Vice President for People and Culture (Apply via Search Firm)

About the role

The Vice President for People and Culture is a cabinet-level executive leader reporting directly to the President and serves as San José State University’s (SJSU) chief executive authority on workforce strategy, personnel governance, labor relations, and employment compliance.

Responsibilities

• Sets enterprise-wide human capital strategy aligned with institutional mission and academic priorities.
• Leads executive-level fiscal oversight and resource stewardship of the People & Culture portfolio.
• Establishes governance frameworks for employment practices, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.
• Drives modernization of people systems, processes, and service delivery models to improve efficiency, compliance, and user experience.
• Ensures accountability, performance standards, and strategic alignment across divisional leadership, including direct oversight of senior administrators within the portfolio.
• Oversees institutional workforce analytics and reporting to inform executive decision-making.
• Acts as the President’s designee for interpretation and application of collective bargaining agreements for faculty and staff.
• Leads strategic labor engagement and partnership frameworks with union leadership.
• Anticipates and mitigates institutional labor risk exposure within a multi-union higher education environment.
• Oversees grievance administration architecture and ensures consistent and legally sound contract interpretation.
• Provides executive guidance on disciplinary matters, dispute resolution, mediation, and arbitration.
• Aligns bargaining strategy with institutional priorities and workforce sustainability goals.
• Advises the President and Cabinet on workforce implications of institutional decisions, restructuring initiatives, and strategic investments.
• Participates in Academic Senate, executive committees, and campus governance forums as the senior employment authority.
• Leads enterprise-wide organizational development and change management initiatives.
• Oversees complaint management systems and investigation integrity standards to ensure fairness, consistency, and regulatory compliance.
• Directs institutional risk mitigation strategies related to Title IX, equal opportunity, and employment law compliance.
• Advises executive leadership on compliance risk posture and policy implications associated with Title IX and related mandates.

Requirements

• A master’s degree in human resources management, business administration, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Eight to ten years of progressively responsible Human Resources management experience.

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of CSU policies, collective bargaining agreements, and state and federal employment law.
• Demonstrated ability to lead enterprise workforce transformation and organizational redesign initiatives.
• Experience advising senior executive leadership on labor strategy, compliance risk, and workforce planning.
• Proven leadership in modernizing HR systems, workforce analytics, and service delivery models.
• Ability to manage institutional risk in highly regulated environments.
• Strong strategic decision-making capability with sound judgment in sensitive personnel matters.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust across faculty, staff, and administrative constituencies.
• Capacity to lead cross-functional change initiatives and align diverse stakeholder groups.

Skills

• Executive-level experience in personnel governance within a complex, unionized higher education environment.
• Demonstrated ability to lead executive-level fiscal oversight and resource stewardship of the People & Culture portfolio.
• Experience leading or managing Human Resources and Faculty Affairs functions within a higher education environment.
• Two to five years of experience managing faculty human resources processes.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of faculty and staff employment requirements.
• Experience working within a collective bargaining environment.