Principal, Employee Relations and Workforce Planning

The Principal, Employee Relations and Workforce Planning serves as Lumin Digital's senior practitioner at the intersection of people risk, organizational effectiveness, and talent strategy. This role is the company's primary SME on employee relations — building the frameworks, practices, and compliance infrastructure that protect employees and the organization across a 35+ state footprint, while simultaneously driving the workforce planning and organizational design work that prepares Lumin for sustainable, AI-informed growth. As a direct partner to the Chief Talent Officer and senior leadership, this role operates as a senior individual contributor at both the strategic and functional level, translating business transformation priorities into people and organizational capability.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Employee Relations & Compliance:
Serve as the organization's senior subject matter expert and primary point of contact for all Employee Relations matters — including performance management, workplace investigations, disciplinary actions, and conflict resolution — ensuring consistent, fair, and legally sound outcomes across the enterprise.
Architect and maintain Lumin Digital's multi-state HR compliance infrastructure across all states where employees are located, proactively monitoring legislative and regulatory changes and translating them into policy, practice, and manager guidance
Own the employee handbook and all HR policy documentation, adapting for state and federal law changes
Develop and maintain a compliance calendar and case management system to ensure timely response to regulatory changes, track ER matters, and surface trends that inform proactive leadership intervention.
Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leaders on employee relations risk, identifying patterns in ER data, flagging cultural or operational conditions that generate risk, and recommending structural or policy interventions before issues escalate.
Partner with legal counsel on complex ER matters, formal internal complaints, and external agency charges (EEOC, state human rights commissions, DOL), serving as the primary HR liaison from intake through resolution.
Design and deliver manager capability programs on ER fundamentals, effective documentation, performance conversations, investigation protocols, and compliance obligations through proactive consultation.

Organizational Design & Workforce Planning
Partner with senior leaders and executives to design and evolve organizational structures that are scalable, efficient, and aligned to Lumin’s business transformation strategy, applying established frameworks such as the Galbraith Star Model and Kates Kesler to structure decisions.
Lead enterprise workforce planning efforts, translating business roadmaps into talent needs, skills forecasts, and headcount plans that are integrated with financial planning and operational priorities.
Build scalable strategic workforce planning frameworks that enable leaders to model and evaluate cost, productivity, and capability trade-offs across different organizational scenarios.
Guide leaders through the organizational implications of AI and automation: role redesign, reskilling pathways, evolving spans of control, and the strategic trade-offs between human and technology-enabled work.
Identify and advise on talent transformation opportunities by bringing analytical rigor to build, buy, borrow, or automate decisions and ensuring those decisions are made with visibility into their downstream workforce and cultural implications.
Integrate advanced workforce analytics and predictive scenario planning into operating model and headcount decisions, establishing Lumin Digital's capacity for data-driven organizational design.

Position Specifications

Education
Bachelor's degree in Business, Human Resources, or a related field required

MBA preferred

Strategic Workforce Planning Certification preferred (e.g., HCI SWP, McKinsey-accredited, or equivalent)

Experience
Minimum of 8 years of progressive experience across HR Business Partnering, Employee Relations, organizational design, enterprise transformation, or technology-enabled workforce change
Demonstrated experience managing employee relations in a multi-state environment, including conducting investigations and partnering with legal on external agency matters
Proven track record of leading or contributing to strategic workforce planning, organizational design, or business transformation initiatives at scale
5 years of people management experience preferred, with the expectation that this role may evolve to include direct reports as the organization scales

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Deep working knowledge of federal and multi-state employment law, including Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, and state-specific equivalents
Working knowledge of organizational design frameworks including the Galbraith Star Model and Kates Kesler
Strong working knowledge of AI, GenAI, and agent-based AI and their implications for organizational structure, work design, and the future workforce
Ability to operate with credibility at the executive level — synthesizing complex data, navigating ambiguity, and influencing decisions with clear, well-reasoned counsel
High degree of discretion, integrity, and sound judgment in handling sensitive employee and organizational matters

Travel Minimal — generally 12 days or less per year, including approximately two team gatherings annually.