IPAS

Network Human Resources Director

US, NC, Chapel Hill Full time
Salary for a US-based candidate starts at $127,000. Compensation for this position will be determined by the prevailing market rate in the employee's country and the applicable statutory laws, in addition to Ipas's own pay philosophy and other factors, such as the employee's experience level and expertise.

*This position may work remotely from any of the following US states: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, MD, MA, MI, NJ, NY, NC, PA, SC, TX, VA, WA. Additionally, the position may work remotely from any of the following countries outside of the US: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya/Alliance locations, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, and Zambia.

The Network Human Resources Director is a strategic and operational HR leader who serves as a trusted advisor and HR business partner across the network. This role ensures alignment of HR practices with organizational goals and values, while also driving capacity - building and innovation in HR processes. The position focuses on delivering expert solutions for complex HR challenges, advancing ethics and equity, and strengthening HR as a strategic partner across the network. The incumbent will lead the design and delivery of standardized HR frameworks and programs across the network, balancing consistency with the flexibility required for country-level contextualization. All HR programs will align with local regulatory requirements, organizational strategy, and operational realities, ensuring consistent quality while remaining responsive to diverse country contexts. A core responsibility will be to lead and strengthen a Community of Practice of HR practitioners across approximately 15 countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. This includes developing both technical and leadership capability within the network to enable high-quality execution of HR solutions at the country level, particularly in support of organizational design, restructuring, workforce planning, and efficiency-building initiatives. Acting as a strategic advisor, the role partners closely with country and regional leadership to support the effective implementation of HR strategies, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities and operational goals. This is primarily an advisory and enabling role, providing strategic scaffolding, thought leadership, and coaching, while systematically strengthening the capacity of in-country HR teams to independently deliver strong HR outcomes. The role holder will design high-quality HR programs and oversee their effective rollout, supporting country teams to translate strategy into execution and results. Working closely with senior leadership, including the COO and country and regional directors, the role contributes to organizational effectiveness through support on governance, ethics, risk management, diversity, equity and inclusion, and crisis management. Strong influencing, facilitation, and interpersonal skills are essential to build trust, align stakeholders, and foster a cohesive, high-performing HR community of practice across the network.

HR Business Partner
• Serve as the HR business partner for hosted positions, managing compensation, employer-of-record relationships, and related HR functions.
• Provide thought leadership and operational support for complex, cross-node HR challenges, ensuring systemic solutions and alignment with organizational goals.
• Mediate HR-related conflicts across nodes and functions within the network, fostering resolution and collaboration.
• Develop network engagement strategies and create an accountability structure for engagement survey responses and initiatives.

Capacity-Building and Leadership Development
• Lead capacity-building initiatives for HR teams and network leadership to address complex HR issues with a systems-thinking approach.
• Champion and coordinate network-level HR initiatives as the "host" of the HR Community of Practice (CoP).
• Work with HR Advisors across the Network to support leadership development including intentional succession planning for key roles.
• Create a communication and education plan for leaders across the Network to maximize the potential of the HR-Management partnership.

Strategic HR Leadership
• Collaborate with Finance and Operations teams to address global compensation challenges, ensuring equity and sustainability.
• Lead special strategic HR projects as identified.
• Work closely with NetCARE and HR advisors to support Network Culture and employee engagement.


Ethics and Equity
• Serve as a thought partner on ethical considerations related to HR practices and policies across the network.
• Serve as HR lead for recommended actions regarding Ethics Point investigations.
• Lead and collaborate on multi-dimensional equity issues for the Network.
• Serve as a resource to support the local recruitment, retention, and advancement of underrepresented groups, in leadership positions.
• Serve as the resource to Employee Resource Group leads.

Minimum Requirement
• Bachelor’s degree in related field; Human Resources, Business Administration, or similar acumen OR equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of 15-20 years of increasing levels of Human Resources experience.
• Significant HR expertise with a mix of strategic and operational experience in global or network-based organizations.
• The candidate will bring deep experience across multiple HR functions and geographies, with demonstrated success working in complex, multicultural environments and a strong commitment to building people systems that effectively balance global standardization with local customization.
• Demonstrated ability to address complex HR challenges with a thoughtful, resourceful, and solutions-oriented approach.
• Strong advisory capability to support country directors, senior leadership, and HR managers; experience in developing HR talent and strengthening functional maturity at country level.
• Proven experience in capacity-building, systems-thinking, and conflict resolution within diverse and multi-country contexts.
• Strong mediation, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to navigate sensitive issues, competing priorities and diverse stakeholder expectations effectively.
• Ability to be effective and inclusive while leading projects, training sessions and partnering in a multiculture environment.
• Ability to lead and influence with care and empathy. Cultural humility and the ability to connect with diverse perspectives and lived experiences across countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
• Experience living and working in more than one country, particularly in implementing countries or similar settings.
• Entrepreneurial, hands-on and change leadership mindset, with the ability to operate as a builder and enabler, not just a manager.
• Interpersonal maturity and leadership presence; credibility with senior leaders and trust-building ability with country teams.
• Fluency in English with excellent written and oral communication.
• Proficiency in all Microsoft products.


Preferred Skills
• Conversational fluency in Spanish, French, Portuguese, or other language that is relevant for our employee population
• Professional Human Resources Certification (SPHR, GPHR, CCP, SHRM-SCP or international equivalent)
• Strong analytical capability is essential. The role will analyze HR and workforce datasets to inform decision-making around compensation and benefits, workforce planning, training needs analysis, organizational risks, and performance management.
• Experience supporting ethics, governance, safeguarding, DEI and compliance frameworks; ability to contribute to crisis management and organizational resilience planning.
• Track record of leading through strategic influence, empathy and clarity rather than authoritative structures
• Experience in the international NGO sector
• Experience in equity driven organizations
• Experience working in a decentralized and diverse organization and/or networked organization

Ability to travel internationally up to 15- 20% of the time

Ipas is strongly committed to providing a work environment that is free from all forms of harassment, discrimination, and inequity.  We recruit, employ, train, promote, and compensate our personnel without regard to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, color, creed, ancestry, citizenship, caste, ethnicity, regional identity, tribal identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic protected by law or outlined by Ipas policy. Ipas acknowledges that these personal characteristics may differ in different contexts.