Sr. Manager, Compliance and Employee Relations
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- United States
- Work setup
- Remote
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- 6+ years
- Category
- Hr
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 6+ years of progressive HR, employee relations, or compliance experience, including direct investigation experience
- Demonstrated success implementing multi-state compliance programs in a high-volume, distributed workforce, with measurable improvements in accuracy, turnaround time, or operational simplicity.
- Strong working knowledge of employment practices and requirements across multiple U.S. jurisdictions
- Experience with I-9/E-Verify, background and credential compliance, wage and hour, leave, accommodations, or other workforce compliance programs.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex or sensitive issues clearly to non-HR audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to operate independently, manage competing priorities, and build structure in a growing organization.
Nice to have
- Experience in high-complexity, employee-protective states such as New York, Illinois, or California
- PHR/SPHR or SHRM-CP/SCP
- Experience in staffing, contingent workforce, or education-sector HR
- Experience supporting or leading HR/compliance work associated with entering a new state or market
- Experience designing compliance tools or training for non-HR audiences
Full description
Senior Manager, Compliance & Employee Relations
About the Role
Every day, teacher absences cost students learning time, a loss felt hardest in under-resourced schools. Kokua closes that gap by connecting schools with passionate guest educators who step in and make an immediate difference in the classroom, delivering substitute teaching staffing services across a growing, multi-state footprint that we're continuing to expand.
At Kokua, compliance is how we keep classrooms safe and covered. Every guest educator we place has to be screened, cleared, and credentialed for the state, district, and school they're working in. If that work is wrong, students may be put at risk. If it's slow or overly complex, classrooms go uncovered. Either way, school partners lose trust in us. Getting it right is central to the service we provide.
The Senior Manager, Compliance & Employee Relations owns Kokua's workforce compliance framework: the standards, controls, and employee relations expertise that keep Kokua's people practices sound as the company scales into new states. Rather than owning every process that touches a compliance requirement, you'll translate legal and regulatory complexity into simple, scalable processes that Talent, Operations, and other frontline teams can execute themselves, with you providing the oversight, monitoring, training, and escalation path that keeps it all working.
You'll work closely with Talent, Operations, Payroll, and HRBP to make sure compliance gets executed where the work actually happens, not just designed centrally and handed down.
Essential Duties
Educator clearance and student safety
- Maintain a requirements matrix by state, market, and school partner covering screening, credentialing, training, and other placement requirements.
- Define background screening, fingerprinting, credentialing, and mandatory reporting training requirements for guest educators.
- Establish controls that prevent assignments before required clearance is complete, and monitor those controls for gaps.
- Coordinate educator misconduct matters and required reporting with Operations, the VP of People, and counsel.
Employee relations case management and investigations
- Independently manage routine and moderately complex ER cases, including investigation, documentation, recommendations, and resolution. Escalate high-risk or legally complex matters to the VP of People and/or external counsel as appropriate.
- Partner with managers and HRBPs to determine appropriate responses, corrective action, and follow-up.
Compliance program ownership
- Own the standards, controls, and framework for Kokua's workforce compliance program across the full employee lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding through employment changes, leaves and accommodations, and separation. Talent, Operations, Payroll, and other functions execute the day-to-day steps within that framework.