Director, Human Resources in New Orleans, Louisiana at Agenda for Children, Inc.

About Agenda for Children, Inc.

Agenda for Children works to build a Louisiana where every child can thrive. We support children and families by expanding access to essential resources, promoting healthy development and a strong start in life through high-quality early education and care, and strengthening the people, organizations, and systems that support children.

For over 40 years, Agenda for Children has worked to expand opportunity and support the well-being of Louisiana’s children and families. Our work is grounded in the vision of our founders, shaped by the lived experiences of those we serve, and driven by a commitment to building systems that empower children, families, and educators.

Our Values

• Kids Come First: Every decision starts with what’s best for children.
• Lead with Integrity: We act with honesty, empathy, transparency, and respect in everything we do.
• Families Matter: We recognize families as the foundation of a child’s healthy development and well-being.
• Start Strong: We invest early, knowing that strong starts lead to stronger futures.
• Support People and Partnerships: We champion the growth and leadership of those who care for and work with young children.
• Collaborate with Communities: We listen, learn, and build with the people we serve.
• Strengthen Systems: We inform and influence policies, programs, and practices to ensure they are effective and responsive to the people they serve.
• Learn and Adapt: We use facts, feedback, and real-life stories to guide our work.
• Steward with Care: We manage resources responsibly and with accountability.

About the role

As Director of Human Resources, you’ll be Agenda’s senior HR leader and the go-to owner of people operations, employee relations, compliance, and manager support. This is a hands-on director role. You’ll design sound HR systems, and you’ll also personally guide complex work that calls for judgment and discretion. You’ll report to the Chief of Staff, supervise our HR Manager (who handles payroll processing, benefits administration, onboarding and HRIS), and partner closely with the CEO, senior leadership, and outside employment counsel. As Agenda grows, the role offers room to shape how we support our people over the long term.

What you’ll do

• Lead HR operations and compliance. Own our HR policies, employee handbook, and annual HR calendar. Guide the organization on federal and Louisiana employment requirements, oversee benefits strategy and broker relationships, and manage the HR compliance needs of our early childhood and grant-funded work.
• Own employee relations and strengthen managers. Handle performance concerns, complaints, investigations and terminations. Coach supervisors so they can lead with confidence, and build a consistent, organization-wide performance management cycle.
• Shape talent and compensation strategy. Guide recruiting, role design, career paths and compensation analysis, and use HR and market data to inform decisions on retention, workforce planning and pay.
• Support a strong, collaborative culture. Lead manager training, use staff feedback to inform practical improvements, provide clear HR reporting to leadership, and bring a people perspective to organizational decisions.

Required Skills and Experience

• 5–7 years of progressive HR experience, with substantial hands-on work in employee relations, performance management, compliance, policy, and manager coaching (HR leadership or supervisory experience strongly preferred)
• A bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, public administration, organizational development, or a related field, or equivalent directly relevant experience
• Strong working knowledge of federal and Louisiana employment practices, including ADA, leave/FMLA, wage-and-hour classification, and workplace investigations
• A track record of designing HR processes, such as performance evaluations, policies, manager tools, and employee-relations protocols
• Experience with recruiting, compensation analysis, benefits strategy, engagement, and HR analytics
• Sound judgment, discretion with sensitive information, and a clear sense of when to bring in legal or specialist expertise
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to earn trust from senior leaders, frontline supervisors, and staff alike
• Comfort working as both strategic advisor and hands-on practitioner in a lean, growing organization
• Proficiency with HRIS systems (Rippling experience a plus)
• A genuine commitment to Agenda’s mission and to working with a diverse, mission-driven team

Recommended Skills and Experience

• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, SPHR, or comparable certification
• Experience in nonprofit, grant-funded, education, early childhood, or similarly regulated settings
• Experience with leadership development or career pathing programs