Design Science is a human factors research firm, founded in 1991. Our mission is to amplify the needs of patients, their caregivers, and healthcare professionals in order to cultivate the advancement of healthcare technology. We do this in partnership with some of the world’s leading medical device and pharmaceutical companies, harnessing the skills of members of our organization in human factors research, design, and video to collect important insights about how users interact with medical products. Research results in outcomes like easier and faster therapies, and ultimately, a better quality of life for patients.

Design Science is headquartered in the heart of Philadelphia, PA, with offices in Evanston, IL and Munich, Germany. We have over 30 employees working across our three locations. Our team is made up of diverse, talented, caring individuals who value socially impactful work in a collaborative culture. We offer the opportunity to grow as a professional, experiencing a wide variety of projects and clients in a growing organization.

Overview:

Design Science seeks a dynamic, experienced, and entrepreneurial professional to lead the organization’s efforts to recruit, assess, grow, and retain top-quality, diverse talent and foster an equitable, just, and positive organizational culture. This individual will bring a passion for creatively recruiting, developing, and maintaining high-performing staff and for building race-forward, equitable organizations. Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Head of Talent & Culture will have experience in planning and execution of human resource strategies, solving complex people and system problems, managing through change, and scaling complexity without sacrificing attention to detail. Limited travel is required.

Essential Responsibilities and Activities:

Talent Acquisition

• Develop, lead, and train staff on organization-wide recruitment strategies, policies, and practices to hire high-quality and diverse staff.
• Drive and participate in hiring processes including partnering with Hiring Managers to draft job descriptions and develop hiring plans.
• Develop and maintain relationships with external candidate pipelines and embed a culture of recruitment throughout the organization.
• Manage applicant tracking and develop mechanisms to track and report on staff analytics.

 Talent Management & Development

• Develop, lead, and train staff on robust performance management strategies, policies, and practices tied to core values and organizational goals.
• Create and run comprehensive supervisor training with a focus on effectively managing, setting clear expectations, holding staff accountable, and coaching and mentoring staff.
• Manage HR-related processes (i.e., benefits administration, payroll, etc.) and issues and partner with insurance and legal experts to remediate problems that arise.
• Design, develop, and implement talent solutions, programs, and approaches to be used, including Succession Planning, Talent Reviews, Goal Setting and Performance Management, Competency Strategy, and High Potential identification.
• Develop a compensation philosophy, ensuring that compensation at Design Science is externally competitive and internally consistent.
• Partner with senior management to develop and lead meaningful staff engagements—including staff retreats, meetings, and celebrations —that strengthen relationships, build culture, and cohere staff around mission, strategies, and work plans.

 Organizational Culture & Equity

• Partner with senior management to establish and cultivate policies, practices, and norms that support an inclusive, equitable, humane, and just organizational culture.
• Develop and lead an organizational equity advancement plan that engages all staff and supports and builds staff diversity and inclusion skills and practice.
• Drive processes with the leadership team to further define and promote a culture that will inspire and energize our team to do their best every day.
• Partner with senior management to identify and work to address staff morale issues, as needed.

 Leadership

• Provide oversight and direction to the office management team (i.e., Office Manager(s), Technology Staff, Temps/Contractors, etc.)
• Act as intra-office liaison, fostering and maintaining good communications between Philadelphia, Chicago, and Munich offices.
• Stays abreast and educate leadership on emerging trends and best-practices for culture, engagement, talent review, and career development programs to ensure the organization is prepared with effective tools, infrastructure, and methodologies to meet the current and future talent needs of the business.

Candidate Profile:

The ideal candidate will have a bachelor’s degree, 3+ years of relevant experience (i.e., organizational development/effectiveness, change management, talent management, etc.), 5+ years’ work experience (SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP certification is a plus), along with the following personal competencies and characteristics:

·         Talent recruitment, management, and organizational development experience: You have a track record of success in performing and training talent recruitment, management, and organizational development best practices. You are dedicated to building and maintaining a highly productive, equitable and inclusive organizational culture in a dynamic environment. You are organized and will maintain records that allow collaboration and effective management of recruitment and hiring processes.

·         Strategic thinking and thoughtful problem-solving skills: You have a high level of emotional intelligence and can thoughtfully and accurately assess and solve highly complicated people and system problems. You are an adept strategic thinker and bring intellectual depth and maturity to work with stakeholders. You are eager to execute on plans and to drive and develop process improvements to foster efficiencies and continual growth of the organization.

·         Self-initiative and advanced project management skills: You can manage multiple priorities, organize a large volume of work, and keep it flowing through the pipeline. You are tenacious and proactive with the ability to get things done. You have a track record of developing and implementing new or improved systems and processes and achieving strong results while maintaining an inclusive, collaborative leadership style.

·         Excellent relationship-building skills: You have a demonstrated ability to work well with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and all levels within an organization including maintaining a high level of strict confidentiality.

·         Ability to communicate and collaborate in-person and virtually: ​You are proficient with Microsoft Office, a strong verbal and written communicator, responsive, and willing to participate in virtual meetings, as needed, though will be expected to be in the office most of the time post-pandemic.

Here’s what we’re offering:

• Full-time, salaried, exempt position
• Compensation commensurate with experience
• Benefits: Health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance(s), 401k with match, 20 days PTO to start, paid holidays, dependent care FSA, work from home and flex work options, and more! 

Other:  Due to COVID-19 restrictions our employees are currently working from home unless required to be in the office but will eventually be back in the office full-time.  

Resume / cover letter required. 

Visit our website / blog at www.dscience.com for more information, or check us out on social media @designscience .