Human Resources Program Manager
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in a related field.
- Five years of related HR work experience, including at least one year in a lead or supervisory capacity.
- An equivalent combination of education and experience may be acceptable.
- PHR/SPHR, PSHRA-CP/PSHRA-SCP, SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP, or similar HR certification.
- Public sector or local government HR experience.
Loudoun County, VA (pop. 443,380) seeks an experienced, strategic, and service-oriented HR leader to guide human resources operations for its Department of Family Services (DFS). This is a rare opportunity to partner directly with executive leadership, support a mission-driven workforce delivering essential human services, and strengthen the people systems, policies, and practices that help the department and its employees thrive.
The Opportunity
The Human Resources Program Manager is a senior, exempt HR leader responsible for managing DFS human resources operations, including the department’s organizational development program. Reporting to the DFS Director or the Director’s designee, this highly visible leader serves as a subject-matter expert, first-level supervisor for the HR team, and trusted advisor to department leadership on complex and sensitive personnel matters.
The role provides high-level consultation across the full HR spectrum, including recruitment and selection, workforce planning, performance management, employee relations, training, and organizational development. The Program Manager works closely with Loudoun County’s central Department of Human Resources to align departmental practices with County policy, employment law, and HR best practices while adapting solutions to DFS’s operational realities and service demands.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and supervise a small HR team, ensuring accurate, timely, and responsive service delivery across core HR functions.
- Advise executive leadership, managers, and supervisors on employee relations, recruitment and selection, performance management, policy interpretation, investigations support, and risk mitigation.
- Develop, implement, and refine departmental standard operating procedures, workflows, and process improvements that strengthen compliance, consistency, and service delivery.
- Analyze HR trends, employee relations patterns, survey feedback, vacancies, and recruitment progress to recommend actionable strategies and improve workforce outcomes.
- Coordinate with central HR, County attorneys, and other stakeholders to ensure sound, defensible, and mission-aligned HR actions.
- Support reporting requirements, contracts, expenditures as assigned, and Oracle-related system functionality needed to perform key work responsibilities.
- Build trusted relationships across DFS while maintaining confidentiality, professional boundaries, and a visible customer-service presence.
The Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate will be a well-rounded public-sector HR professional with strong employee relations experience and the judgment to navigate complex people issues with credibility, discretion, and consistency. The County seeks a leader who can interpret and clearly communicate policy requirements across both County and State contexts, translate them into practical guidance, and help supervisors take timely and compliant action.
This individual will bring operational discipline and a solution-focused mindset, with the ability to create durable procedures, improve documentation, and support both centralized and decentralized operations. The strongest candidates will demonstrate executive presence, emotional intelligence, and the diplomacy to handle sensitive conversations while reinforcing accountability and professional standards.
Exceptional communication skills are essential. The HR Program Manager must write clearly, speak credibly, analyze workforce trends and HR metrics, and provide leadership with practical recommendations related to recruiting, onboarding, training, retention, and organizational effectiveness.