Vice President of People

Vice President of People

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer

Status: Full-Time, Exempt

Location: Hybrid Los Angeles (Little Tokyo)

Hours of Operation: MondayFriday, 9AM6PM; evenings and weekends as needed

Salary Range: $210,000 $240,000 annually (based on experience and qualifications)

Lead the people function for one of LA's fastest-growing youth-serving organizations at the inflection point where strong culture meets enterprise scale.

Woodcraft Rangers has grown nearly tenfold in five years while maintaining program quality, organizational culture, and a strong compliance track record. We have built something rare: an organization that scales without losing itself. Now we are looking for a VP of People who can carry that foundation into its next chapter building the compliance architecture, legal risk infrastructure, and talent systems that a $150M+ organization requires.

~10x Growth in 5 Years 90%+ Staff Retention 30,000+ Youth Served Annually

A Foundation Worth Building On

Woodcraft Rangers is a growing organization with real momentum built on a decade of excellent programming, deep and reliable partnerships with school districts across Southern California, and a staff culture that has held through nearly tenfold growth. Our LifeCraft program provides free college and career advancement to all 2,250 employees. Our internal Management Academy creates leadership pathways from within. We promote from within at every level. We were named a Best Places to Work for Innovators by Fast Company one of only 10 large companies recognized nationally for our staff development programs. We also operate a formally registered national apprenticeship program for future educators, the first of its kind in Southern California.

What we are looking for now is an executive who can carry that foundation into its next chapter building the compliance architecture, legal risk infrastructure, and people systems that a $150M+ organization requires, without losing the culture that got us here.

Ideal Candidate Profile

You are a senior people leader who earns credibility in two directions at once: with the executive team, because you think in systems, risk, and organizational design; and with the people you serve, because you genuinely believe that how an organization treats its staff is a strategic choice, not an afterthought. You have built functions, not just managed them including talent acquisition and employee relations at genuine scale.

At Woodcraft Rangers, recruitment is not a project; it is a continuous operational reality across 210+ sites and 2,250 employees, and the VP of People owns the strategy and infrastructure that makes it work. You are equally at home designing a high-volume frontline TA pipeline, navigating a complex employee relations matter, and presenting compliance posture to the executive team because you understand that all of it is an expression of the same commitment: that every person who works here deserves a well-run, fair, and supportive experience.

You know that California employment law and compliance architecture are not obstacles to people work; they are the foundation it stands on. You believe that growing people is how you grow an organization. You will collaborate with the Learning and Development Team on an existing Management Academy, a nationally recognized apprenticeship program, and a free college advancement benefit that reaches every one of our 2,250 employees and you will make them better.

If you see yourself in most of this profile but not every line we encourage you to apply. The right background for this role can take many forms, and we are more interested in how you think and what you have built than in whether your path looks exactly like this.

About Woodcraft Rangers

Founded in 1922 in Los Angeles, Woodcraft Rangers is a nonprofit, community-based organization providing TK12 expanded learning programs including before- and after-school, specialty enrichment, early learning, inclusion services, and summer camps to more than 30,000 young people annually across 210+ Title I schools in LA, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. Our headquarters are in Downtown Los Angeles, with additional offices in West Covina and Riverside (coming soon), and a year-round outdoor education retreat center near Big Bear. Guided by the Woodcraft Way, a holistic framework developing body, mind, spirit, and service, we believe all youth are innately good and deserve the opportunity to realize their full potential. Woodcraft Rangers is led by a female, mission-driven CEO with deep expertise in organizational scaling and a personal commitment to building equitable, people-centered institutions.

Why Join Woodcraft Rangers

• Competitive salary $210,000$240,000 annually
• Paid vacation & sick time generous time off to recharge
• LifeCraft program free college & career advancement for all staff
• Upward mobility promote-from-within culture
• Health, dental & vision comprehensive benefits coverage
• 403(b) retirement plan invest in your future
• Pet insurance because your whole family matters
• Mission-driven work impact 30,000+ young people annually

The Opportunity

The Vice President of People is Woodcraft Rangers' senior enterprise people leader, reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer. You will lead a structured, four-function HR organization spanning Employee Experience & Readiness, Employee Governance & Risk, Benefits & Payroll, and HR Implementation & Support and serve as the executive authority on all complex, high-risk people matters. This is a unique opportunity to build a complex HR architecture in a dynamically scaling community-based nonprofit organization with one of the largest impact footprints in Southern California.

This role carries direct ownership of California labor law compliance, wage and hour risk, workers' compensation strategy, and labor-related claims including oversight of investigations, dispute resolution, and external counsel coordination. The ideal candidate brings demonstrated, practitioner-level command of California employment law built through direct ownership of claims, compliance programs, and outside counsel partnerships alongside deep HR leadership experience.

You will have:

• Full decision authority on HR policy, employee relations escalations, investigations, and terminations with COO alignment on highest-stakes matters
• Budget authority over the HR function and input into workforce planning decisions across the organization
• A COO who is operationally fluent, strategically engaged, and committed to HR as a genuine enterprise function not an administrative support layer
• A mandate to build, not maintain the systems you design will shape how WCR operates at $150M and beyond

Responsibilities

Enterprise People Strategy

• Set and lead the organization's overall people strategy, workforce planning priorities, and HR organizational design
• Translate organizational goals into actionable HR priorities across all four functional areas
• Partner with the COO, CFO, and Chief Program Officer on workforce risk, readiness, and capacity planning
• Present people strategy, workforce data, and risk posture to executive leadership and the board
• Align people practices with Woodcraft Rangers' growth trajectory and multi-region program delivery model

Organizational Leadership & Design

• Lead, develop, and hold accountable the Senior Director of People and all HR director-level functions
• Establish and enforce decision-rights frameworks that clarify ownership across Experience, Governance, Operations, and Implementation
• Build leadership bench strength and succession readiness within the HR function itself

California Labor Law, Compliance & Legal Risk

• Serve as the organization's internal authority on California labor and employment law, wage and hour compliance, and related regulatory requirements
• Own the strategy, oversight, and resolution of workers' compensation claims including carrier relationships, modified duty programs, and claims cost management
• Lead or oversee the response to labor-related claims, DLSE complaints, EEOC charges, PAGA actions, and other employment disputes
• Manage external employment counsel relationships, ensuring efficient and cost-effective legal support on complex matters
• Establish and maintain enterprise-wide HR policies, decision frameworks, and governance standards that are defensible and audit-ready
• Partner with the COO and CFO on employment practices liability and enterprise risk exposure related to people practices

HR Governance & Employee Relations

• Ensure consistent, defensible people decisions across all regions and staff categories
• Serve as executive escalation point for complex employee relations matters, investigations, and terminations