Job Description

Position Summary:

The Retail HR Director at Guitar Center is a dynamic and strategic leader responsible for driving the HR vision for Associates across the company’s retail operations. This role partners closely with Retail Operations and the Field Leadership teams to design and execute people strategies that align with business objectives, ensuring the organization’s retail goals are achieved through effective talent management, employee engagement, and operational excellence.

Leading a team of Regional HR Managers, the Retail HR Director will shape and drive initiatives in talent assessment, employee relations, and performance management while fostering a culture of accountability, growth, and inclusion. This role is instrumental in positioning Guitar Center’s retail organization for sustained growth and success. By aligning people strategies with business objectives, this role ensures the workforce is empowered, engaged, and equipped to deliver exceptional results in a dynamic, customer-focused environment.

Responsibilities will include, but will not be limited to the following:

Strategic HR Leadership: Act as a strategic advisor and thought partner to retail leadership, translating business objectives into actionable HR initiatives that support organizational growth and success. Collaborate with senior leadership to establish long-term HR strategies that align with Guitar Center’s retail vision and priorities. Analyze workforce trends, identify risks, and provide solutions to drive operational excellence and associate engagement across all retail locations.
Team Leadership & Development: Lead, coach, and develop a team of Regional HR Managers, ensuring consistent delivery of HR practices and alignment with company goals. Establish performance expectations and development plans for Regional HR Managers to strengthen their contributions and grow their expertise.
Talent Management & Succession Planning: In partnership with Organization Development, oversee the design and execution of talent assessment processes, ensuring high-potential associates are identified and nurtured for growth opportunities. Drive robust succession planning strategies to build a strong leadership pipeline for retail operations, aligning with future business needs. Partner with Talent Acquisition to enhance recruitment strategies, ensuring the attraction and retention of top-tier talent across all levels.
Employee Relations & Engagement: Serve as the escalation point for complex employee relations matters, ensuring timely and legally compliant resolutions. Develop proactive strategies to promote positive employee relations, fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace environment. Implement programs and initiatives to improve associate engagement, morale, and overall job satisfaction.
Performance Management: Establish a culture of accountability by implementing effective performance management processes and tools. Collaborate with leaders to address performance challenges and develop improvement plans, ensuring alignment with business expectations. Regularly review and refine performance metrics to ensure they drive productivity and alignment with company goals.
Retail Strategy Alignment: Collaborate with retail leadership to align HR initiatives with operational strategies, ensuring the people component is integrated into all business plans. Partner with shared services teams, including Training, Payroll, Benefits, and IT, to provide seamless HR operations and support for the retail workforce. Monitor and improve key HR processes, ensuring compliance with labor laws and alignment with Guitar Center’s mission and values.
Workforce Planning & Metrics: Leverage data and analytics to assess HR program effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement in employee performance, retention, and satisfaction. Develop and track key HR metrics, delivering actionable insights to leadership to inform decision-making and strategy development.
Additional duties as assigned.

About the Guitar Center Company

The Guitar Center Company embodies the world of creativity and music by encouraging our teammates to find their own individual sound. Our mission is to develop and nurture lifelong musicians and make a difference in the world by enabling musicians and non-musicians alike to experience the joy that comes from creating music. We believe in putting our customers first, engaging with respect and integrity and fulfilling our mission with passion.

The Guitar Center Company operates through several business divisions. Guitar Center is the world’s largest retailer of guitars, amplifiers, drums, keyboards, recording, live sound, DJ, and lighting equipment, with more than 290+ stores across the United States. 2014 marked the milestone 50th anniversary of the Guitar Center Company as the organization continues to help people make music from coast to coast.

E-Commerce brands Guitar Center, Musician’s Friend and WWBW offer online sales of a broad selection of music products. The Music & Arts division operates more than 220+ stores specializing in band & orchestral instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors, and students since 1952. AVDG and GCPro headline the enterprise audio-visual integration business, delivering a best-in-class commercial and residential customer experience.

Requirements

To join our band, you'll need the following experience:

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field (Master’s degree preferred).
10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, ideally in a multi-unit retail or service-oriented environment.
Proven success in partnering with senior leaders to deliver innovative HR strategies that drive business outcomes.
Demonstrated expertise in employee relations, performance management, talent assessment, and organizational development.
Strong leadership and coaching skills, with experience managing and developing high-performing teams.
Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and influencing skills, with the ability to build relationships and trust across all levels of the organization.
Proficiency in leveraging data and analytics to drive strategic decision-making.

Why Guitar Center Company? Here’s just some of the rewards:

For our employees who are musicians we offer the unique opportunity of gig leave—take time off to share your music with the world and return to your job after your tour! Guitar Center offers robust benefits and perks, including Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K plus company match, mental health support, paid sick/holiday/vacation time, employee discount program, and tuition reimbursement options.

Pay Rate: $160,000 - $200,000/yr depending on background and experience. This position is eligible to participate in the Guitar Center Company bonus program based on Company performance.

The job posting is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific employee, which is always dependent on actual experience, education, and other factors. The pay range(s) listed are provided in compliance with state specific laws. Pay ranges may be different in other locations.

Average Compensation: $143,666

How Much Do Music and Arts Employees Make?