Job Details

West Valley-Mission Community College District

Senior Human Resources Specialist - Employee Relations

Position Number: 6570360
Location: Saratoga, CA
Position Type: Human Resources

Senior Human Resources Specialist - Employee Relations

Closing Date: 10/15/2025

Definition:

The Human Resources Department of West Valley-Mission Community College District seeks a self-directed, organized professional who is motivated by change and details to join the team as an Human Resources Specialist III (Confidential) - Employee Relations Lead.

The District, based in the heart of Silicon Valley, includes two colleges-West Valley College and Mission College-and serves a workforce as diverse as its student body.

Reporting to the Executive Director of Human Resources, Employee Relations, this position is a lead-level specialist role that will provide advanced technical support to management and staff in employee relations, labor relations, compliance, leave management, and training coordination. The HR Specialist III will be a resource and technical lead to other HR staff, manage sensitive and confidential employee relations casework, and work collaboratively with supervisors and managers to ensure consistency and compliance with District policies, the collective bargaining agreement, and applicable laws.

If you have the knowledge, skills, and lived experience to help us meet the cultural and educational needs of our diverse faculty and staff, we encourage you to apply.

Assignment:

100% of full time, 40 hours per week, 12 months per year, with an anticipated start date of December 2025. Schedule may change to include some evening or weekend hours, as needed. This position is a member of the Confidential Employee Unit.

Work Location: District Office, Human Resources Department, West Valley-Mission Community College District

This is a primarily in-person, District Office based position. The employee relations, labor relations, and compliance activities for which you will be responsible require regular on-site presence and support in order to interact directly with employees, managers and union representatives. The incumbent should expect this to be a primarily on campus/in person role.

Salary and Benefits:

Anticipated Hiring Range:

$10,210.25-$11,193.50 monthly (Confidential Employee Salary Schedule, Human Resources Specialist III - Confidential Classification, Range 53, Steps A-C).

Benefits include:

Employer-contributed medical, dental and vision for employee, spouse and dependents.
Employer-paid long term disability for employee.
Employer-provided life insurance.
14 paid holidays, plus 1 floating holiday annually; paid non-workdays between Christmas and New Year.
22 days vacation leave accrued annually (24 days after 7 years)
12 days sick leave accrued annually.
Personal necessity leave and personal business leave.
Educational growth incentive program from $45 to $225 monthly.
$1000 longevity award annually after 10 years of service and $1,500 longevity award annually after 15 years of service.
CalPERS retirement.

Minimum Qualifications:

Any combination of experience and education that would provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required knowledge and abilities would be:

Education: Equivalent to an Associates degree from an accredited college with major coursework in human resources management, general education, or a related field.
Experience: Two years of responsible experience similar to Human Resources Specialist II with the West Valley-Mission Community College District.

AND

Understanding of, and sensitivity to the diverse academic, socio-economic, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds, disability, and sexual orientation of community college students, faculty and staff.

Desired Qualification:

The ideal candidate will also demonstrate the following desired qualification(s):

Experience supporting employee relations, grievance handling, and/or workplace investigations in a unionized environment.
Knowledge of and ability to interpret collective bargaining agreements and apply employment law, District policy, and past practice to guide resolution of employee relations matters.
Strong organizational skills and ability to create timelines, coordinate multiple priorities, and ensure deadlines are met.
Experience using enterprise systems (such as HRIS, case management, training platforms) to track cases, monitor training compliance, and prepare reports.
Familiarity with leave management (FMLA, CFRA, ADA accommodations, workers compensation) and its intersection with employee relations and labor law.
Skill in preparing clear, accurate, and professional correspondence, reports, and case documentation.
Ability to exercise discretion and maintain confidentiality while working on sensitive employee and labor relations matters.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills, ability to build trust and collaborate effectively with others, and comfort working with people of diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
A growth mindset with an interest in developing expertise in compliance, training, and labor relations best practices.

