HR Director

HR Director

Location: Burnsville, MN (on-site) Employment type: Full-time, exempt Compensation: $130,000 to $160,000 base, plus 15% annual bonus target and benefits

Our client is a privately held, growth-oriented company in Burnsville, MN. Led by a team with extensive public, private, and private equity roll-up experience, the company has professionalized its operations over the past three years and is now preparing for an acquisition that will take it from roughly 50 employees to well over 100, and from one union to potentially several.

The culture is transparent. Leaders roll up their sleeves, no one is above any task, and titles matter less than results.

The Opportunity

This is the company’s first dedicated HR hire. Today, HR is shared among the leadership team and supported by an outside consultant. You will build the HR function from the ground up as a team of one: owning employee relations and union relations, creating the systems and processes that don’t yet exist, and leading the HR side of integrating newly acquired employees. Strong union experience is a must have!

Key Responsibilities

Union and labor relations: Interpret, administer, and enforce collective bargaining agreements; participate in contract negotiations; advise plant and operations managers on grievances, discipline, and contract compliance.

Employee relations and coaching: Serve as a trusted thought partner to plant and operations leaders, coaching and mentoring supervisors and the hourly workforce beyond discipline and contract language.

M&A and integration: Lead HR integration for a pending acquisition and future ones, including aligning benefits and healthcare programs, communicating with newly acquired employees, and helping them feel part of the team.

Culture: Identify, document, and systematize what makes the existing culture work, and develop ways to measure it and extend it to new team members.

Talent acquisition systems: Build a repeatable hiring process, replacing ad hoc hiring with a clear approach to sourcing, interviewing, and offers.

Onboarding and offboarding: Own the end-to-end process, including compliant documentation and record retention, so every new hire and departure is handled consistently.

Compliance: Ensure compliance with Minnesota and federal employment law.

Performance management: Design and own a modern program to replace a legacy system that hasn’t been used in years: fair, simple, and consistently applied, and workable for salaried and hourly, union and non-union employees.

Build the function: Identify gaps and blind spots and set priorities for the HR roadmap as the company grows.

Required Qualifications

Significant HR experience in a unionized environment, including deciphering, administering, and negotiating CBAs

Experience with HR acquisition due diligence and integration

Strong working knowledge of Minnesota employment law

Proven ability to operate as a hands-on HR leader without a team: willing to build processes and systems and handle day-to-day work personally

Credibility and the ability to connect with everyone from executives to blue-collar and field employees

Strategic HR aptitude, with the confidence to coach leaders and make tough calls when needed

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in manufacturing, construction, aggregates, or another industrial setting

Experience in a private equity-backed or high-growth organization

Experience with UKG or similar HRIS and payroll platforms

Prior experience as the first or only HR professional at a company

Who Will Thrive Here

A builder who sees an empty function as an opportunity, not a burden

Direct, down-to-earth, and comfortable in a blunt, transparent culture; not stuffy or corporate

Emotionally intelligent, able to understand the culture before recommending changes

Self-sufficient and able to hit the ground running

Willing to earn influence through results rather than title

Onsite in Burnsville