Human Resources Operations SME

About GKG

With a passion for excellence, Golden Key Group (GKG) helps clients solve their strategic, organizational, and operational challenges to better meet their mission demands.  We have serviced more than 25 Federal departments and agencies and several large commercial companies since our inception in 2002.

 

Golden Key Group's talented professionals, combined with our strategic partners, bring a depth of commercial and government experience and expertise.  We are relentless in delivering the highest levels of services to provide tangible value and create sustainable results for our clients.

Overview

The Human Resources Operations SME provides Federal HR processing, operations, and recruitment subject matter expertise to support development, implementation planning, and execution of human capital strategies, operating plans, and workforce growth initiatives. The SME advises the project team on how strategic human capital goals can be translated into practical, measurable, and executable HR operations, with particular focus on Federal recruitment, hiring, onboarding, staffing workflows, operational bottlenecks, and workforce service delivery. The role supports development of the Human Capital Strategic Plan, Human Capital Operating Plan, and Workforce Growth Plan by helping ensure that recommendations are grounded in Federal HR operational realities, informed by stakeholder input, aligned to workforce staffing model data, and capable of supporting both law enforcement and non-law enforcement workforce needs.

 

This position serves as a generalist HR operations advisor with specialized experience in Federal recruitment and hiring. The SME contributes to analysis of hiring, retention, onboarding timelines, classification, leadership development, employee engagement, safety and health, automation, policy and program improvements, and compliance considerations that must be addressed in the Human Capital Strategic Plan. The SME also supports operating plan development by helping define actionable initiatives, roles, responsibilities, timelines, resource requirements, performance monitoring approaches, metrics, milestones, workforce risks, skills gaps, geographic staffing challenges, labor market considerations, policy impacts, and technology or modernization needs.

 

The selected individual will have the option to work remotely however will need to be local for onsite mandatory meetings in D.C.

 

Note** This position is being recruited in support of potential future contract awards, and qualified candidates may be considered for upcoming opportunities supporting federal government clients.

Responsibilities

• Provide Federal HR operations subject matter expertise to inform the development of the Human Capital Strategic Plan, Human Capital Operating Plan, and Workforce Growth Plan, ensuring recommendations reflect practical HR processing, staffing, hiring, onboarding, and workforce management considerations.
• Advise on Federal recruitment and hiring strategies, including talent acquisition strategy, recruitment and onboarding timelines, staffing needs, workforce growth recommendations, and operational approaches for addressing hiring gaps across law enforcement and non-law enforcement workforce categories.
• Support review of background documentation, mission information, strategic plans, staffing models, performance metrics, and other human capital documents to identify operational gaps, data needs, SME input requirements, and practical implementation considerations.
• Contribute to workforce growth planning by providing operational insight on annual staffing targets, planned growth, surge requirements, stakeholder recommendations, internal and external assessments, methodology, assumptions, and ongoing evaluation of staffing targets based on operational requirements and resource availability.
• Support development of HCSP content related to workforce planning strategy, talent acquisition strategy, implementation roadmap, performance measures, governance, accountability, risk management, and mitigation.
• Support development of HCOP content by helping translate HCSP objectives into operational initiatives, programs, activities, roles, responsibilities, timelines, resource requirements, performance monitoring mechanisms, metrics, milestones, and review schedules.
• Provide HR operations perspective on workforce demographics, attrition and retirement projections, hiring trends, mission critical operations, skills gaps, geographic staffing challenges, labor market conditions, employee engagement findings, policy and legislative impacts, and technology modernization needs. 
• Participate in stakeholder interviews, focus groups, data calls, working sessions, and reviews to gather feedback from Federal HR leaders, operational stakeholders, workforce planning SMEs, and other designated Government personnel.
• Help document sources, methodologies, assumptions, operational constraints, and rationale used to support recommendations, ensuring deliverables are data-informed, actionable, measurable, and aligned with mission requirements and Federal standards.
• Support development of briefing materials, dashboards, progress updates, and review materials that summarize HR operational findings, hiring risks, staffing targets, planned growth, and implementation considerations.
• Assist the project team in responding to Government comments, questions, action items, and requested revisions, including incorporating comments into deliverables or supporting written rationale where comments are not incorporated.
• Support quality control reviews to ensure deliverables address required content, align across the HCSP, HCOP, and Workforce Growth Plan, properly document methodology and assumptions, and are suitable for senior leadership review.
• Coordinate with the Senior Manager, Senior HR Manager, workforce planning SMEs, modeling/data analysts, technical writers, and research staff to ensure HR operations and hiring realities are integrated into planning products and implementation recommendations.
• Maintain awareness of security, data handling, privacy, and information safeguarding requirements applicable to sensitive but unclassified workforce and HR information used in performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration, organizational development, public administration, or a related field.
• Minimum of 8 years of professional experience in Federal human resources operations, HR program support, workforce planning, staffing, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, classification, employee services, or related human capital functions.
• Demonstrated experience supporting Federal recruitment and hiring activities, including operational knowledge of staffing workflows, recruitment strategy, onboarding timelines, hiring process improvement, and coordination with HR stakeholders.
• Experience contributing to human capital planning, workforce planning, HR operating plans, or implementation roadmaps for Federal agencies or comparable public-sector organizations.
• Knowledge of Federal HR policies, procedures, and operational practices sufficient to advise on practical execution of hiring, retention, staffing, onboarding, workforce service delivery, policy implementation, and HR process improvement activities.
• Ability to review HR data, staffing models, workforce information, stakeholder input, policy documents, and operational materials to identify gaps, risks, constraints, and opportunities for improvement.
• Ability to develop clear written inputs for strategic plans, operating plans, growth plans, briefing materials, dashboards, meeting materials, and senior leadership review products.
• Experience supporting stakeholder engagement activities, including interviews, working sessions, data calls, comment resolution, meeting preparation, action item tracking, and coordination with Government SMEs.
• Ability to work within structured deliverable schedules and contribute to timely, complete, accurate, professional, and compliant work products.
• U.S. citizenship and ability to complete required security, screening, nondisclosure, privacy, and access requirements before beginning work requiring access to sensitive information or facilities.

Desired Qualifications

• 10 or more years of Federal human capital management experience, including direct experience supporting Federal recruitment, staffing, hiring, onboarding, workforce operations, and HR service delivery improvement.
• Experience supporting strategic human capital plans, human capital operating plans, workforce growth plans, workforce transformation initiatives, or agency-level HR modernization efforts.
• Demonstrated understanding of how Federal HR operations connect to broader human capital strategies, including hiring, retention, recruitment and onboarding timelines, classification, leadership development, employee engagement, automation, policy/program improvement, compliance, and workforce planning.
• Prior experience supporting HR operations for law enforcement, homeland security, public safety, national security, or mission-driven Federal organizations.
• Experience translating strategic HR goals into executable initiatives with defined roles, responsibilities, timelines, resource requirements, milestones, performance measures, and governance mechanisms.
• Experience helping agencies analyze workforce demographics, attrition and retirement projections, hiring trends, mission critical occupations, skills gaps, geographic staffing challenges, labor market conditions, policy impacts, and technology modernization needs.
• Familiarity with Federal workforce staffing models, model-driven staffing targets, annual staffing projections, surge requirements, readiness requirements, and workforce growth planning.
• Experience developing leadership-ready content that is actionable, measurable, compliant with Federal standards, and aligned to agency mission requirements and operational objectives.
• Experience supporting quality control of Federal deliverables, including validation of technical accuracy, completeness against PWS requirements, consistency with Government-provided data and guidance, documentation of assumptions, and alignment across related deliverables.