Job Posting Title:Director of Human Resources, College of Natural Sciences
----Hiring Department:College of Natural Sciences
----Position Open To:All Applicants
----Weekly Scheduled Hours:40
----FLSA Status:Exempt from FLSA
----Earliest Start Date:Sep 01, 2026
----Position Duration:Expected to Continue
----Location:UT MAIN CAMPUS
----Job Details:General NotesPurposeThe Human Resources Director provides strategic and operational leadership for all HR functions across the College of Natural Sciences (CNS). This role directs the full employee lifecycle for academic research staff, classified/administrative staff, and student employees; unifies a decentralized HR community around consistent workflows and best practices; and serves as a trusted advisor to the Dean and college leadership on complex employment matters. The ideal candidate brings both strategic vision and hands-on HR expertise gained in a large, complex, higher education or research environment.
Leadership Expectations:
- Lead through influence in a highly decentralized environment
- Build strong relationships across university constituencies
- Balance strategic thinking with operational execution
- Foster collaboration across teams while creating shared accountability for results
- Navigate complexity with sound judgment, transparency, and resilience
Responsibilities- Strategic HR leadership and workforce planning: Partner with CNS leadership to develop and implement workforce strategies, organizational structures, talent management initiatives, and governance practices aligned with college and departmental priorities.
- HR governance and compliance: Lead departmental implementation of institutional workforce policies, regulatory changes, and human resources initiatives. Ensure departmental practices comply with federal and state requirements, and University policies.
- Operational excellence and HR technology: Identify operational gaps and inefficiencies; standardize and improve HR processes, and support technology enhancements that strengthen accuracy, efficiency, and employee experience. Use workforce data, HR metrics, and trend analysis to inform leadership decisions, and evaluate the effectiveness of HR programs and practices. Employee relations and organizational effectiveness: Provide senior-level guidance on complex and high-risk employment matters in collaboration with central administration offices. Advise leaders on performance management, organizational restructuring, retention, and organizational effectiveness.
- College leadership and institutional engagement: Represent the college on committees, task forces, and leadership forums, and build productive partnerships with central offices and HR colleagues across the institution.
- Team leadership and supervision: Directly supervise a team of HR professional staff. Establish performance expectations, provide coaching and professional development, manage performance, and ensure accountability for accurate, responsive, and service-oriented HR operations.
Required Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field, and ten (10) years of progressively responsible human resources experience; or a Master's degree and six (6) or more years of equivalent experience.
- Demonstrated experience leading HR operations in a large, complex organization, with a track record of managing the full employee lifecycle across multiple employee types.
- Demonstrated experience leading large-scale organizational design and change initiatives in a complex, multi-departmental institution, including restructuring, workforce and organizational planning, and organizational effectiveness assessments.
- Supervisory or team leadership experience, including coaching and developing HR staff.
- Comprehensive knowledge of employment law and HR compliance relevant to higher education.
- Strong consultative, coaching, and conflict-resolution skills, with the ability to advise leadership on sensitive and escalated matters.
- Demonstrated ability to interpret complex policies, regulations, and organizational requirements and assess their operational impact.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to build trust across a decentralized, multi-stakeholder environment.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
Preferred Qualifications- Master's degree in Human Resources, Higher Education Administration, or a related field.
- Experience in HR within a higher education institution, ideally a Tier I / R1 research university.
- Experience supporting academic and research personnel in addition to classified staff and student employees.
- SHRM-CP/SCP, PHR/SPHR, or equivalent HR certification.
- Experience leading or contributing to HR standardization efforts across a decentralized organization.
- Experience with Workday or another enterprise HR application and using HR technology to improve operational effectiveness.
- Experience in faculty affairs, including familiarity with academic personnel processes and faculty governance.
Salary Range$130,000 + depending on qualifications and experience
Work ConditionsThis position is based on the UT Austin campus.
Required Materials- Resume/CV
- 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
- Letter of interest
Importantfor applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.
Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.
Employment Eligibility:Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.
Retirement Plan Eligibility:The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.
Background Checks:A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.
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