Director of Human Resources, College of Liberal Arts

Job Posting Title:

Director of Human Resources, College of Liberal Arts

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Hiring Department:

College of Liberal Arts

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt from FLSA

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Earliest Start Date:

Oct 19, 2026

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

UT MAIN CAMPUS

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Job Details:

General Notes

What benefits do I receive with UT?  The university offers an impressive benefits package. For more details on benefits, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards.

 

For more information about the College of Liberal Arts, please visit: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/.  

 

Our college seeks to build a supportive, growth-minded community and cultivate outstanding and courageous leaders. For more information on the college staff leadership academy, please visit:

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/resources-for-faculty-staff/staff-leadership-academy/.

 

For more information on college staff professional development, please visit:

https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/larc/Staff+Professional+Development+Fund.

Purpose

Provides strategic leadership and oversight for all human resources functions within the College of Liberal Arts, serving as the principal advisor to the Dean and college leadership on HR matters and ensuring effective workforce planning, compliance, talent management, and HR operations. Directs HR strategy, operations, and talent management initiatives to ensure alignment with college and university priorities, legal and policy requirements, and the effective administration of human resources services across the college.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Oversee human resources for the college. Serve as member of COLA’s leadership team as primary executive advising Dean and other COLA leaders on strategic HR matters. Represent COLA at the university level as the primary HR liaison with Human Resource Services, the President’s Office, Provost’s Office, University Risk & Compliance Services, Legal Affairs, and other offices across campus. Represent the college on committees, task forces, and leadership forums, and build productive partnerships with central offices and HR colleagues across the institution. Collaborate with leadership team on developing policies and implementing best practices. 
• Workforce Planning & Management: Partner with COLA leadership to develop and implement workforce strategies, organizational structures, talent management initiatives, and governance practices aligned with college priorities. Collaborate with leaders within COLA and across the university to navigate change and ensure effective HR operations aligned with the strategic mission of the college and the university. Keep abreast of policy and procedural changes in all areas. Provide reporting to advise on policy matters. Work closely with chairs, directors and department managers to advise and support unit-level HR matters. Provide additional support during leadership and staffing transitions.
• Compliance: Review processes for and execute university compliance efforts on behalf of COLA, in partnership with the Dean. Enforce and facilitate COLA’s compliance with university and college policies, State and Federal laws, and university ethical guidelines, especially in matters of employment and related HR matters, including communication, reporting, and follow-up. Ensure timely and accurate responses to internal audit requests and external open records requests involving HR matters.
• HR Operations: Oversee HR business processes in Workday for college. Ensure appropriate security role assignments in Workday for college staff working on HR matters. Develop and oversee organization alignments in Workday to ensure compliance and efficiency across the College. Partner with Assistant Dean for Finance & Administration to oversee and maintain COLA operations. Help lead faculty promotion review, salary adjustments, student mass processing, and other large-scale HR processes. Perform audits on college structure and employee roles; evaluate processing needs on both unit and function bases and provide recommendations for optimal function. Serve as timekeeping and time off lead for the college. Serve as timekeeper for Dean’s Office staff. Primary liaison with EBiTs. Provide training to COLA staff on HR issues and processes.
• Performance Management: distribute, interpret, and enforce policies; meet with senior staff to emphasize important issues, communicate upcoming changes, and solicit ideas for improvement and innovation around best practices; ensure receipt and logging of staff annual appraisals; oversee merit process; oversee staff awards processes; receive complaints; consult and coach on performance issues; carry out investigations in collaboration with SWS, Title IX, DIA, & Dispute Resolution office, as needed; process disciplinary actions. Develop trusted partnerships with college and unit leadership to remain informed of personnel-related issues to help ensure effective and timely management and resolution.
• Staffing: Oversee staffing for the college, aligned with college mission, business needs, and funding. Ensure appropriate classification and compensation of positions within college. Conduct staff audits as needed; guide reorganizations and evaluate possibilities for centralizing administrative functions when appropriate. Provide college HR approvals for all position reclassifications, additional duties requests, and recruitments. Oversee recruitment of lead personnel within Dean’s Office and college units, including applicant screening, interviews, and hiring recommendations. Oversee retention efforts. Provide reporting and staffing recommendations to the Dean.
• Team Leadership and Supervision: Oversee a team of professional staff supporting all faculty, staff, and student HR functions for the college. Establish performance expectations, provide coaching and professional development, manage performance, and ensure accountability for accurate, responsive, and service-oriented HR operations; collaborate to streamline business processes and eliminate redundancy where possible.
• Other related functions as assigned.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field, and ten (10) years of progressively responsible human resources experience; Experience in higher education. Excellent interpersonal, analytical, written, oral, and presentation skills. Demonstrated ability to lead and manage difficult conversations and situations, work collaboratively with multiple constituencies in a complex organization, and build trust across a decentralized, multi-stakeholder environment. Demonstrated experience leading HR operations in a large, complex organization, with a track record of managing the full employee lifecycle across multiple employee types. Demonstrated experience leading large-scale organizational design and change initiatives in a complex, multi-departmental institution, including restructuring, workforce and organizational planning, and organizational effectiveness assessments with multiple constituencies. Supervisory or team leadership experience, including coaching and developing HR staff. Comprehensive knowledge of employment law and HR compliance relevant to higher education. Strong consultative, coaching, and conflict-resolution skills, with the ability to advise leadership on sensitive and escalated matters. Demonstrated ability to interpret complex policies, regulations, and organizational requirements and assess their operational impact. Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to build trust across a decentralized, multi-stakeholder environment. Experience supporting faculty and academic personnel processes in a complex higher education environment.

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

Master's degree and six (6) or more years of equivalent experience.  HR experience within a Tier I or R1 higher education research institution. Experience supporting academic and research personnel, classified staff, and student employees across the employee lifecycle. SHRM-CP/SCP, PHR/SPHR, or equivalent HR certification. Experience leading or contributing to HR standardization efforts across a decentralized organization. Experience with Workday or another enterprise HR application and using HR technology to improve operational effectiveness. Advanced experience supporting faculty affairs, including academic personnel processes, faculty governance, and institution-specific promotion and review practices. Previous experience with the assembly and presentation of faculty promotion dossiers. Working knowledge of UT's administrative structure, policies, procedures, and personnel, including experience collaborating with Human Resources, the Provost’s Office, and other central administrative offices.

Salary Range

$145,000 + depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

• Standard office environment.
• Repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation.
• Occasional local, domestic or international travel may be required. 
• Occasional extended evening or weekend work hours may be required.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded.  Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.