Vice President of People

Hours of Operation: Monday–Friday, 9AM–6PM; evenings and weekends as needed

Salary Range: $210,000 – $240,000 annually (based on experience and qualifications)

Lead the people function for one of LA's fastest-growing youth-serving organizations — at the inflection point where strong culture meets enterprise scale.

Woodcraft Rangers has grown nearly tenfold in five years while maintaining program quality, organizational culture, and a strong compliance track record. We have built something rare: an organization that scales without losing itself. Now we are looking for a VP of People who can carry that foundation into its next chapter — building the compliance architecture, legal risk infrastructure, and talent systems that a $150M+ organization requires.

A Foundation Worth Building On

Woodcraft Rangers is a growing organization with real momentum — built on a decade of excellent programming, deep and reliable partnerships with school districts across Southern California, and a staff culture that has held through nearly tenfold growth. Our LifeCraft program provides free college and career advancement to all 2,250 employees. Our internal Management Academy creates leadership pathways from within. We promote from within at every level. We were named a Best Places to Work for Innovators by Fast Company — one of only 10 large companies recognized nationally — for our staff development programs. We also operate a formally registered national apprenticeship program for future educators, the first of its kind in Southern California.

What we are looking for now is an executive who can carry that foundation into its next chapter — building the compliance architecture, legal risk infrastructure, and people systems that a $150M+ organization requires, without losing the culture that got us here.

Ideal Candidate Profile

You are a senior people leader who earns credibility in two directions at once: with the executive team, because you think in systems, risk, and organizational design; and with the people you serve, because you genuinely believe that how an organization treats its staff is a strategic choice, not an afterthought. You have built functions, not just managed them — including talent acquisition and employee relations at genuine scale.

At Woodcraft Rangers, recruitment is not a project; it is a continuous operational reality across 210+ sites and 2,250 employees. You are equally at home designing a high-volume frontline TA pipeline, navigating a complex employee relations matter, and presenting compliance posture to the executive team — because every person who works here deserves a well-run, fair, and supportive experience.

You know that California employment law and compliance architecture are not obstacles to people work; they are the foundation it stands on. You believe that growing people is how you grow an organization.

Why Join Woodcraft Rangers

• Competitive salary – $210,000–$240,000 annually
• Paid vacation & sick time – generous time off to recharge
• LifeCraft program – free college & career advancement for all staff
• Upward mobility – promote-from-within culture
• 403(b) retirement plan – invest in your future
• Pet insurance – because your whole family matters
• Mission-driven work – impact 30,000+ young people annually

The Opportunity

The Vice President of People is Woodcraft Rangers' senior enterprise people leader, reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer. You will lead a structured, four-function HR organization — spanning Employee Experience & Readiness, Employee Governance & Risk, Benefits & Payroll, and HR Implementation & Support — and serve as the executive authority on all complex, high-risk people matters. This is a unique opportunity to build a complex HR architecture in a dynamically scaling community-based nonprofit with one of the largest impact footprints in Southern California.

This role carries direct ownership of California labor law compliance, wage and hour risk, workers' compensation strategy, and labor-related claims — including oversight of investigations, dispute resolution, and external counsel coordination.

You will have:

• Full decision authority on HR policy, ER escalations, investigations, and terminations — with COO alignment on highest-stakes matters
• Budget authority over the HR function and input into workforce planning decisions
• A COO who is operationally fluent, strategically engaged, and committed to HR as a genuine enterprise function — not an administrative support layer
• A mandate to build, not maintain — the systems you design will shape how WCR operates at $150M and beyond

Responsibilities

Enterprise People Strategy: Set and lead the organization's overall people strategy, workforce planning, and HR organizational design. Partner with the COO, CFO, and CPO on workforce risk, readiness, and capacity planning.

Organizational Leadership & Design: Lead and develop the Senior Director of People and all HR director-level functions. Establish decision-rights frameworks across all four functional areas. Build succession readiness within the HR function.

California Labor Law, Compliance & Legal Risk: Serve as the internal authority on CA labor and employment law and wage and hour compliance. Own workers' comp strategy, DLSE/EEOC/PAGA response, and external counsel relationships. Maintain audit-ready governance standards.

HR Governance & Employee Relations: Ensure consistent, defensible people decisions across all regions. Own resolution of high-risk ER matters, investigations, and terminations end-to-end.

Talent Culture & Employee Development: Champion the promote-from-within philosophy. Build leadership pipelines and set the standard for employee experience from attraction through retention.

Workforce Planning & Organizational Growth: Lead strategic workforce planning aligned to program growth and regional expansion. Evaluate and evolve HR capacity as the organization scales toward $150M+.

HR Technology & Systems: Own the HR technology vision and vendor strategy. Champion a right-sized, integrated tech stack — prioritizing efficiency over platform sprawl.

Qualifications

Required:

• Senior HR leadership experience in a large, multi-site organization (1,000+ employees) with complex compliance requirements — we value depth of experience over years of tenure
• Practitioner-level command of CA employment law — wage and hour, FMLA/CFRA, ADA, PAGA, and workers' comp — built through direct ownership of compliance programs and outside counsel partnerships (JD and non-JD candidates equally considered)
• Proven track record managing workers' comp programs and labor-related claims in a high-volume, multi-site environment
• Experience in a culture-forward organization where people investment is a core strategic value
• Experience partnering with executive leadership and boards on people strategy, risk, and compliance posture
• Strong analytical, communication, and cross-functional leadership skills

Preferred:

• J.D. or equivalent practitioner depth in PAGA, DLSE, EEOC, and employment litigation
• Experience in youth development, education, afterschool, nonprofit, or government-contracting organizations
• Familiarity with frontline workforce dynamics and program-based staffing models
• SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent certification
• Experience building management academies or cohort-based leadership development programs

Physical Demands & Work Environment

In compliance with the ADA, the following physical demands may be essential for this position. Reasonable accommodation will be considered to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions:

• Occasional travel across the greater Los Angeles area, San Gabriel Valley, and Inland Empire
• Regular use of hands for tasks such as operating a computer and handling objects
• Occasional lifting of up to 25 pounds
• Reasonable accommodation is available for individuals with disabilities

Our Commitment to Equity & Belonging

Equity is not a program at Woodcraft Rangers — it is the reason we exist. We serve more than 30,000 young people in Title I schools across Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties, and we believe the workforce that serves them should reflect and honor their communities. Our Lifecraft program extends free college and career advancement to all 2,250 of our employees regardless of role or tenure. Our nationally registered apprenticeship program is building a more diverse pipeline of future educators in Southern California. And our internal Management Academy creates leadership pathways for staff who have not traditionally had access to them. We are committed to building a workplace where people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences can do the best work of their careers. Woodcraft Rangers provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without discrimination with regard to race, religious belief, color, sex, pregnancy, age, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identification and expression, transgender status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, family care, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by law.