Senior Human Resources Generalist

Title: Fractional Talent and Employee Engagement Leader

Location: New York, NY | Fully Onsite

Schedule: Approximately 20 hours per week, primarily Wednesdays and Thursdays

Duration: 6-week initial engagement, with potential to extend beyond the holidays

Compensation: $65–$75/hour

The Opportunity: Our client, a growing professional services firm, is seeking an experienced Fractional Talent & Employee Engagement Leader to provide hands-on leadership across several critical people initiatives during an important period for the business. This highly visible interim role will partner closely with senior leadership to strengthen the firm's approach to staffing and resource management, performance management, organizational design, talent development, workforce planning, and employee engagement. The successful candidate will be both strategic and operational. This individual should be comfortable stepping into an evolving environment, quickly understanding the business and its people, identifying priorities, and independently driving work forward within a short-term engagement. A significant focus of the role will be understanding the organization's talent landscape, including employee skills, capacity, utilization, development needs, and business priorities, and helping leadership make thoughtful decisions around how people and teams are deployed.

Staffing, Resource Management & Workforce Planning: Lead ongoing staffing and capacity planning, developing a strong understanding of employee skills, experience, workloads, availability, and development goals. Partner with senior leadership to align available talent with current and upcoming client and business needs. Evaluate staffing requirements and identify potential resource gaps, capacity concerns, or areas where additional hiring may be required. Help leadership make thoughtful decisions around employee deployment while balancing business needs, utilization, employee development, and workload. Establish clear visibility into staffing priorities and ensure leaders have the information needed to make timely resource decisions. Support broader workforce planning efforts by identifying short- and longer-term talent needs.

Organizational Design: Partner with leadership on organizational structure and resource allocation, ensuring teams are positioned effectively to support business priorities and continued growth. Assess roles, responsibilities, reporting relationships, and team structures to identify opportunities for greater clarity and effectiveness. Provide practical recommendations regarding organizational needs, talent gaps, and evolving responsibilities. Help leadership consider how organizational decisions may affect employee workload, development, engagement, and retention.

Performance Management: Drive the successful completion of the firm's annual performance review process, ensuring reviews are thoughtful, consistent, high-quality, and completed within established timelines. Review performance documentation for quality, consistency, and clarity. Partner with managers to strengthen feedback and ensure performance conversations are constructive and appropriately documented. Coach managers on navigating performance concerns, employee development conversations, and ongoing feedback. Identify broader themes arising from the review process that may inform development, staffing, succession, or organizational priorities.

Talent Development & Career Progression: Advise managers and employees on professional development, career progression, and growth opportunities. Help identify employees who may benefit from additional development, broader responsibilities, stretch assignments, or targeted coaching. Connect staffing decisions with professional development so employees have meaningful opportunities to expand their skills and experience. Partner with leadership to strengthen expectations around performance, growth, and career progression. Help establish practical approaches to talent development that can continue beyond the initial engagement.

Talent Acquisition: Support talent acquisition and hiring strategy based on business needs and identified workforce gaps. Partner with leadership to determine hiring priorities and assess where additional talent may be needed. Participate in candidate evaluation and interviews as appropriate. Provide perspective on talent profiles, organizational fit, and how prospective hires align with existing team capabilities and future needs.

Employee Engagement & Culture: Serve as a trusted, approachable resource for employees and leadership on talent and workplace matters. Assess employee engagement needs and identify practical opportunities to strengthen culture, communication, collaboration, and retention. Build relationships across the organization to understand employee experiences, concerns, and development needs. Partner with leadership to address employee or team dynamics thoughtfully and constructively. Help ensure employees feel supported while maintaining a clear understanding of business priorities and expectations.

What We're Looking For: Approximately 7–10 years of progressive Talent, People, or HR experience, ideally within a professional services, consulting, or similarly client-driven organization. Strong hands-on experience with staffing/resource management, performance management, talent development, organizational design, workforce planning, and employee engagement. Experience working in an environment where staffing decisions must balance employee skills, utilization, capacity, client needs, and professional development. Demonstrated ability to partner with senior leadership while remaining accessible and credible with employees across different levels of an organization. Comfortable moving between strategic discussions and hands-on execution. Strong business judgment and the ability to make practical recommendations with limited oversight. Ability to quickly assess an organization, establish priorities, and drive initiatives forward within a short-term engagement. Strong coaching and advisory skills, particularly around performance management, employee development, and manager effectiveness. Excellent communication, relationship-building, organization, and project management skills. High level of discretion when handling sensitive employee and organizational matters. Adaptable, resourceful, and comfortable working in an evolving environment. Must be based in the New York area and available to work fully onsite approximately 20 hours per week, primarily Wednesdays and Thursdays. If this opportunity aligns with your experience, please apply. Please note that our client is unable to provide visa sponsorship or relocation for this role. The listed salary range serves as a guide and the salary offered within that range to the selected candidate will be based on experience, qualifications, and location.