered will vary based on multiple factors including job-related knowledge/skills, relevant experience, business needs, and geographic location. Compensation decisions are dependent upon the specifics of the candidate's qualifications and the business context.

In addition to base pay, this position is eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. This position is eligible to participate in Brunswick's comprehensive and high-quality benefits offerings, including medical, dental, vision, paid vacation, 401k (up to 4% match), Health Savings Account (with company contribution), well-being program, product purchase discounts and much more. Details about our benefits can be found here.