Employment

Kirby School is an award-winning, independent college preparatory day school for grades 6-12 located in Santa Cruz, California.

We are seeking to hire a full-time Human Resource Manager. Kirby’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in our hiring process; members from diverse communities are encouraged to apply including racial and ethnic minorities, veterans, people with disabilities and the LGBTQ community. This is a great opportunity for an individual with excellent experience and strong people skills to join a highly respected independent school. For information about our academic program, mission, and philosophy, please take a look at the breadth of our website. 

Overview of Position:

The Human Resource Manager is responsible for providing management and coordination of all human resources functions including personnel support, payroll processing, candidate recruitment, regular employee evaluations, benefits administration, and interpretation and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure compliance with Federal, State and Kirby standards. A key component of this role is employee job satisfaction and retention. This position also oversees insurance liability issues and risk management for Kirby School, frequent communication of policies, coordinating programs to promote the observation of guidelines, and ensuring documents and records are kept in compliance. 

Operational Responsibilities:

• Manage day to day operations of the human resources functions to monitor and ensure compliance with Federal, State and local laws and regulations, and recommended best practices.

• Develop and communicate policies and procedures that support compliance and all HR related functions.

• Be readily available to listen and provide counsel for employee questions and concerns.

• Foster a culture of safety and inclusivity.

• Help inspire employee appreciation and boost morale (i.e. appropriate activities, events, celebrations).

• Work collaboratively with the Business Office team.

Performance Management and Employee Relations:

• Manage employee on-boarding and separation processes.

• Document or vet legal and effective write-ups, including, when necessary, investigative or termination processes.

• Perform benefits administration, including family status change, leave of absence, and communicating benefit information to employees.

• Facilitate professional training and certification for staff.

• Coordinate HR-related Professional Development workshops for staff and faculty.

• Lead the annual performance evaluation processes, with adherence to the differentiation of performance evaluation processes for leadership, faculty, administration, and staff.

Compensation:

• Manage and execute employment contracts and compensation letters.

• Process accurate and timely semi-monthly payroll.

• Maintain up-to-date salary comps.

Compliance:

• Facilitate the annual audit and update of the Employee Handbook.

• Consult with outside legal counsel on employment law matters, as necessary.

• Manage the administration of employee benefits programs. 

• Manage the process for workers compensation claims and leaves of absences.

Recruitment and Training:

• Research, draft, update and maintain all job descriptions.

• Conduct new hire orientations and ensure that new hire paperwork is complete.

• Identify staffing and recruiting needs; develop and execute best practices for hiring highly qualified staff and faculty.

• Collaborate with senior leadership to understand the organization’s goals and strategy related to staffing, recruiting, and retention.

• Implement searches for all positions: post ads, screen candidates, assist with scheduling interviews, check references, perform background checks, issue offer letters and follow up with applicants. Occasionally Kirby will also use a recruiting firm that will partner with this role.

• Monitor progress towards establishing a diverse faculty and staff.

Performs other duties as required. 

Qualifications:

The successful candidate will be supportive, flexible, confident, discrete, and helpful.  A minimum of five years of experience in Human Resources is required. A bachelor’s degree and school-related experience is a plus. 

Required Skills/Abilities: 

• Excellent verbal and written communication. 

• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.

• Excellent organization and attention to detail.

• Excellent time management with a proven ability to meet deadlines.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and the ability to interpret data.

• Ability to adapt to the needs of the organization and employees.

• Thorough knowledge of employment-related laws and regulations.

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace, HR management software, or related software.

Pay rate based upon qualifications and experience. This position is Monday through Friday, full time, and includes the option to buy into health benefits.

Full Covid-19 vaccination required (subject to title VII & ADA reasonable accommodation provisions).

Interested and qualified candidates should email the Executive Assistant to the Head, Kaleigh Velo, at hrhire@kirby.org. Please attach a cover letter, current resume, and at least two letters of reference.

Position Summary:

This shared position reports to both the Director of Communications and Marketing and the Director of Admissions. It supports a range of tasks associated with these highly collaborative offices which are focussed on attracting and recruiting (marketing driven) and evaluating and selecting (admissions driven) students for admission. 