Knowledge and Abilities:

Knowledge of:

Principles and practices of technical supervision.
Principles and practices of personnel policies and procedures.
Principles and practices of educational organization and administration.
Human resources information systems programs.
Federal and state employment laws; federal and state laws pertaining to areas of assignment.
Collective bargaining processes, workers compensation, leave management, ADA accommodation processes and investigation techniques.
Tools, methods and techniques of technical recruitment and selection processes; benefits administration; classification and compensation plans; records management.

Ability to:

Provide technical supervision over assigned staff.
On a continuous basis, know and understand all aspects of the job; intermittently review work papers, reports and special projects; identify and interpret technical and numerical information; observe, identify and problem solve operational and technical policy and procedures; understand, interpret and explain department policies and procedures.
On a continuous basis, sit at desk for long periods of time; intermittently twist to reach equipment surrounding desk; perform simple grasping and fine manipulation; use telephone, and write or use a keyboard to communicate through written means; and lift or carry weight of 10 pounds or less.
Review, proofread, and analyze complex documents and make recommendations to solve administrative problems.
Recognize program needs and develop strategies to implement more efficient systems and procedures.
Perform complex and detailed technical work, including arithmetic calculations with independence.
Accurately analyze and enter data into a human resources system and other databases or record systems.
Read, interpret and explain pertinent rules, regulations, laws and bargaining unit contract language.
Maintain detailed and accurate records.
Perform basic mathematical operations; make arithmetic calculations quickly and accurately.
Exercise discretion and tact in resolving confidential, difficult or sensitive issues or situations.
Maintain and manage various human resources databases; train staff and faculty in use of online resources as needed.
Use sound judgment in recognizing scope of authority.
Operate and use modern office equipment including computers and applicable software.
Maintain regular attendance and adhere to prescribed work schedule to conduct job responsibilities.
Utilize appropriate safety procedures and practices for assigned duties.
Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
Relate effectively with people of varied academic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds using tact, diplomacy and courtesy.
Establish and maintain effective, cooperative and collaborative working relationships with others.

Examples of Duties and Responsibilities:

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Plan, prioritize, and coordinate the work of staff assigned to one human resources functional area; develop schedules and methods to accomplish assignments ensuring work is completed in a timely and efficient manner.
Read, process, provide and coordinate confidential information related to the Districts employer employee relations, collective bargaining negotiations, and/or employee grievances.
May schedule collective bargaining negotiation meetings, attend negotiation meeting, provide input and/or take notes; print copies and upload final approved documents to the website.
May support faculty who are being transferred and facilitate the interactive process to meet ADA accommodation requirements; may coordinate workers compensation and leave administration district wide; may perform investigations including interviewing and data collection.
Interpret rules and regulations, contracts, policies and procedures, make recommendations for compliance and process improvements, and applies such interpretations and recommendations in the performance of assigned responsibilities.
Provide technical assistance to employees and human resources management on issues related to assigned responsibilities.
Conduct surveys and compile data; perform research and statistical analysis, coordinate programs or special functions or projects, and prepare related reports, manuals and policies.
Coordinate with the finance department to maintain the districts position control.
Respond to requests for information from employees and/or the general public over the phone, in person and e-mail regarding a variety of human resources programs and services, may support multiple units.
May act as the administrator for the department specialized software programs, including the human resources module of the payroll/Human Resources Information System (HRIS) software; assist in developing application of specialized software to improve employee access of employment data.
Assist with, or coordinate, the day-to-day operations of the districts employee benefit and insurance plans, including coordinating and monitoring paperwork related to COBRA, Department of Transportation, Department of Motor Vehicles pull notice and other programs, may be point person taking primary responsibilities for specific areas assigned; assist retirees with benefit plan issues and reconcile premium reimbursements.
Verify personnel action documents related to employee status changes, including new hires, salary increases, promotions, transfers, separations, specialty pay and input data into the automated human resources system; audit data for accuracy.
Coordinate, or assist with the coordination of, recruitments, which includes creating the job announcement, posting job announcements on-line, preparing advertisements and targeted outreach materials for mailings, scheduling and coordinating written exams and first level interviews, preparation of first level and other testing materials, creating eligibility lists and developing letters for the candidates.
Assist with the pre- and postemployment processes for new hires, to include scheduling of preemployment medical examinations, scheduling of, or conducting, new hire orientations with higher level staff, preparing new employee benefit package and hire letters mailed to new employees.
Build and maintain positive working relationships with co-workers, other district employees and the public using principles of good customer service.
Foster an environment that embraces diversity, integrity, trust and respect.
Be an integral team player, which involves flexibility, cooperation and communication.
Perform related duties as assigned.

