Deputy Chief Human Resources - Talent Acquisition & Strategic Organizational Alignment
Human Resources
Move Forward with us! At NJ TRANSIT, you'll join us in transforming the third-largest transportation agency in North America. We are committed to delivering safe, reliable service that gets our customers to their destinations on time and we're looking to hire talented folks with a commitment to excellence.
We are looking to hire a Deputy Chief Human Resources - Talent Acquisition & Strategic Organizational Alignment!
Roles and Responsibilities:
The specifications outlined are intended to present a descriptive list of the range of duties performed by employees in this position. The specifications are not intended to reflect all duties performed within the job.
- Executive Talent Acquisition Leadership (Primary Responsibility)
- Lead NJ TRANSIT's enterprise-wide talent acquisition strategy to ensure the organization brings in the right talent, at the right time, with the capabilities needed to support strong organizational design and long-term workforce planning.
- Leverage modern recruitment practices that integrate workforce forecasting, labor market intelligence, and capability requirements to align hiring decisions with business priorities.
- Partner closely with operational and executive leadership to anticipate staffing needs driven by service demands, structural changes, retirements, and future workforce requirements.
- Expand sourcing innovation, strengthen employer brand, and continuously elevate the candidate experience to attract diverse, high-quality talent that aligns with NJ TRANSIT's organizational and operational goals.
- Use data, workforce analytics, and performance metrics to drive decision-making, optimize recruitment processes, and improve workforce alignment and readiness.
- Partner with General Counsel and Labor Relations to ensure all hiring practices comply with legal, regulatory, and labor requirements while supporting talent strategies needed for organizational effectiveness.
- Strategic Oversight of Organizational Effectiveness & Change Management
- Serve as the senior HR Business Partner for Surface Transit and Rail Operations, ensuring workforce planning, organizational structure, and talent needs are aligned with business and operational strategies.
- Partner with executive leadership to translate enterprise priorities into integrated workforce, organizational design, and talent strategies.
- Provide executive oversight to the Organizational Effectiveness (OE) and Change Management leader, ensuring OE and change initiatives advance NJ TRANSIT's workforce planning and organizational alignment goals.
- Ensure OE frameworks, organizational design methodologies, and change management approaches support efficient organizational structures, clear decision rights, and long term workforce readiness.
- Sponsor OE and change initiatives that enable major workforce planning priorities, including technology adoption, service expansion, and operational modernization.
- Guide organizational alignment decisions, such as structure, capability requirements, spans of control, and workforce optimization, to ensure NJ TRANSIT is appropriately staffed and structured for current and future needs.
- Provide senior level HR strategic counsel across the agency to ensure workforce, organizational design, and talent considerations are embedded in major initiatives and operational decisions.
- Translate business strategy into actionable workforce requirements, organizational structure recommendations, and capability planning.
- Identify and mitigate complex organizational risks, including capability gaps, structural misalignment, succession vulnerabilities, and change readiness challenges, and recommend strategic solutions.
- HRIS/Data Analytics Leadership
- Oversee HRIS operations, data governance, records management, and workforce dashboards.
- Ensure HR data integrity to support evidence-based decision-making.
- Contingent Workforce & Compliance Oversight
- Provide executive oversight of unemployment compliance and contingent workforce programs.
- Ensure alignment with agency needs and risk mitigation.
This Position Supervises:
- Senior Director, Candidate Outreach
- Senior Director, Talent Acquisition
- Director, HRIS & Records Admin
- Director Strategic HR Analysis/HRIS
Education, Experience and Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business/Public Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field; Master's degree strongly preferred.
- Ten plus years (10+) years of progressive HR leadership experience with significant responsibility in enterprise talent acquisition, HR business partnering, and strategic workforce planning within a large, complex organization.TenT
- Proven experience leading enterprise-wide talent acquisition, including developing modern recruitment strategies, building pipelines for critical roles, and improving candidate experience across diverse job families.
- Demonstrated strategic exposure to organizational effectiveness, including oversight (not necessarily day to day execution) of organizational design, change management, workforce alignment, or major transformation initiatives.
- Expertise in workforce strategy and analytics, including forecasting, capability planning, and using data to drive organizational and talent decisions.
Knowledge and Skills:
- Strategic Talent Acquisition Leadership - Demonstrates the ability to design and lead enterprise-wide recruitment strategies that align talent pipelines with organizational goals and future workforce needs.
- Candidate Experience and Employer Brand Strategy - Ensures a high-quality, inclusive candidate experience and strengthens NJ TRANSIT's reputation as an employer of choice.
- Workforce Planning and Labor Market Analysis - Applies forecasting, labor market intelligence, and capability planning to anticipate and meet workforce requirements.
- Organizational Alignment and Strategic Oversight - Provides executive direction ensuring organizational structures, design decisions, and workforce planning efforts support agency priorities and operational readiness.
- Change Sponsorship and Cross-Functional Integration - Leads and sponsors change initiatives that improve workforce readiness and align talent strategies with organizational transformation.
- Workforce Analytics and Data-Driven Decision-Making - Uses data to drive recruitment effectiveness, workforce planning, and organizational alignment.
- Executive Communication and Influence - Communicates complex workforce and organizational concepts clearly and persuasively to senior leaders, stakeholders, and operational teams.
- Labor and Legal Partnership - Works effectively with Labor Relations and General Counsel to ensure talent strategies align with union environments, regulatory requirements, and operational constraints.
- Team Leadership and Collaboration - Builds, develops, and leads high-performing HR teams; collaborates across departments to drive enterprise priorities.
- Operational Understanding of Surface Transit and Rail - Demonstrates strong comprehension of operational dynamics to align workforce planning and talent strategies with service needs.
- Exceptional executive communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to guide senior leaders through complex organizational, talent, and workforce planning decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to anticipate workforce risks and capability gaps and provide strategic solutions that balance operational requirements, organizational design principles, and long term workforce readiness.
At NJ Transit you will enjoy a competitive salary and excellent benefits package:
- Comprehensive Family Health Insurance - Medical, Prescription, Dental, Vision
- Flexible Spending Account
- Life Insurance
- Paid Leave
- Tuition Assistance
- Pre-Tax Commuter Benefits Plan
- Retirement Plans:
- 401(a) - Retirement plan with a 6% employer contribution
- 401(k) - Retirement saving plan with up to an 3% company match
- 457(b) - Deferred Savings Plan
Please be advised that this position is subject to the requirements of Executive Order No. 2 (Murphy, Jan. 17, 2018). If you are selected for this position and accept the offer of employment, you will be required to file a Financial Disclosure Statement ("FDS") annually and your FDS will be posted online. Additional information is available online at https://www.nj.gov/ethics/disclosure/financial/.
NJ TRANSIT is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
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