Global Director, Human Resources at Living Goods

Introduction

Do you want your work to matter? Do you want to use your skills to make a difference, not just money? Do you want to improve millions of lives, including your own?

Living Goods works to reinvent how we improve the lives of the under-served. We think big, but operate small and nimble. We train community health workers to bring life-saving products and healthcare to people’s doorsteps. Products like medicines, fortified foods, and modern contraceptives.

We also transform community health through mobile phones. We help community health workers assess the health of mothers and children and treat common illnesses like pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea. We also develop smart phone apps to guide community health worker visits and create predictive algorithms to make the best use of their time. And we test new cool tools like paperless referrals to clinics and biosensors to monitor infant and child growth.

At Living Goods, you will have the chance to apply your ideas and creativity at work every day. If you work well in a dynamic collaborative culture, set high standards, and meet challenges with determination and a sense of humor, you’ll thrive here.

[Text Box: Empowering micro-entrepreneurs to deliver life-changing products to the doorsteps of the underserved.]

Human Resources

We know that our work at Living Goods depends on more than careful research and creative ideas. It also requires great people. That’s why we’ve been adding more people every month for four years. There are now roughly 300 Living Goods employees. Four years from now we’ll be over 1,000.

But growing a global team takes great care and watering. So we’re looking for a chief gardener, officially known as the Global Director of Human Resources. Someone with a yearning to improve the health of people in the developing world. The ability to lead us through tremendous growth. The ability to build and manage a world-class team.

Your Charge

• Living Goods’ greatest asset is its people. So we need you to chart the path to hire and keep great people. Working with your team, you’ll develop employee forecasts and recruiting priorities. Promote a fun inclusive workplace with high expectations. Identify a competitive compensation package. Develop ways to help employees learn, grow, and thrive.
• Develop a strategy. We need you to create the blueprint to guide our recruiting and retention efforts. You will develop employee growth forecasts and goals for attracting and retaining the best and brightest staff. Your strategy will be the benchmark by which we judge your department’s success.
• Lead the troops. You will guide a global team comprised of HR business partners and recruiting and retention experts. Your HR wisdom and collaborative management style will enable you to help your team members develop their professional knowledge and hone their leadership skills.
• Drive learning and development. You will identify innovative ways to develop our people through activities like online courses, conferences, employee exchanges, and training seminars. Since employees often leave organizations because of their managers, you will also find ways to grow our leaders and managers and help ensure that motivate, challenge, and retain great people.
• Build a culture based on our values. As the leader of our organizational culture, we need you to create a positive and productive workplace. One that values hard work, feedback and continuous improvement, inclusion and commitment.
• Recognize and reward greatness. You will develop creative ways to celebrate employee effort and results.
• Start off on the right note. Nobody remembers day 84 on the job, but we all remember day 1. Thus, you will ensure that Living Goods’ on boarding program helps staff feel welcome and well informed.
• Take to the streets (and the field). You will drive the people agenda globally, helping HR staff translate global goals at the local level. You will travel periodically to country and field offices and employ creative ways to inspire and support the work of the country teams.
• Make sure we play by the rules. The world is complex and so are HR practices and policies. We are steadfast in our commitment to being a workplace where everyone can thrive. You will ensure that Living Goods lives and breathes this commitment by serving as the focal point on audits and reports to government agencies, our partners and funders.

Your background

• Seasoned in Human Resources. You’ve built a successful career in Human Resources (HR) and have 15+ years’ experience working in a variety of areas, like talent acquisition, compliance, employee relations, employee engagement, learning & development, succession planning and organizational effectiveness. Advanced degree in Human Resources or other area preferred.
• International experience. You have experience in a global organization that works in developing countries. Places like like Ghana and Guinea, Tanzania and Timbuktu.
• Gets our model. Living Goods is a hybrid model. We’re a nonprofit organization with a business minded approach. We use business practices to achieve social goals. Candidates with for-profit and nonprofit experience preferred.
• Customer Service Skills. Like the acronym “HR,” our team is both human and resourceful. You can enhance the image of Human Resources. You can change the HR paradigm from “you can’t do that” to “yes we can.”
• Lives our values. You can thrive in our culture – you can demonstrate inclusion, integrity, innovation, quick footedness, collaboration, and accountability.
• Team player. You play well with others enjoy seeing the impact of our work as a team.
• Multitasks. You’re able to juggle multiple tasks at once while ‘staying calm and carrying on.’ You think strategically, handle ambiguity and work well in a multicultural environment.