As our Director of Workplace Culture and Relations, you will lead the strategic vision for employee relations, organizational effectiveness, workforce development, and talent management across the University of Alaska system.

This is a high-impact leadership role where you will partner closely with executive leadership, campus HR teams, and Labor Relations to strengthen workplace culture, enhance employee engagement, and support a thriving workforce across our geographically dispersed institution.

As a trusted advisor, you will help shape workforce strategies that align with the university's mission of education, research, and service. From leading complex employee relations matters and organizational change initiatives to advancing leadership development and succession planning, your work will directly influence the employee experience and long-term success of the university.

Whether you are mentoring HR professionals, guiding leaders through workforce challenges, or driving systemwide initiatives, you will play a key role in fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

The Director of Workplace Culture and Relations provides strategic leadership and oversight for employee relations, workforce development, organizational effectiveness, talent management, and employee engagement initiatives across the University of Alaska system. The position partners closely with the Labor Relations director, executive leadership, campus HR teams, and university stakeholders to support institution-wide workforce strategies that align with organizational goals.

The Director ensures alignment between recruitment, onboarding, workforce planning, employee development, and retention efforts. This role provides strategic oversight and leadership to ensure talent initiatives support long-term workforce needs.

Operating with a high degree of independent judgment, the Director serves as a subject matter expert in the intersection of employment law, workplace culture, employee development, conflict resolution, and organizational risk management. They serve as the organization's lead advisor on maintaining productive employee-employer relationships while promoting compliance, sound employment practices, and positive organizational outcomes. The position leads HR professionals and drives initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, workforce capability, organizational effectiveness, and compliance across a multi-campus, unionized, and geographically dispersed institution.

As a trusted advisor to executive leadership, the Director helps shape workforce strategies that support the university's mission of education, research, and service while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Minimum Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or related field or 8-10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including:
• Employee relations leadership
• Talent acquisition oversight
• Workforce development strategy
• Demonstrated experience managing managers and leading functional HR teams.
• Strong knowledge of employment law, labor relations, and HR best practices.
• In person required - Fairbanks or Anchorage

Position Details:

This position is located at the University of Alaska system office in Fairbanks, AK or Anchorage, AK. This is a full-time, exempt Senior Administrator position with both a competitive salary and a full employee benefits package . UA provides a generous compensation package that includes retirement options, annual leave, 12 paid holidays per year, tuition waivers for employees and family members, and affordable medical, dental, and vision care coverage. Compensation is commensurate with the experience required for the job.

Please submit a cover letter, resume, professional writing sample, and three (3) professional references.

We review applications on a rolling basis. Because we may close the posting once a sufficient pool of qualified candidates is established, we encourage early submission. Please note that once a viable pool is identified, further applications may not be reviewed.

To view the full list of job responsibilities, please click HERE .

If you have any questions regarding this position, please contact Sarah Randazzo, Signers' Business Office HR Coordinator, at [email protected].