Reports to: CEO (Justin Siegel – Company Strategy, Communication, Alignment & Trust)

Strategic Partnership: Chief People Advisor (Dr. Mark Atkinson – P&C Strategy, Leadership, Executive Development, Culture).

Start Date Target: February 23, 2026

Deli Star is a category-defining food technology and manufacturing company built on a people-first foundation and a relentless commitment to food safety, quality, and innovation. We are a B2B food manufacturing company reimagining what’s possible in protein innovation—specializing in fresh-prepared deli meats, fresh sous-vide-cooked proteins, and patented food-safety technologies.

Deli Star serves many of the most trusted brands and culinary teams across the U.S. Through scientific rigor, operational excellence, and continuous innovation, we are building a more nutritious, efficient, and sustainable food system while scaling a culture designed to grow people alongside the business.

Guided by our purpose—to Nourish Life through Protein with Integrity—Deli Star brings trusted partnerships, advanced research, and a commitment to product excellence to every customer it serves.

• Stabilize the Foundation: Play a critical role in strengthening HR fundamentals as the company scales.

• CEO & Advisor Partnership: Work directly with the CEO and Chief People Advisor to ensure people systems support strategy and leadership.

• Operational Impact: Build disciplined, compliant, and trusted HR operations in a fast-growing manufacturing environment.

• Long-Term Growth: Opportunity to grow with the organization as People & Culture capabilities mature.

The Director of Human Resources is responsible for leading Deli Star’s core people operations with rigor, consistency, and care. This role ensures that HR systems, policies, and practices support a safe, compliant, and well-managed organization while reinforcing accountability, fairness, and trust across the company.

This is a foundational operating role, not a culture-design or coaching role. The focus is on execution excellence in HR fundamentals so leaders and teams can perform effectively in a fast-growing manufacturing environment.

• Operational Stability: Ensure HR fundamentals are strong, consistent, and reliable.

• Compliance & Risk Management: Reduce risk through disciplined policies, documentation, and practices.

• Manager Enablement: Support leaders with clear processes, guidance, and tools.

• Employee Trust: Reinforce fairness, clarity, and consistency in people decisions.

Reporting to the CEO, the Director of Human Resources owns day-to-day HR operations and serves as the primary point of accountability for people systems and compliance. You will work closely with Operations, Finance, and Legal partners to ensure HR practices scale responsibly with the business.

Success in this role is measured by compliance strength, manager confidence, employee relations stability, and smooth execution of HR processes.

• Own and administer HR policies, procedures, and the employee handbook, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with legal and operational requirements.

• Lead employee relations, performance management processes, and disciplinary actions with professionalism and sound judgment.

• Oversee onboarding, offboarding, and end-to-end employee lifecycle processes to ensure smooth, compliant execution.

• Maintain accurate employee records, personnel files, and HR documentation in accordance with regulatory and company standards.
  
  

• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.

• Partner with legal counsel as needed on employee relations, investigations, and compliance matters.

• Lead workplace investigations and corrective actions with discretion, consistency, and thorough documentation.

• Support audits, regulatory inquiries, and internal reviews, ensuring readiness and risk mitigation.
  
  

• Partner with Operations leaders to support attendance, scheduling, and workforce reliability in a shift-based manufacturing environment.

• Ensure fair, consistent application of HR policies for hourly, frontline, and salaried employees.

• Partner with EHS and Operations on incident response, corrective actions, and documentation.

• Reinforce HR practices that support safety, accountability, and operational discipline on the production floor.
  
  

• Own or oversee recruiting processes for hourly, salaried, and leadership roles.

• Partner with Operations and Finance on workforce planning, headcount management, and hiring priorities.

• Ensure hiring practices are compliant, efficient, and aligned with operational needs.

• Improve time-to-fill, hiring quality, and onboarding effectiveness as the organization scales.
  
  

• Ensure performance management processes are applied consistently, documented appropriately, and completed on time.

• Support managers in addressing underperformance through timely feedback, corrective action, and clear expectations.

• Serve as the primary escalation point for employee relations issues, grievances, and conflicts.

• Reinforce accountability and fairness while preventing avoidance of difficult people decisions.
  
  

• Administer compensation structures in accordance with approved pay frameworks and company policy.

• Oversee payroll coordination to ensure accurate, timely, and compliant processing.

• Administer employee benefits programs, including enrollments, changes, and vendor coordination.

• Partner with Finance on labor cost management, payroll reconciliation, and headcount tracking.

• Ensure compensation and benefits practices are documented, compliant, and consistently applied.
  
  

• Own HRIS and related systems to ensure data accuracy, reporting integrity, and system effectiveness.

• Track and report key HR metrics, including turnover, absenteeism, time-to-fill, and employee relations trends.

• Use data and insights to identify risk areas and operational improvements.

• Continuously improve HR processes for clarity, efficiency, and scalability.

• Operates with discretion, integrity, and sound judgment.

• Comfortable holding boundaries and enforcing policy.

• Clear communicator who reduces ambiguity.

• Trusted partner to leaders and employees alike.

• 8–12+ years of progressive HR experience, preferably in manufacturing or operations-heavy environments.

• Strong working knowledge of employment law and HR compliance.

• Experience leading employee relations and performance management.

• Practical, execution-oriented mindset.

• SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP or similar certification preferred.

• Location: St. Louis, with regular on-site presence required.

• HR Stability: Core HR processes are documented, consistent, and operating smoothly.

• Compliance Strength: Reduced legal and compliance risk; clean audits and investigations.

• Manager Confidence: Managers report clarity and confidence in handling people matters.

• Employee Relations: Issues are addressed promptly, fairly, and consistently.

This role is designed to be focused, accountable, and execution-oriented, with scope intentionally defined to match current organizational needs. As a fast-growing company, Deli Star may require team members to take on responsibilities beyond those outlined in this job description from time to time. Any such changes will be approached respectfully and discussed through appropriate management conversations. All employees are expected to align with Deli Star’s purpose, vision, mission, and values, and to step in and support the organization whenever called upon in service of those commitments.