Associate Director, NYUAD Employee Relations & Business Partner

Serve as an employee relations partner for work matters at the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) campus. Investigate problems such as working conditions, disciplinary actions, and employee and applicant appeals and grievances. Provide advice, problem resolution, and facilitation in complex employee relations, performance management, and HR policies, procedures, and documentation. Research, identify, and analyze specific employee relations concerns and make appropriate recommendations.

Additionally, serve as an HR Business Partner for select business units or on an assigned basis for the NYUAD organization. Act as a client account manager, HR strategist, and project manager to ensure effective strategic and tactical HR service delivery. Provide strategic diagnosis of people-related organizational planning, including coaching and counseling senior clients, translating organizational strategy into tactical goals, aligning resources for initiative planning and execution, and developing metrics to measure success.

Responsibilities

• Investigate and resolve employee relations issues, including working conditions, disciplinary actions, and appeals/grievances.
• Provide guidance on complex employee relations, performance management, and HR policies.
• Serve as an HR Business Partner for assigned business units, acting as a client account manager and HR strategist.
• Develop and implement HR strategies aligned with organizational goals, including coaching senior leadership.
• Translate organizational strategy into tactical HR objectives and ensure effective execution.
• Develop metrics to measure the success of HR initiatives.
• Travel to the United Arab Emirates for NYU Abu Dhabi leadership and client support as requested.
• Work early mornings (New York time) to meet NYUAD client obligations.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree (required).
• Juris Doctorate (J.D.) or Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Human Resources Management, or related field (preferred).
• 7+ years of relevant experience in employee relations and/or as a human resources generalist in a professional or managerial capacity (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
• 1+ years of experience working in a global environment, in addition to relevant U.S. work experience.
• 3+ years of experience supporting an organization based in the GCC region (preferred).

Skills

• Thorough knowledge of employment and labor laws and regulations.
• Effective conflict resolution, facilitation, and consultation skills.
• Strong fact-finding, analysis, problem-solving, and consulting abilities.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Experience handling highly sensitive and confidential information.
• Strong leadership, judgment, and discretion in maintaining working relationships.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Familiarity with databases, data analysis, and modeling as management tools.
• Proficiency in standard work productivity software.
• Understanding of a client-facing, HR business partner service model.
• Strong consultative, negotiation, analytical, and influencing skills.
• Solid business and organizational knowledge (finance, operations).
• Significant multi-tasking and spatial thinking abilities.
• Familiarity with labor law in the United Arab Emirates (preferred).

Pay

The annual base salary range for this position is USD $160,000.00 to USD $180,000.00. New York University considers factors such as scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer.