Head of Human Resources

About the role

The Head of Human Resources leads HR for Graeter’s Ice Cream’s retail scoop shops and manufacturing/plants, ensuring a single handbook, one pay structure, unified payroll, and the company‑wide ESOP while supporting roughly 2,000 team members at peak across 61 shops, two production facilities, and a distribution center.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain one employee handbook, pay structure, and standard of practice that apply to both retail and manufacturing employees.
• Oversee weekly payroll for all employees via Paycom, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Ensure youth‑employment compliance: manage work permits, school‑year hour restrictions, and prohibited‑duty rules for minors across the 61 scoop shops.
• Monitor wage‑hour consistency: audit break, timekeeping, and overtime practices to keep them compliant across all locations.
• Conduct internal investigations of serious matters as a trained, independent investigator.
• Partner with retail operations leadership as the HR point of contact for the Chief of Retail Operations.
• Support manufacturing, distribution, and corporate HR needs; collaborate with the CFO on the compensation program.
• Advise the CEO on HR issues and provide recommendations when retail and manufacturing priorities conflict, using the defined decision‑rights table.
• Manage the current HR team (you plus an HR Manager handling Paycom, payroll, and records) and plan to hire an HR Manager for Retail within six months to support the 61 shops.
• Preserve existing effective systems (retail and production training, benefits partner) while making steady improvements to the HR platform.

Requirements

• Experience leading HR in both a retail environment and a manufacturing/production setting, or deep expertise in one with a strong desire to master the other.
• Ability to discuss shop‑level turnover and workers’ compensation knowledgeably without relying on external benchmarks or consultants.
• Credibility to engage effectively with a district manager early morning, a plant supervisor at noon, and the CEO in the afternoon, maintaining a consistent demeanor.
• Interest in building a small team of high‑performing HR professionals rather than a large team of merely adequate ones.
• Preference for improving existing HR systems rather than replacing them, with the judgment to know when each approach is appropriate.
• Understanding that 40% of the company is employee‑owned via an ESOP and how that influences HR decisions.

Skills

• Fluency in Paycom HRIS, with informed views on how to leverage its full capabilities.
• Skill in distinguishing policies that should be universal across the business from those that should be tailored to retail or manufacturing, and ability to defend those distinctions.
• Experience conducting workplace investigations and maintaining proper documentation.
• Knowledge of youth‑employment regulations and wage‑hour laws applicable across multiple states.
• Competence in managing HR for a seasonal workforce that nearly doubles