Salary: $105,913.60 - $149,780.80 Annually
Location : 407 Grant Street, Wausau, WI
Job Type: Full-time
Job Number:
Department: Human Resources
Opening Date: 08/14/2026
Closing Date: 9/13/2026 11:59 PM Central
FLSA: Exempt

Purpose of the Position
Reporting to the Mayor, the Human Resources Director leads the strategic alignment and operational management of human resources across all City of Wausau divisions. Key areas include workforce planning, compensation, benefits, employee relations, recruitment, performance management, risk management, and training. The Director collaborates with the Mayor and City Council to address HR strategies and challenges.
The starting annual salary for this position is $105,913.60 - $126,464.00 DOQ. The regular business hours for the Human Resources Department are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

View our recruitment brochure more information about this employment opportunity with the City of Wausau:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide leadership and stewardship by actively engaging in all HR programs and services, developing a deep understanding of City operations.
2. Advise staff and City officials on HR rules, regulations, policies, and procedures. Act as a liaison to the City Council and provide staff guidance on HR matters.
3. Promote effective relations within the organization and resolve employee relations issues.
4. Oversee recruitment, talent management, workforce planning, and succession planning to ensure effective staffing levels. Oversee job description creation and review process.
5. Develop and implement city-wide HR policies, including compensation structures, performance management, benefits, and risk management programs.
6. Research, develop, recommend, and lead contract negotiation strategies. Chair negotiation sessions.
7. Administer disciplinary policies, grievance procedures, and coach management on compliance. Process grievances and participate in grievance hearings.
8. Represent the City at unemployment and worker's compensation hearings.
9. Provide comprehensive onboarding programs to integrate new employees effectively, using regular check-ins to address questions and promote engagement during their initial months.
10. Communicate with media, employees, and elected officials to ensure transparency and alignment with the City's mission and values.

Minimum Requirements
Education and Experience Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Public Administration or related field; and
• Ten (10) or more years of progressively responsible Human Resources administration experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Human Resources, Business or Public Administration
• SPHR or SHRM-SCP professional designation

A combination of education and experience that provides equivalent knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the position may be considered.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to interact effectively with City employees, elected officials, and the public.
• Ability to maintain effective and courteous working relationships with all City departments, employees, elected officials, governmental agencies, businesses, and citizens.
• Ability to provide for and encourage the creation of a positive work environment that enables others to abide by the City's Core Values.
• Advanced level of understanding all human resources functions and ability to provide department services in absence of department staff, if needed.
• Expert level of understanding of the full range of modern principle and best practices specific to human resources management. Ability to apply that understanding in strategic planning, complex problem solving, and diverse service delivery.
• Ability to expertly plan, organize, manage, and produce multiple projects that have the highest level of Citywide and/or community impact and may have changing priorities.
• Ability to produce timely, accurate, and easily understood reports, correspondence, and presentations to ensure proper communication with the intended audience.
• Ability to meet deadlines and prioritize issues, identifying which issues require immediate attention, and taking effective and appropriate action based on that determination.
• Analytic and decisive decision maker with the ability to prioritize and communicate to staff key objectives and tactics necessary to achieve organizational goals.
• Ability to modify existing policies, strategies and/or methods to meet unusual conditions within the context of existing management principles.
• Ability to prepare, analyze and categorize data and information, in order to determine consequences and to identify and select alternatives.
• Ability to decide the time, place and sequence of operations within an organizational framework, as well as the ability to oversee their execution.
• Ability to exercise the judgment, decisiveness and creativity required in situations involving the evaluation of information against sensory and/or judgmental criteria.
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach management to manage and develop high-performance teams and develop and implement program strategies.
• Unwavering commitment to the City's Core Values, ethical decision making, and providing the highest service level to the community.

Physical and Working Environment
Normal office working conditions within minimal exposure to disagreeable elements. Normal mental and visual attention is required. Light physical demands to include bending, twisting, turning, and light lifting. Limited exposure to workplace hazards.

Additional Information
IMPORTANT! All applications must completely filled out and have a Resume attached in the "Attachments" section of the application. Applications that are not complete and do not have the required attachment will not be considered.

When completing References section, include 3 professional references with current and valid email addresses. References will not be contacted unless a conditional offer of employment is extended and accepted.

ADDITIONAL POSITION INFORMATION:

• Starting annual salary $105,913.60 - $126,464.00 DOQ.
• Department Directors accrue vacation as a 5th year anniversary employee upon initial appointment (20 days annually, 6.1540 hours bi-weekly accrual) and are allowed to accumulate vacation time up to a maximum of 360 hours.
• Department Directors receive 6 personal holidays upon hire and every January thereafter. Personal holidays may be used like vacation days but will expire if not used within the year they are received.
• Regular Office Hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Must be available to attend evening meetings as needed.
• The City of Wausau Employee Handbook and information about our Benefits can be found at the following link:

01

What is the highest level of education that you have received?

• Some High School
• High School Diploma or GED Equivalent
• Skills Certificate/Technical Diploma
• Some College/No Degree
• Associate Degree
• Bachelor Degree
• Masters Degree
• Doctorate Degree

02

If you are a college graduate, list degree with area of study.
03

Please list any job-related certifications or licenses that your currently possess.
04

How many years of progressively responsible human resources administration experience do you possess?

• No experience
• Less than 1 year
• More than 1 year but less than 2 years
• More than 2 years but less than 3 years
• More than 3 years but less than 4 years
• More than 4 years but less than 5 years
• More than 5 years
• More than 10 years

05

Check all that you have experience managing:

• Classification and Compensation
• Employee Benefits
• Employee and Labor Relations
• Risk Management
• Staffing Management
• Training and Development

Required Question