Vice President, Human Resources Business Partner, Central Coast & Central Valley Divisions

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership 

• Serve as the senior HR strategic partner to executives in the Central Coast and Central Valley, shaping the people, organization, engagement plan to achieve business outcomes.
• Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders, while translating business strategies into organization design, workforce planning/effectiveness, and culture priorities.
• Develop HR strategies that represent the business needs of the divisions, while championing an enterprise‑first mindset.
• Lead strategic workforce planning, organizational capability building, and operating model evolution required to support growth, access, and operational performance.
• Assess market trends, workforce challenges, regulatory changes, and demographic shifts to inform strategic HR decisions.
• Play a key role in the transformation of the Human Resources Model within your divisions, while contributing more broadly to the overall transformation.

Organization Effectiveness & Change Leadership

• Lead organizational design, integration efforts, and productivity improvement initiatives that enhance effectiveness and streamline operations.
• Drive engagement and change leadership strategies to support major transformations, mergers, organization changes, or expansion.
• Promote enterprise‑aligned practices while accommodating division‑specific operational needs.
• Act as a change agent, driving alignment, accountability, and measurable progress across complex, matrixed environments.

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Talent, Leadership Development & Succession Planning  

• Build and strengthen leadership pipeline through rigorous succession planning and talent assessment / leadership development in the Central Coast and Central Valley divisions. 
• Evaluate and grow leadership capability, including executive coaching, performance guidance, and transition support.
• Coach and develop leaders to enhance effectiveness in current role and prepare for roles of broader scale / scope. 
• Drive sustained business outcomes through strong talent plans. 

Labor & Employee Relations  

• Develop proactive, preventative strategies and plans that contribute to a positive work environment.  Play an active role, in partnership with centers of expertise and key stakeholders in labor relations, collective bargaining activities, and issue resolution. 
• Partner closely with employee relations center of expertise, once established.  Provide leadership and guidance on highly complex, sensitive and/or senior leadership matters and climate opportunities.
• Ensure consistent, proactive HR approaches to employee relations issues, conflict resolution, investigations, and workforce engagement.  Coach senior leaders on complex matters.
• Maintain deep understanding of federal, state (especially CA), and regional regulatory requirements.

Collaboration with COEs & Key Partners

• Serve as the primary business partner to senior leaders, driving strong collaboration and alignment across HR disciplines to ensure coordinated strategy execution as OneHR.
• Foster strong partnership with HR Centers of Expertise and key partners —including Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Learning, Disability / Leave Management, Labor Relations, Employee Relations, and HRIS—to deliver cohesive, scalable HR programs and outcomes.
• Ensure alignment of HR policies, practices, and programs across all sites within the divisions.
• Drive consistent use of enterprise resources, standardized processes, and tools to enhance service delivery and efficiency. 
• Drive innovative solutions and key simplification initiatives to impact ease of work and employee experience.

Division Leadership & Community Engagement  

• Strengthen relationships with community partners, local healthcare leaders, and industry organizations to enhance workforce pipelines and regional reputation.
• Promote a culture of belonging, respect, and performance aligned with Sutter Health’s values and mission.​

People Leadership  

• Provide executive leadership to high-performing HR team across the Central Coast and Central Valley divisions, ensuring clarity of priorities, development, and accountability.
• Foster a culture of trust, collaboration, belonging, and enterprise-first thinking with the team.
• Build team capability through coaching, performance management, and continuous improvement efforts. 
• Model operational excellence, strategic thinking, interpersonal effectiveness to elevate the HR team reputation and influence. 
• Ensure team succession through deep proactive talent development, mentoring and growth experiences.

System-Wide Strategic Influence  

• Lead large-scale, complex strategic system initiatives to drive business impact.
• Contribute insights from markets to shape policies, future workforce models, talent planning, and engagement strategies.
• Serve or lead systemwide HR councils, steering groups, or enterprise project teams to ensure division perspectives inform enterprise decisions.

QUALIFICATIONS 

Education 

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master's degree in HR, Business Administration, Industrial Relations, Organizational Psychology, or related field preferred. 

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Experience 

• 15+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including leading HR teams and serving as a senior HRBP or HR executive.
• Demonstrated success partnering with executive leadership in a large, complex, matrixed healthcare environment (5,000+ employees strongly preferred).
• Experience in talent planning, engagement strategies, organizational design, culture transformation, workforce effectiveness strategies, and change leadership.
• Expertise across core HR disciplines including employee relations, labor relations, talent management, compensation, and organizational development.
• Proven experience leading HR strategy across multiple sites or regions; multi‑division experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience, including developing high-performing teams, building succession depth, designing role clarity, and driving leadership accountability.
• Experience leading HR teams through transformation, capability building, and operating model evolution.

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Knowledge 

• Strong working knowledge of California employment law, labor regulations, and healthcare industry trends.
• Deep expertise in talent assessment, succession planning, engagement, preventative strategies, workforce effectiveness, and leadership development.

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Leadership Capabilities 

• Enterprise‑first mindset with the ability to balance division‑specific needs and system priorities.
• Strategic influence and executive presence; capable of challenging, coaching, and advising senior leaders.
• Exceptional communication skills—written, verbal, and interpersonal.
• Strong analytical and business acumen with a focus on organizational health and workforce ROI.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity while driving clarity, alignment, and accountability.
• Strong people leadership capabilities.

Success Measures 

• Leadership pipeline strength, diversity, and succession readiness within division.
• Operational experience of work metrics (engagement, including belonging, retention).
• Successful execution of organizational redesign, transformation, and workforce initiatives.
• Labor strategy effectiveness and reduction in high‑risk employee relations issues.
• Executive stakeholder satisfaction and partnership effectiveness.
• Consistency and scalability of HR delivery across both divisions.
• HR team capability growth, development outcomes, and succession depth.
• Development of high performing engaged team that delivers division/enterprise outcomes.

This role requires residence within the Sutter Health footprint and the ability to travel as needed to support the Central Valley and Central Coast divisions.