Description
Who We Are:
The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are held accountable for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and fighting legislation harmful to animals, gathering data about and advocating for effective regulation of animal exploitative industries and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law.
Role Description
As the Human Resources Manager, you will play an integral leadership role in ensuring that our teams are supported, our culture is vibrant, and our organization is compliant with regulations. You will develop, support, and drive strategies, policies, procedures, and initiatives; you’ll own and drive processes and programs that enhance the full employee experience lifecycle. The successful candidate will be a builder of procedures, with a hands-on approach, ready to support both the everyday needs of our staff and the broader procedural needs of the organization.
How You Will Make a Difference
Employee Engagement
- Build strong partnerships and develop a visible HR presence that fosters proactive engagement, trust, and alignment with programs, policies, and procedures.
- Champion an inclusive culture throughout the organization; Implement strategies to create an inclusive workplace that values and leverages the unique perspectives of all employees.
- Ensure HR initiatives are aligned with organizational priorities and ALDF’s mission, vision and values; Implement programs that enhance employee morale, satisfaction, and work-life balance.
- Support methods for measuring and improving the employee experience; Participate in the design and implementation of employee engagement assessment tools, analyze data and feedback results.
- Prepare and distribute HR communications, update internal HR portals to ensure staff have access to HR forms, policies and resources.
- Coordinate employee recognition activities including service award program, birthday and anniversary announcements.
- Coordinate monthly virtual staff meetings including agenda preparation, meetings invites and new staff introductions.
Talent Management
- Manage ALDF recruiting processes; Post job openings, screen resumes, schedule interviews, conduct phone screens, prepare offer letters, facilitate background checks, and support managers and panels during the hiring process.
- Develop and implement programs to improve hiring and onboarding processes and bolster the ALDF talent pipeline and brand; Support sourcing strategies for attracting a talented, diverse candidate pool.
- Manage Onboarding process of new team members; Conduct HR Onboarding sessions to welcome new employees and provide access to the information needed for a successful transition to ALDF; Process I-9's and other new hire paperwork.
- Support the Summer Clerk and Extern programs by preparing offer letters and conducting HR Onboarding sessions; Assist Summer Clerks and managers with timekeeping issues; Coordinate end of summer offboarding activities.
- Administer performance review process, track completion and provide guidance to staff and managers.
- Provide support for various training initiatives; Coordinate external training and facilitate training sessions as needed.
- Provide guidance to staff on Professional Development Policy and support staff in career development strategies.
Employee Relations
- Serve as a first point of contact for HR-related or policy questions, acting as a trusted advisor to employees and management on HR-related matters.
- Respectfully handle sensitive or confidential employee relations issues, including complaints and disciplinary actions.
- Promote open communication and conflict resolution to cultivate a respectful work environment; Provide guidance and recommendations for issue resolution.
Human Resources Operations
- Provide support for Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiation, administration, compliance and other deliverables related to labor relations.
- Collaborate with Finance team on HR changes that impact payroll processing.
- Provide support to benefits administration including open enrollment, wellness initiatives and time off programs.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws, regulations, and best practices.
- Maintain knowledge of trends, best practices, regulatory changes, and new technology across HR topics to inform recommendations and strategy.
- Performs other duties as required.
Requirements
We Are Looking for Candidates With:
- A Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field is preferred. In lieu of a degree, a minimum of 5 years of relevant human resources experience may be considered equivalent.
- 5+ years of progressive HR experience. Labor relations and employee relations experience preferred.
- Experience with talent acquisition, including recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding processes.
- Strong communication skills; experience developing and delivering training on HR policies, procedures, and compliance topics.
- Exceptional interpersonal and conflict resolution skills, and the ability to work collaboratively with others in a team-oriented work environment.
- A strong understanding of, experience with, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion principles.
- Commitment to working with integrity with the ability to exercise good judgment and self-control.
- Experience in nonprofit or legal sector preferred.
- Experience with basic software applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and internet browsers, in addition to cloud-based HRIS systems. Experience with Paylocity is preferred.
- Knowledge of U.S. federal and state employment laws and regulations, experience with California employment regulations preferred.
- An understanding of and demonstrated commitment to the mission of the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
- The ability to travel periodically for staff meetings and retreats (estimated 1-3 trips annually).
We Offer Competitive Compensation With Excellent Benefits, Including
- Starting annual salary of $95,110 for most geographic locations.
- For candidates located within 25 miles of Washington D.C., Cotati, CA, and Los Angeles, starting pay is $100,105.
- For candidates located within 25 miles of New York City and San Francisco, starting pay is $105,110.
- To ensure salary equity, we do not negotiate salary outside of the published starting rate. Rate is determined by role, using set geographical factors.
- Comprehensive health care, dental, life, and vision benefits (100% employer paid); Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Dependent Care Account (DCA) are also available;
- Generous paid time-off provisions:
- 192 hours of PTO;
- 19 paid holidays;
- 1-month paid sabbatical after 5 years of continuous employment;
- 16 weeks paid parental leave.
- 401k plan with a 5% employer contribution after one year of employment;
- Alternative work schedules (at manager’s discretion);
- One time remote work allowance of $750.
- Annual professional development reimbursement of up to $1,000.
- Maintaining a healthy work/life balance is a core value for the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Additional Information
This is a U.S. based position. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.
We are asking all staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as defined by the CDC and present acceptable proof of vaccination by the date of hire as a condition of employment, subject to any applicable state or local laws. We will consider requests for reasonable accommodations or exemptions from this policy in accordance with applicable laws.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) is an equal opportunity employer and committed to providing an employment environment which is welcoming of persons from diverse backgrounds and free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, and in which all legal rights of our employees are recognized and protected. ALDF conducts all internal and external operations, programs, and employment-related decision making (including hiring decisions) without regard to actual or perceived race, ancestry, color, religion, national origin, citizenship, immigration status, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, political affiliation, disability or medical condition (including physical, intellectual, or psychiatric), sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, age, or other protected category, and in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws.
Consistent with the organization’s mission, our offices and events are free of animal products and byproducts.
The application deadline for this position is March 19, 2026. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage applicants to apply early as we may make a decision before the deadline closes.