Key Marketing and Communications Responsibilities:

• Collaborate daily with staff on projects, and ideas for marketing and communications
• Maintain Kirby’s social media presence including Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites, creating a social media calendar / content that engages current and increases new followers 

• Interact with students and staff to develop content for social media

• Write news blogs for and create the weekly newsletter to parents, students and faculty with attention to detail, accuracy and style

• Support the management of the Kirby website, as needed

• Create and curate images and video content for use in digital media marketing and advertising, assist in storyboard development

• Write high quality, mission-aligned blogs that illuminate the activities, events, and experiences of our community

• Update or produce advertising creative (including mailers, flyers, and digital) and maintain an advertising calendar

• Support marketing initiatives and events, as needed

• Write weekly reports and provide social media analysis

• Support the creation and implementation of advertising outreach strategies and campaigns including outreach and external work with feeder schools and the larger community

• Assist with Bulletin Board design and creation around the campus

 Key Admissions and Enrollment Responsibilities:

• Answer general questions about the school and the admissions process

• Assist with tours, shadows days, and interviews for prospective students, greet families when they arrive on campus for these events

• Assist with engaging the student ambassador group, assist with providing brief training to student ambassadors surrounding prospective student engagement and the shadow program (shadow classes may be over Zoom or in-person)

• Support with data entry to help process digital admissions materials for applicants and newly enrolled students, using the Kirby Blackbaud Portal and Google Sheets

• Provide oral and written Spanish translation assistance as needed with admissions related communications to prospective families

• Provide support as needed for Open Houses, school fairs, tours and interviews, including occasional evenings and Saturdays

Minimum Qualifications:

• Ability to professionally and independently engage and collaborate with students, faculty and staff 

• Firm understanding of tools, platforms, and culture in the social media space

• Graphic design skills

• Must be computer literate with a solid working knowledge of word processing, calendaring, email, chat, instant message, presentation software, imaging/graphic design software, desktop publishing software

• Basic understanding of HTML

• Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Fluent in Spanish 

• Self-motivated, organized, detail oriented, ability to prioritize and multi-task

• Ability to work independently 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Video production and editing experience 

• Proficiency in Adobe tools particularly InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator

• Working knowledge of Google Suite including Google Analytics

• Knowledge of HTML 

• Interest in academia or an understanding of K-12 educational models, in particular independent schools

Hours and Compensation: 40 hours per week during normal office hours with some overtime potential. $25/hour.

Full Covid-19 vaccination required (subject to title VII & ADA reasonable accommodation provisions).

How to Apply

Kirby’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in our hiring practices; we encourage all qualified candidates to apply.  In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals, employment decisions at the Kirby School will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities.  Kirby School does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of age, race, religion, color, handicap, gender identity, physical condition, developmental disability, sexual orientation, national origin or any other characteristic protected by law.

Interested and qualified candidates should email Lisa Lee at admissionshire@kirby.org. Please attach a cover letter, current resume, a writing sample, and at least two letters of reference. Position is open until filled.

Kirby School seeks a long-term high school History substitute for the current 21-22 school year, with the opportunity to be considered for a full time position moving into the 22-23 school year.

The ideal candidate possesses some or all of the following:

• An appropriate teaching credential,
• An advanced degree in history,
• Ample experience in the context of independent and/or public secondary schools,
• A commitment to inclusion and diversity in the classroom and in curriculum development.

Because Kirby’s history program places strong emphasis on writing, candidates should also be good writers and effective editors of student work. A portion of the contract is also dedicated to the support and maintenance of our small school library.

This position is full-time and includes health benefits and a salary base that are competitive with CAIS norms. Interested and qualified candidates should email Assistant Head of School Joe Poirot at historyhire@kirby.org.

Please attach a cover letter, current resume, at least two letters of reference, and at least one of the following: a piece of your own writing (published or not), an anonymous student essay showing your comments, and/or a brief statement of your approach to the teaching of academic research and writing.

Kirby offers small class sizes and a highly collaborative faculty. For more information about our academic program, mission, and philosophy, please peruse our website. Kirby’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is reflected in our hiring process; people of color and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Full Covid-19 vaccination required (subject to title VII & ADA reasonable accommodation provisions).