Vice President Human Resources

Opportunity Overview

The Vice President of Human Resources (VP of HR) will set direction across GEOTEK in all areas of people, culture, and human resources to meet the company's strategic needs while increasing employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction. The VP of HR for GEOTEK reports to the CEO and serves as a member of the company's executive leadership team.

GEOTEK joined the Granite community in 2009 and shares its 100-year sustainability objective. This is an excellent opportunity for a leader who appreciates the support of a clear commitment to long-term planning horizons. The VP of HR also serves as a member of the Human Resources Affinity, a group of HR leaders across the Granite Companies who collaborate closely on wellbeing, benefits, learning, compensation, and other talent-related initiatives.

The Position

Reporting to the CEO, the Vice President of Human Resources (VP of HR) is responsible for providing leadership and direction across all GEOTEK sites, leading people strategy, culture, and employee communications. The role leads the human resources function to meet the strategic needs of the company while initiating efforts to increase employee engagement, retention, and wellbeing. The VP of HR leads the HR team, managing and developing a team of dedicated HR professionals to support the organization's growing HR needs.

As a member of the executive leadership team, the successful candidate must be an effective, collaborative leader with the ability to connect the dots between vision, people, and performance.

Major elements of the VP of HR's responsibilities include:

People & Culture Leadership

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO, the executive management team, and the Board of Directors in setting strategic direction for the company. Provide insight on team, talent, culture, and wellbeing as we craft strategic plans and initiatives.
• Champion a values-driven, inclusive culture that reflects the company's core values and models servant leadership at every level. Serve as a visible culture ambassador, internally and externally.
• Lead the people, culture, and communications aspects of acquisition integrations, serving as the relationship manager for new team members and leaders.

HR Operations & Infrastructure

• Lead the HR function, supporting a 24/7 operation across multiple sites. Oversee policies and programs, including onboarding, talent management and workforce planning, employee training and development, compensation, workers compensation, safety, performance management, wellbeing, engagement, and inclusion (including EEO/affirmative action).
• Oversee HR-related risk (compliance, employee relations, ethics, workplace safety in partnership with Operations and Safety) and ensure that HR policies and practices reflect GEOTEK's values and protect its reputation.
• Keep abreast of emerging industry trends, technologies, and skills to anticipate talent needs and identify capability gaps, ensuring they are effectively planned for and addressed in support of organizational growth.
• Manage and monitor all benefit programs to ensure that costs are predictive and controlled and that program specifics are addressed to ensure that employee needs have been given the appropriate attention and benefits are competitive to attract and retain talent. Collaborate with the HR Affinity and Chief Financial Officer regarding the 401(k) plan, health, vision, dental, and other benefit vendor offerings.
• Lead communication and planning around changes in federal and state employment laws, advising on employee relations issues, organizational realignments, and other HR-related functions as required.
• Lead the HR team in investigating employee complaints and disputes; work with leaders across the organization to administer disciplinary actions, suspensions, and terminations when needed.

Talent Planning & Talent Acquisition

• Lead annual and long-range workforce planning (headcount, capabilities, and critical roles). Anticipate talent needs as new lines, facilities, or services are added and develop the long-term talent roadmap.
• Lead organizational design at the enterprise level to support growth, productivity, and employee engagement and development.
• Oversee recruitment strategy and implementation for both production and office, ensuring that recruiting volume and quality meet the needs for business growth – in production, leadership, and individual contributor roles across the company.
• Lead the HR team and work with others to develop and maintain company job descriptions, skills/training matrix, and performance management systems, including leading the annual review process and recommending leadership and management trainings.
• Lead the executive team in an annual talent review and succession planning exercise.
• Lead special talent acquisition programs, including local high school internship programs and college internship or co-op programs.

Communication & Change Management

• Serve as an employee advocate and retention coach, encouraging effective communications and problem resolution, ongoing training/development, job satisfaction, and growth; conduct both 'stay' and 'exit' interviews.
• Oversee internal and external communications and employer branding to ensure consistency. Lead or participate in quarterly all employee meetings or occasional daily kiosk meetings to communicate critical HR information.
• Lead the people and culture aspects of major transformations: acquisitions, integrations, restructurings, new business models, or technology changes. Build change management capability across the leadership team.
• Participate in HR organizations, including SHRM, Enterprise MN, Granite Partners' HR Affinity, and Safety Committee as well as local Chambers of Commerce, United Way, and other organizations as applicable.

Candidate Profile

Qualified candidates will have 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in all facets of human resources and business leadership in a successful, multi-site, manufacturing company with at least 6 years leading and developing other HR professionals and managers. The ideal candidate will be an out-front culture leader and change agent with experience in leading through the integration of mergers and acquisitions. Experience building and scaling HR organizations and capabilities in a fast-growing, multi-site environment is required.

The VP of HR brings comprehensive experience across the full HR lifecycle, from talent strategy and organizational development to total rewards, employee relations, and compliance. Excellent business acumen, financial aptitude, and interpersonal skills are required, as is the ability to establish credibility at all levels, inside and outside the organization. The ability to communicate effectively, orally and in writing, as well as proven facilitation skills and a demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment and maintain poise in sensitive circumstances is essential. Experience with employment law and the application of programs and controls for proper administration, compliance, and effective mitigation of related risk is critical.

The successful candidate will possess a willingness to "roll up the sleeves" to accomplish business objectives and have the ability to work and lead effectively in a changing and growing environment. The candidate must be action-oriented, well organized, capable of influencing others, and, above all else, collaborative. This role demands exceptional judgment, precision, and follow-through, with the ability to operate independently while driving complex HR initiatives to completion. Advanced proficiency with HRIS and related analytics tools is essential.

This individual must have the ability to create collaborative relationships across the organization, including the ability to develop members of the broader team to be more effective in their roles. An interest in serving employees at all levels and experiencing their work and stories on a firsthand basis will inform the candidates work.

An undergraduate degree or equivalent is required; advanced degree and/or PHR or SPHR certification is considered a plus.

Locations

GEOTEK's headquarters is based in Stewartville, Minnesota, a small community located immediately south of Rochester near the Rochester International Airport. In addition to the Rochester area where this role is based, GEOTEK operates sites in Dallas, Georgia; Chester, Virginia; and Ogden, Utah. The role requires regular travel (up to 30-40%) to be present across sites.

Compensation & Benefits

We offer a competitive base salary in the $220,000 to $260,000 range, based on experience and qualifications, along with an annual bonus and the opportunity to participate in long-term incentives, including a stock appreciation rights (SARs) program.

Beyond pay, our market-leading benefits are designed to support your wellbeing. These include medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as short- and long-term disability coverage. We also provide a health savings account with company match, a retirement plan with employer contributions through Vanguard, and access to the Granite Assistance Fund for support when it's needed most. We value time for rest and personal growth, offering generous paid time off, including volunteer time off and paid holidays.