HR Business Partner

Join a team that nourishes life from farm to table! Upstate Niagara Cooperative, proudly owned by 200+ local family farms, is one of America’s largest and most stable dairy cooperatives. Guided by farmer- and employee-led values, we process and market high-quality milk, yogurt, dips, sour cream, cottage cheese, and more under our trusted brands: Upstate Farms®, Bison®, Milk for Life®, and Intense Milk®. Here, you’ll support sustainable farming, strong communities, and the mission to deliver fresh, local dairy to families every day.

Job Summary

The Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) serves as a strategic advisor to Operations leadership, aligning human capital strategies with business objectives to improve organizational effectiveness, workforce capability, employee engagement, and operational performance.

Within UNC Dairy’s manufacturing environment, the HRBP translates enterprise HR strategies into actionable initiatives supporting workforce stability, leadership effectiveness, productivity, and organizational growth. The role emphasizes strategic workforce challenges, organizational development, talent management, labor relations strategy, and change leadership rather than routine HR administration.

The HRBP directly leads assigned Site HR Managers and HR personnel, ensuring effective daily HR service delivery while maintaining capacity for strategic priorities. The HRBP works in close collaboration with enterprise Centers of Excellence (COEs), including Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, Learning & Development, HRIS/Payroll, HR Service Delivery, and Employee & Labor Relations. COEs contribute specialized expertise and retain functional ownership of their programs and standards.

The HRBP is accountable for developing and executing people strategies that produce measurable improvements in business performance.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Business Partnership and Organizational Effectiveness

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• Serve as trusted strategic advisor to Plant Managers, Operations Directors, and senior operational leadership.
• Understand facility objectives, production requirements, operational challenges, and financial performance; translate priorities into measurable people strategies.
• Identify organizational barriers to productivity, workforce effectiveness, engagement, and execution.
• Partner with Operations on organizational structures, staffing models, spans of control, workforce deployment, restructuring, and leadership transitions.
• Participate in plant leadership meetings, operational reviews, and strategic planning; apply enterprise HR standards consistently while addressing site needs.

Strategic Workforce Planning and Labor Optimization

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• Lead workforce planning aligned with production forecasts, budgets, staffing requirements, and business growth.
• Partner with Operations and Finance on staffing models, workforce forecasts, and labor utilization.
• Analyze turnover, absenteeism, overtime, vacancies, and staffing effectiveness; collaborate with Operations and relevant COEs to identify systemic causes and develop practical responses.
• Evaluate skill gaps, cross-training, internal mobility, and critical-role succession
• Establish workforce improvement objectives that support operational continuity, labor efficiency, and organizational capability.

Talent Management, Leadership Development, and Succession Planning

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• Identify high-potential employees, critical talent, and leadership development needs with Operations.
• Establish and maintain succession plans for key operational and leadership positions.
• Collaborate with the Learning & Development COE to identify capability gaps and shape supervisory development, technical training, leadership programs, and succession support; Learning & Development retains responsibility for program design and learning standards.
• Coach leaders on performance management, employee development, communication, and accountability.
• Measure the effectiveness of development and retention initiatives through workforce and business outcomes.

Employee Relations and Labor Relations Strategy

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• Serve as strategic resource to Operations on employee relations, labor relations, and workforce climate.
• Partner with Labor Relations and appropriate COEs on consistent labor relations strategy.
• Guide CBA administration, management rights, discipline, grievances, investigations, and contractual compliance.
• Identify recurring disputes and address root causes through supervisor coaching and preventive action.
• Support bargaining preparation, labor-management committees, and significant labor relations initiatives.
• Assess labor risk from schedule changes, restructuring, and workforce deployment; escalate high-risk matters to Labor Relations leadership and Legal counsel.
• Promote constructive labor-management relationships while preserving lawful and contractual management flexibility.

Employee Engagement, Culture, and Retention

• Partner with Operations to build accountability, communication, respect, and engagement.
• Analyze eNPS, surveys, turnover, exit interviews, and workforce feedback to identify underlying issues.
• Lead focus groups, listening activities, and targeted engagement and retention action plans.
• Coach leaders on supervisory effectiveness, recognition, communication, and workplace
• Evaluate results through retention, absenteeism, employee relations, and operational indicators.

