Vice President of People

About Essen Health Care
Essen Health Care is one of the fastest-growing, privately owned, multi-specialty medical groups in New York City, with a strong presence in the Bronx. With a mission centered on delivering compassionate, accessible, and high-quality care to underserved communities, Essen serves a diverse patient population through office, hospital, and home-based care.

At Essen, our people are at the heart of what we do. We are seeking a passionate People & Culture Generalist with a specialty in employee integration to support our continued growth and commitment to a positive employee experience.

Job Summary Essen Healthcare is seeking a strategic and operationally strong Vice President of People & Culture Operations to lead all human resources functions across our Nursing Home division, House Calls program, and Health Home program. This executive leader will play a critical role in advancing organizational performance, driving workforce planning, and ensuring HR excellence across high-growth and high-complexity service lines.

The VP of P&C will oversee end-to-end HR operations including employee relations, compliance, workforce planning, performance management, compensation alignment, onboarding, and operational HR support. This role requires a highly collaborative, process-driven leader who excels in building scalable HR systems, partnering with clinical and operational leaders, and navigating the complexities of a multi-site healthcare environment.

This is a full-time, onsite leadership role based at our Seabury Avenue office in the Bronx.

Employee Integration & Onboarding

• Lead and continuously improve the onboarding experience for clinical and non-clinical new hires across Essen's locations.
• Ensure smooth transition from recruitment to day-one readiness, including coordination with hiring managers, credentialing, training, and IT.
• Create a consistent and welcoming integration process that aligns with Essen's culture, mission, and patient care standards.
• Conduct onboarding sessions, check-ins, and surveys to assess new hire experience and identify opportunities for improvement.

Collaborate with Talent Acquisition, Training & Development, and Compliance teams to ensure alignment with licensure, regulatory, and organizational standards.

General People & Culture Responsibilities

• Support employee relations and engagement initiatives, especially during the critical first days of employment.
• Assist with compliance-related onboarding documentation and processes, including credential verification and policy acknowledgement.
• Maintain and update employee records in the HRIS system, ensuring accuracy and confidentiality.
• Support broader People & Culture functions including employee communications, recognition programs, surveys, and wellness initiatives.
• Serve as a trusted point of contact for employees with questions about culture, benefits, or policy.

Strategic Leadership & HR Operations

• Provide executive oversight of HR operations for the Nursing Home, House Calls, and Health Home divisions, ensuring strong alignment with organizational goals and regulatory requirements.
• Build and refine scalable HR processes, systems, and SOPs to support workforce efficiency, compliance, and operational growth.
• Lead HR business partners and operational HR teams to ensure high-quality service delivery and timely support to all divisions.
• Oversee HR analytics, workforce metrics, and staffing models to identify trends, forecast needs, and drive informed decision-making.

Workforce Planning & Talent Strategy

• Partner with clinical and operational leaders to forecast staffing needs, streamline workforce allocation, and strengthen recruitment pipelines for clinical and administrative roles.
• Enhance onboarding and retention strategies to support workforce stability across all three divisions.
• Support leaders with performance management, talent development, succession planning, and coaching initiatives.

Compliance & Employee Relations

• Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws, particularly those governing nursing home and home-based care environments.
• Lead and guide HR teams in managing employee relations, investigations, corrective actions, and ethical HR practices.
• Collaborate with legal and compliance teams to maintain adherence to regulatory standards specific to long-term care and home-based programs.

Compensation, Benefits & Policy Leadership

• Oversee compensation alignment and job leveling across divisions to ensure internal equity and competitive market positioning.
• Review and refine policies, handbooks, and HR procedures to support consistency and operational excellence.
• Partner with Finance to ensure workforce plans and budgets align with organizational priorities.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on HR operations, culture, workforce risks, and organizational health.
• Work closely with Operations, Clinical Leadership, Training & Development, and Compliance to support a cohesive, high-performing workforce.
• Lead change management initiatives and culture-building efforts to improve employee engagement and organizational cohesion.

Qualifications

• Masters degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, or related field required
• 10+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including 5+ years in an executive or senior HR operations role.
• Prior experience in healthcare HR is required; experience across nursing homes, home care, or ambulatory/home-based healthcare is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading HR teams across multi-site or geographically dispersed environments.
• Strong knowledge of healthcare labor laws, long-term care regulations, and home-based care compliance requirements.
• Proven experience building scalable HR infrastructure, optimizing processes, and driving operational excellence.
• Exceptional communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to influence leaders at all levels.
• High sense of urgency and ability to thrive in a fast-paced, mission-driven organization.

Essen Health care is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and we seek candidates who desire to work in and serve an ethnically diverse population