Human Resources Manager

The Human Resources Manager at Ceres Community Project plays a central role in shaping the organization’s people systems, culture, and compliance framework. Reporting to the CEO, this onsite position in Santa Rosa, CA partners with senior leadership to translate priorities into annual HR goals and to support a workplace where accountability, clarity, and equitable practices are built into everyday operations.

Working within Ceres’ Heart Centered & Love Guided and Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive operating principles, the HR Manager oversees talent attraction and retention, performance review cycles, compensation and benefits administration, employee relations, and required employment compliance across federal and California law.

Key Responsibilities

• Translate Ceres’s strategic priorities into annual goals, track external trends, and integrate learning into ongoing planning while ensuring transparent development with clear accountability.
• Nurture a collaborative, unified, positive, equitable, and inclusive culture by modeling teamwork, effective decision-making, and candor, and ensuring role clarity and tools that enable colleagues to succeed.
• Participate in regular meetings of senior management, the board of directors, and select board committees to help shape organizational strategy and key success indicators.
• Participate in budget development and maintain fiscal responsibility.
• Oversee HR policies and practices that support recruiting, onboarding, training, staff development, performance reviews, compensation, and organizational culture.
• Ensure compliance with employment regulations and best practices, including required trainings, workplace safety and prevention plans, workplace violence prevention requirements, timesheet reporting, wage and hour regulations, CFRA, FMLA, COBRA, ADA and EEO, unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, and other applicable state and federal laws.
• Develop and oversee systems for recruiting, hiring, and onboarding, including completing 30-60-90 day reviews in a way that supports retention of the right staff.
• Conduct or oversee workplace investigations related to complaints, policy violations, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and other employee relations matters, ensuring investigations are timely, impartial, and well documented.
• Oversee employee leave administration, including CFRA, Pregnancy Disability Leave, ADA/FEHA accommodations, worker’s compensation leave, bereavement leave, and related interactive process requirements.
• Oversee compensation practices and compensation analyses, support pay equity initiatives, and ensure compliance with California pay transparency and equal pay requirements.
• Lead decision-making for difficult staff situations, including restorative conversations and planned and unplanned terminations, with thorough documentation and guidance to managers.
• Serve as a point person for HR questions from both staff and managers.
• Establish and manage the annual performance review process, including training managers and ensuring performance documentation and follow-up training or resources.
• Administer employee benefits programs (health insurance, 401k, vacation and sick time, professional development, and wellness dollars), ensuring regulatory and plan compliance and accurate payroll deductions.
• Oversee biweekly payroll processing.
• Ensure compliance with California wage and hour requirements, including meal and rest period rules, timekeeping practices, final pay obligations, payroll audits, timecard attestation, and wage statement compliance.
• Conduct, analyze, and report on the annual employee engagement survey to identify progress and areas for attention.
• With the CEO and senior leaders, oversee staffing and salary decisions that are fair, equitable, and designed to retain key staff while strengthening culture and values.
• Maintain the Bamboo HR platform with accurate, up to date documentation; maintain HR and record files in compliance with personnel file, medical file, I-9, and federal/California record retention requirements.
• Support the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging team and the Culture Champions team.
• Provide staff support to the board HR Committee, working with the committee chair to create the agenda.

Requirements

• Commitment to Ceres Community Project’s Mission and Operating Principles.
• At least 3 years managing HR for a high-growth nonprofit organization with at least 30 employees.
• High-level knowledge of HR benefits and compliance, including FLSA, EEOC, ADA, DOL, OSHA, EDD, CFRA/FMLA, worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance, wage and hour laws, leave administration, employee relations, and workplace investigations.
• Advanced technology skills, including HR platforms (Bamboo/Trax preferred), databases (Salesforce preferred), and MS Office Suite (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint).
• Experience in a senior management role partnering with executive staff to develop and implement creative HR and/or operational strategies.
• Proven success facilitating progressive organizational change in a rapidly growing organization, with the ability to engage and influence direct and indirect reports and peers.
• Highly developed communication skills to represent the organization across stakeholders, manage highly confidential information, and execute difficult performance review, feedback, and termination conversations.
• Entrepreneurial team player able to manage multiple high-stakes projects and adapt to rapidly changing priorities.
• Understanding of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion principles and a desire to implement them.
• Ability and desire to work in an environment that values teamwork, relationships, and honest feedback.
• BA or equivalent experience.

Technologies

• Bamboo HR
• Trax
• Salesforce
• MS Office Suite
• Outlook
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• SharePoint

Benefits

• Health insurance
• 401k
• Vacation and sick time
• Professional development and wellness dollars

Work Location and Schedule

• Santa Rosa, CA (onsite)
• Occasional evening hours; very rarely weekend hours
• Regular, predictable attendance required

Salary and Experience

• USD 42 - 45 per hourly
• Minimum 3 years experience
• Education: BA or equivalent experience

Operating Principles

• Heart Centered & Love Guided - expressing love, trust, respect, and integrity in life, work, and organization
• Everything Matters - ensuring every action and choice leads to the greatest positive impact
• Young People are the Future - keeping young people central participants in shaping the collective future
• Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive - championing social equity policies and practices that build a diverse, inclusive, and healthy workplace and food system