People & Operations Manager

Organization Overview

Californians for Justice is a statewide, youth-powered organization fighting to improve the lives of people of color, immigrants, low-income families, LGBQiA2S+/TGNC youth and other marginalized communities. Through organizing in schools and in their neighborhoods, youth who join Californians for Justice become leaders in their own communities. They deepen their knowledge on issues like systemic racism, gender and sexuality, and education inequity, and organize and activate their peers to take action.

CFJ is the only grassroots, youth-powered organization in California that organizes students to have a voice in both local and statewide education policy. Our campaign and policy reform goals include adequate and equitable school funding, increased access and success in K-12 and higher education, and creating Relationship Centered Schools - schools that invest in youth voice, in staff, and in creating space for youth and adults to build positive relationships with one another. CFJ currently has four regional offices in Fresno, Long Beach, San Jose and Oakland, 45 full-time equivalent staff and a budget of $7 million.

Californians for Justice has been successful because of our strong, dedicated staff team. CFJ staff are unwavering in their commitment to youth power and racial justice, to building connection and trust with their teams, and have a strong sense of purpose and dignity in their work.

Position Overview

The People & Operations Manager is part of a 4-person operations team tasked with overseeing human resources and administration for CFJ and our fiscally sponsored project, Youth Organize California. The role focuses on human resources functions including payroll, benefits, hiring, and performance management, along with nonprofit operations, including technology, legal compliance, and risk management.

The People & Operations Manager will own our payroll system (currently Paylocity) and become an expert in all our active modules (time & labor, payroll, recruitment, and performance management). Under the direction of the People & Operations Director, this individual will also oversee all technology for the organization.

Additional Details

The position is full-time and non-exempt. In all duties and responsibilities, this position exercises discretion and independent judgment. The position can be based in any of CFJ’s four offices - Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland or San Jose with some statewide travel required. We are currently working in a hybrid environment with staff expected to attend in-person training(s), team, and community building events.

Organizational CompetenciesManagers at CFJ are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the following competencies:

• Impactful Collaboration - Engages peers and teams to root themselves in the work. Recommends projects or programs needed for achieving dept goals and implements processes to ensure high-quality, impactful results for the community. Interprets department level goals and completes or delegates tasks to be done in order to achieve goals.
• Problem Solving - Asks and answers: Who can help us? Leverages other teams' expertise to solve long-term foreseeable problems that affect the department or function. Proposes solutions that fall outside of already defined process and procedures to operate more efficiently.
• Sustainability - Possesses high degree of emotional intelligence; coaches peers to develop presences and rootedness. Speaks about and trains community leaders on developing resilient protagonism. Solicits and shares effective feedback regularly with peers and supervisors.
• Communication - Begins to lead communication efforts to external parties or partners - may own relationships. Listens to their peers and seeks connection. When identifying problems affecting the team to others, proposes strategies and gets buy-in on solutions. Makes others better through work reviews, thorough documentation, area of expertise guidance, mentoring, and/or leading a project.
• Relationship-Building - Uses accumulated experience to lead projects that require multiple teams to contribute and assist teams overcome obstacles through well-developed working relationships with cross-functional peers. Helps to facilitate relationship-building for more junior members of the team.
• Fostering Growth - Provides first-line support for job tasks in which employees need assistance. Mentors and encourages teams in areas of potential development. Learns to be an effective hiring manager. Develops strategies to balance their own individual work and driving results through a team of direct reports.

Essential ResponsibilitiesHuman Resources Administration (60%)

• Manage payroll and all payroll-related systems (i.e. Paylocity)
• With support from the Program Operations Coordinator, manage all HR administrative processes for a staff of 45+ people, including a fiscally sponsored project for whom we provide HR support.
• Manage benefits, including but not limited to health care, FSA, PTO, 401k, EAP, and parental leave. This includes adding and terminating staff, completing regular administrative tasks, and working with a broker on benefit plan options
• Manage the hiring of new staff members including recruitment, hiring, offboarding and other staff transitions; work closely to provide support and guidance to hiring managers
• Manage performance management at CFJ, including annual performance reviews, individual goal-setting, and professional development
• Maintain awareness and knowledge of labor law and assure organizational compliance, including providing guidance to staff and supervisors and managing organizational risks
• Work with the People & Operations Director and Sr. People & Operations Director to ensure personnel policies relevant to your areas of responsibility are updated on an annual basis
• Continually improve HR practices, including aligning processes with CFJ’s Black Liberation values and other organizational priorities
• Research, problem-solve, and make recommendations on complex HR administrative questions that inevitably arise
• Support the People & Operations Team on other human resource matters as needed

Nonprofit Infrastructure and Technology (35%) Manage all nonprofit infrastructure and technology systems for CFJ’s four regional offices.

• Serve as the go-to person for all administrative and technology issues for staff and four regional offices
• Act as primary day-to-day contact for CFJ’s Managed IT Services Provider
• Manage office moves
• Manage all technology systems and ensure that they meet the needs of staff and the organization
• Manage maintenance of all computers & other physical equipment, including wifi network, printers, software, and backup systems
• Manage administration of email systems and document systems, including Google Suite systems
• Lead technology planning, including assessing current and future technology needs.
• Work to continually improve CFJ systems

Organization-wide responsibilities (5%)

• Participate in CFJ grassroots fundraising campaigns and events.
• Participate in occasional organization-wide campaign events.
• Participate in cross-department committees and teams.

Other Responsibilities

• Support some finance processes and projects as needed, such as the annual budgeting process or audit needs
• Other duties as assigned

Essential Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in a range of nonprofit human resource functions, including at least some of the following areas: payroll, benefits, hiring, personnel policies, and salary range updates
• At least two years of experience coordinating payroll
• Familiarity with key federal and state labor and payroll laws
• Technology knowledge and experience working with various platforms and tools including Google Suite, Paylocity, Paycom, Slack, Zoom, etc.
• At least an intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Excel
• Strong interpersonal skills. Ability to work and support people from a variety of racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, educational, sexual, and gender backgrounds
• Demonstrated ability to set up processes, systems, and workflows, ensure adherence and follow-up, and continually improve them
• Experience in administering complex policies and procedures
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Good judgment to manage sensitive and confidential matters
• Exceptional attention to detail and high level of accuracy
• Self-starting and proactive
• Ability to organize and prioritize a complex work plan with ever-changing details. Excellent time management skills
• Strong analytical and research skills; ability to research, learn, and make a recommendation about HR and technology issues
• Strong commitment to social justice, racial justice, and youth empowerment

Preferred Qualifications

• Coaching skills
• Proficiency with G Suite (formerly Google Apps)
• Advanced Excel/Google Sheets skills

Physical Demands

• Able to work on a computer, including sitting at a desk, for extended periods of time with or without reasonable accommodation.
• Manual dexterity to operate a keyboard.
• Able to see or read a computer screen and printed material with or without vision aids
• Able to speak clearly and in audible tones on the phone and in person and be understood by others.
• Able to hear and understand speech at normal levels and on the telephone.
• Able to understand and follow oral and written instructions.
• Able to occasionally lift objects weighing up to 20 pounds.