Working Conditions:

Other Duties:

Application Information:

Physical Demands:

Applicant Information:

APPLICATION INFORMATION:

Interested applicants must submit online all materials requested, including:
- A completed online West Valley-Mission Community College District application;
- Supplemental application questions, if requested;
- Resume;
- Unofficial copies of transcripts;
- Cover letter and/or reference list, if requested; and
- Any requested licenses or certificates, if applicable.
All sections of the online application, including Education and Educational Work History, must be completed thoroughly.
Supervisor(s) name(s) and telephone numbers must be included in the application.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Do NOT send unrequested materials. Unrequested materials will be removed from your application and will not be used for consideration of employment.
The employment application and supporting documents represent you; it is to your advantage to fill out the application form carefully and completely.

ABOUT TRANSCRIPTS:

If a minimum requirement is possession of a degree, then a copy of transcripts is required to be included with your application to verify the degree being awarded. If no transcripts are included, the application may be screened as not meeting minimum requirements.
Should the minimum qualifications state "any combination equivalent to," then additional relevant work experience may substitute for education. In this case, please upload a document stating such in the Required Transcripts document field.
Degrees must have been awarded by a college or university accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Council on Post-Secondary Accreditation and/or the U.S. Department of Education.
Candidates with degrees earned outside of the United States must provide official certification of equivalency to U. S. degrees by a certified U. S. credential review service, must have a U.S. evaluation (course by course of the transcripts) and must be submitted with this online application.
If you do not have an electronic version of the transcript, you can get it scanned at an office supply or copy store; then attach the electronic version of your transcript to this online application.
Copies of diplomas, grade reports, graduation petitions, transcript evaluations requests, or similar documents WILL NOT be accepted in lieu of transcripts.
When uploading transcripts, please ensure they are NOT encrypted, secured, or password-protected or they will be rejected by the system.

For reasonable accommodations and assistance, contact:
Office of Human Resources, Attn: Recruitment
14000 Fruitvale Ave, Saratoga, CA 95070
Phone: (408) 741-2174 Fax: (408) 741-2564
Email: careers@wvm.edu

Selection Process:

SELECTION PROCESS INFORMATION:

After the deadline date, a committee will review and evaluate applications and supporting materials to select the applicants to be interviewed. Meeting the minimum qualifications does not assure the candidate an interview.
All candidates will receive an e-notification to acknowledge receipt of their application materials. If not contacted within 3-6 weeks following the close of the recruitment, no suitable match was determined at this time.
Travel expenses to attend first-level interview are the responsibility of the candidate.
Application materials become the property of the District and will not be returned or duplicated.
The district may choose to re-advertise or indefinitely delay filling a position. Some positions may include first and second level interviews.
The district reserves the right to contact former, current, the most recent employers, and others to investigate past employment records of applicants.
Any tentative verbal offer of employment is contingent upon formal approval of the college Governing Board.
Upon hire the successful candidate must provide the required documents of identity and authorization to work and attest he/she is authorized to work in the United States.
The district does not provide visa sponsorship.

EEO STATEMENT:

West Valley-Mission Community College District is an Equal Opportunity Employer that seeks to employ a diverse workforce who will contribute to an inclusive and welcoming educational and employment environment. The District is committed to nondiscrimination on the basis of ethnic group identification, race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, physical disability, mental disability, genetic information, ancestry, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, language, accent, citizenship status, transgender status, parental status, marital status, economic status, military or veteran status, and medical condition consistent with applicable federal and state laws.

Special Instructions to the Applicant:

Posting Number: FY22/23-295FT
Open Date: 09/15/2025
Close Date: 10/15/2025
Open Until Filled: No

For more information on this position and to apply, please visit our website at the following link: wvm.peopleadmin.com

West Valley-Mission Community College District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.