Director of Academic Personnel Policies and Services (Academic HR Leader)

About the role

The role of ACADEMIC AFFAIRS (IN-ACAD-IUINA) is to provide senior-level leadership and expert guidance on academic personnel policies, faculty lifecycle processes, and faculty governance operations in support of the university's academic mission.

Department Specific Responsibilities

Reports to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs within the Provost's Office at Indiana University Indianapolis. Provides senior-level leadership and expert guidance on academic personnel policies, faculty lifecycle processes, and faculty governance operations in support of the university's academic mission.

• Serves as a trusted advisor to academic leadership, ensuring consistent, equitable, and policy-aligned practices across faculty appointment, advancement, review, and transition processes.
• Led a professional team responsible for the interpretation, implementation, and continuous improvement of academic personnel policies and systems, manages high-risk and highly complex faculty matters, and serves as the principal liaison between the Provost's Office, IUHR, and academic units.

Strategic Leadership

Provides strategic leadership for academic personnel policy implementation, ensuring alignment with university priorities, faculty governance actions, and applicable laws and regulations.

• Serves as a senior academic HR advisor to school HRBPs, school leadership, campus academic leadership, and IUHR on complex faculty and academic staff matters, including appointments, reappointments, non-reappointments, promotion and tenure, leaves, phased retirement, and emeritus status.
• Recommends policy clarifications, procedural enhancements, and operational improvements to mitigate institutional risk and improve consistency across academic units.

Academic HR Team Management

• Oversees and provides final approval authority for academic personnel transactions, including: Faculty and academic staff offers and contract approvals, Reappointments and non-reappointments, Promotion and tenure processes, Faculty leaves (medical, parental, incremental, sabbatical), Phased retirement and emeritus/emerita requests, Academic eDocs and related PeopleSoft transactions.
• Ensures data accuracy, policy compliance, and audit readiness for faculty personnel records and systems.
• Interprets and applies academic personnel policies, exercising independent professional judgment on high-impact cases in collaboration with the AVP for Faculty Affairs.

Policy Development and Implementation

• Makes recommendations for policy clarifications, procedural enhancements, and operational improvements to mitigate institutional risk and improve consistency across academic units.
• Maintains awareness of policy developments at the campus and university levels and supports the AVP for Faculty Affairs in policy analysis, revision, and implementation.

Team Leadership and Development

• Develops, motivates, and leads a highly effective academic HR team that delivers value to the organization with expert knowledge of academic processes related to recruitment, promotion and tenure, reappointments, employee relations, and other academic HR activities.
• Partners directly with leadership to develop and implement academic HR strategies.
• Provides strategic academic HR oversight to specified client groups, acting as a trusted adviser to leadership.
• Acts as a primary point of contact for senior leaders, providing expertise and guidance in the areas of recruitment, promotion and tenure, employee relations and other academic HR activities.
• Coaches leaders on leadership behaviors and practices focusing on development and performance strategies to promote engagement and a culture of continuous growth and development.
• Provides strategic academic HR consulting and problem-solving solutions on the most complex issues to leadership.

Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor's degree in related field.
• Preferred: Master's degree in related field.
• Required: 5 years progressively responsible academic HR or related experience influencing a wide variety of internal stakeholders.
• Preferred: 2 years of management experience in academic HR or related functions.

Skills

• Ability to inspire and develop staff.
• Ability to lead/manage others.
• Builds and manages effective teams.
• Effective leadership skills.
• Effectively coaches and delivers constructive feedback.
• Instills commitment to organizational goals.
• Strong HR generalist background.
• Pioneering ability to manage, lead, and drive change initiatives to deliver business results.
• Proven ability to manage, lead, and drive change.

Benefits

This role offers comprehensive medical and dental insurance, health savings account with generous IU contributions, healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts, basic group life insurance paid by IU, voluntary supplemental life, long-term disability, critical illness, and supplemental accidental death & dismemberment insurance, base retirement plan with generous IU contributions, subject to vesting, voluntary supplemental retirement plan options, tuition subsidy for employees and family members taking IU courses, 10 paid holidays plus a paid winter break each year, generous paid time off plans, paid leave for new parents and IU-sponsored volunteer events, employee assistance program (EAP), and more.

Pay

$95,000 - $110,000.00 For full-time staff employees, Indiana University offers a wide array of benefits.

Schedule

The position involves sedentary work as well as periods of time moving around an office environment and the campus.