Director, Employee Experience and Workplace Programs

At Early Warning, we’ve powered and protected the U.S. financial system for over thirty years with cutting-edge solutions like Zelle®, Paze℠, and so much more. As a trusted name in payments, we partner with thousands of institutions to increase access to financial services and protect transactions for hundreds of millions of consumers and small businesses.

Positions located in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Chicago, or New York follow a hybrid work model to allow for a more collaborative working environment.

Candidates responding to this posting must independently possess the eligibility to work in the United States, for any employer, at the date of hire. This position is ineligible for employment Visa sponsorship.

Lead employee experience, workplace programs, initiatives and partner with others to improve people processes.

Overall Purpose

The Employee Experience and Workplace Programs Director serves as a key leader within Early Warning Systems (EWS), driving a culture that values delivering unmatched employee experience and engagement, values diversity in all forms, and champions inclusion. This position creates solutions that drive a best-in-class employee experience culture that will influence employee engagement, retention, recognition, and performance management. This position collaborates across multiple functions to create a consistent and positive experience for all employees.  In addition, this position will assess our inclusivity practices to stay informed about external market practices, in partnership and at the advisement of our General Counsel and Government Relations offices.  

Essential Functions  

• Designs, plans, drives and socializes all Workplace Programs within the organization, including culture, engagement, diversity and inclusion, and work from office. 

• Designs and implements an employee engagement strategy that cultivates a positive, open, and innovative culture. 

• Leads a team supporting Workplace Programs including employee engagement and strategies office responsibilities. This work supports both the enterprise and the Chief People Officer’s priorities and is an important part of HR’s brand and “front door” to the company. 

• Serves as a key Influencer on all strategic people-related decisions, in partnership with the VP, People Strategies, ensuring that the business maintains alignment with the employee experience strategy. 

• Identifies, plans and leads people-related process improvement initiatives within HR and across various stakeholder groups. 

• Coordinates with our external survey partner to reflect on the findings, industry practices, and recommendations for action. Stays informed on all survey software changes to manage internal leader learning on those changes and coordinate with Learning & Development team where appropriate. Acts as change management steward on the Employee Engagement survey platform. 

• Partners with stakeholders and leaders to analyze and interpret employee engagement survey key findings and looks for common enterprise and departmental themes.   

• Facilitates the engagement survey results review process and creation of action plans and presentations, and follow-up on progress, successes, and communication.  

• Determines if any employee engagement related training is needed specific to the software platform, process, or any other areas of focus to support engagement for leaders. Conducts leader training workshops to review and discuss company and sample departmental results.  

• Partners with HR Business Partners, HR Managers, Employee Relations, Talent Acquisition and leaders on strategic planning to support and inspire employee engagement by creating a collaborative and EWS value-driven environment. 

• Provides insight and guidance to Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) to empower and strengthen our internal communities based on employee engagement and Workplace Programs’ objectives, plans and next steps. 

• Documents, socializes and executes Workplace Program strategies and roadmaps. 

• Measures, tracks and analyzes the effectiveness of our employee experience enhancing initiatives. 

• Leverages internal and external data to provide deep analysis and insights, staying apprised of industry trends, successes to leverage from industry peers and leaders in Workplace Programs. 

• Supports the organizations flexible workforce initiatives, as assigned. 

• Supports the company’s commitment to risk management and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of systems and data. 

Minimum Qualifications 

• Education and/or experience typically obtained through the completion of a bachelor’s degree 10 or more years of relevant business experience with a focus on HR and/or team leadership. 

• Leading teams, direct line reporting, for 5 or more years and dotted line reporting for more than 5 years. 

• Experience partnering with and influencing senior leaders to help drive people strategies and increase business outcomes. 

•  Ability to drive results in a fast-paced environment, flexible, able to change direction quickly and manage projects through ambiguity and constant change. 

• Demonstrates a high level of influencing, independent thinking, matrix working, and a driving force to design and embed required initiatives. 

• Proven experience and thought leadership with various people-related programs like culture, employee engagement, inclusivity, work from office, etc. 

• Demonstrates grit and a will to win in order to achieve impressive demonstrable outcomes. 

• Highly collaborative team player with a focus on engaging with people, specific to supporting growth. 

• Expertise in developing deep, trusting relationships with all levels within the organization. 

• Effectively consult (listen, understand, and influence) people at all levels (including senior leadership) in a qualitative and quantitative manner. 

• Proactive problem solver. Conceptualize problem spaces as systems and apply a “model thinker” approach. 

• Ability to consult and recommend solutions to leadership using data and analytics to solve people and business-related problems. 

• Background and drug screen. 

Physical Requirements

Working conditions consist of a normal office environment. Work is primarily sedentary and requires extensive use of a computer and involves sitting for periods of approximately four hours. Work may require occasional standing, walking, kneeling, and reaching. Must be able to lift 10 pounds occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently. Requires visual acuity and dexterity to view, prepare, and manipulate documents and office equipment including personal computers. Requires the ability to communicate with internal and/or external customers. Employee must be able to perform essential functions and physical requirements of position with or without reasonable accommodation.

The above job description is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and standards of the position. Incumbents will follow instructions and perform other related duties as assigned by their supervisor.

The base pay scale for this position in:

Phoenix, AZ in USD per year is: $160,000 - $180,000.
Additionally, candidates are eligible for a discretionary incentive plan and benefits.

This pay scale is subject to change and is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any specific candidate, which is always dependent on legitimate factors considered at the time of job offer. Early Warning Services takes into consideration a variety of factors when determining a competitive salary offer, including, but not limited to, the job scope, market rates and geographic location of a position, candidate’s education, experience, training, and specialized skills or certification(s) in relation to the job requirements and compared with internal equity (peers). The business actively supports and reviews wage equity to ensure that pay decisions are not based on gender, race, national origin, or any other protected classes.

Some of the Ways We Prioritize Your Health and Happiness 

•  Healthcare Coverage – Competitive medical (PPO/HDHP), dental, and vision plans as well as company contributions to your Health Savings Account (HSA) or pre-tax savings through flexible spending accounts (FSA) for commuting, health & dependent care expenses.

• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Featuring a 100% Company Safe Harbor Match on your first 6% deferral immediately upon eligibility.

• Paid Time Off – Unlimited Time Off for Exempt (salaried) employees, as well as generous PTO for Non-Exempt (hourly) employees, plus 11 paid company holidays and a paid volunteer day.

• 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave

• Maven Family Planning – provides support through your Parenting journey including egg freezing, fertility, adoption, surrogacy, pregnancy, postpartum, early pediatrics, and returning to work.

And SO much more! We continue to enhance our program, so be sure to check our Benefits page here for the latest. Our team can share more during the interview process!

Early Warning Services, LLC (“Early Warning”) considers for employment, hires, retains and promotes qualified candidates on the basis of ability, potential, and valid qualifications without regard to race, religious creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, protected veteran or disability status or any factor prohibited by law, and as such affirms in policy and practice to support and promote equal employment opportunity and affirmative action, in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and municipal laws. The company also prohibits discrimination on other bases such as medical condition, marital status or any other factor that is irrelevant to the performance of our employees.