Change Management and Organizational Transformation

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• Lead people-side change strategy for operational, organizational, and technology initiatives.
• Assess workforce impacts and plan communication, leadership readiness, training, adoption, and resistance
• Support enterprise systems, restructuring, staffing changes, and new operating processes.
• Partner with Learning & Development and other relevant COEs on training needs, readiness, and adoption strategies; jointly assess sustained adoption and operational

HR Leadership and Site HR Management

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• Directly lead, coach, develop, and evaluate assigned Site HR Managers and HR
• Set expectations for service quality, compliance, responsiveness, and local
• Ensure local teams administer routine employee relations, attendance, onboarding, HR transactions, and documentation.
• Define escalation protocols and maintain consistent standards across assigned
• Build Site HR Managers’ independent decision-making capability; delegate daily work while retaining overall service accountability.

Center of Excellence Integration and Cross-Functional Collaboration

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• Act as a collaborative link between assigned Operations leaders and enterprise HR COEs, translating operational needs into shared priorities and mutually developed solutions.
• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition on recruiting pipelines and staffing; Total Rewards on compensation competitiveness and retention; Learning & Development on learning strategy, training delivery, leadership capability, and succession; HRIS/Payroll on workforce analytics, HR technology, process optimization, and payroll and timekeeping effectiveness; HR Service Delivery on leave administration, workers' compensation, compliance, and employee service delivery; and Employee & Labor Relations on complex
• Work with COE partners to align specialized support with operational priorities through jointly agreed action plans, deliverables, timelines, and measures of success.
• Respect COE leadership and functional ownership of enterprise policies, program design, technical standards, resource allocation, and designated approval authority.
• Engage COE leaders early to jointly assess needs, reconcile competing priorities, and agree on feasible approaches that balance site requirements with enterprise objectives.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Industrial Relations, Organizational Development, or related field required.
• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline preferred; SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or comparable certification preferred.

Experience

• 8–10 years of progressively responsible HR experience, including 3–5 years in HR leadership, HR business partnership, or comparable management.
• Experience in manufacturing, industrial, distribution, or similarly complex operations.
• Experience leading HR professionals and HR service
• Strong knowledge of employee/labor relations, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, and talent management.
• Unionized workplace and CBA administration experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success advising senior operations leaders and leading enterprise change.

Skills

• Business acumen, manufacturing workforce economics, and operational performance understanding.
• Ability to influence senior leaders and translate workforce analytics into actionable recommendations.
• Sound judgment in complex employee/labor relations and working knowledge of federal and New York employment law.
• Coaching, organizational consulting, project management, and change leadership capabilities.
• Ability to lead cross-functional work without direct authority over all resources.
• Strong communication, prioritization, HRIS, reporting, and Microsoft Office skills.

Competencies

• Strategic Mindset - Anticipates emerging workforce and operational needs; connects people strategies to plant performance, labor availability, productivity, and long-term business priorities.
• Business Insight - Understands manufacturing operations, workforce economics, and financial drivers; uses this understanding to recommend practical, measurable people
• Organizational Savvy - Navigates site, corporate, and union stakeholder relationships; understands decision rights and builds alignment without bypassing established COE
• Collaborates - Builds productive partnerships across Operations, Site HR, and enterprise COEs; agrees on shared outcomes, responsibilities, and realistic
• Drives Results - Translates workforce priorities into action plans with accountable owners, milestones, and measures; follows through on commitments and adjusts when results fall short.
• Decision Quality - Uses workforce data, operational context, contractual requirements, and sound judgment to assess alternatives, risks, and appropriate escalations.
• Develops Talent - Coaches Site HR Managers and operational leaders, strengthens succession pipelines, delegates effectively, and builds independent decision-making
• Manages Complexity - Integrates competing site needs, labor relations requirements, enterprise standards, and resource constraints to solve multifaceted workforce problems.
• Communicates Effectively - Presents clear, credible recommendations to leaders and employees; listens actively and adapts messages for plant, union, and executive
• Drives Engagement - Helps leaders create a respectful, accountable workplace; converts employee feedback and retention trends into practical improvement
• Situational Adaptability - Responds constructively to shifting production needs, organizational change, and sensitive employee matters while maintaining consistent HR
• Courage - Raises difficult workforce and leadership issues respectfully, challenges ineffective practices with evidence, and escalates significant compliance or labor

Working Conditions (Physical demands)

Based primarily at an assigned manufacturing site, with regular production-area presence and support across shifts. Travel between UNC Dairy, Inc. facilities and occasional work outside normal business hours may be required.

Pay: $100,000 - $150,000 a year*

• The salary range listed for this position represents the good faith and reasonable minimum and maximum pay for this role at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, training, knowledge, education, and overall qualifications. The posted salary range reflects just one component of our total rewards package. Other components of the total rewards package may include participation in group health and/or dental insurance, retirement plan, wellness program, paid time away from work, and paid holidays.

Upstate Niagara Cooperative, Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity for all, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic.