Employment opportunity: People & Culture Manager

Application deadline: Friday, January 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET

If you believe that:

• Social change is possible
• Intersectional feminist principles and process can help change the world
• Social justice activists, in Canada and in the global South, can support and learn from each other
• You have a contribution to make in helping strengthen and manage a Canadian organization devoted to the promotion of social justice and human rights around the world

…you may be interested in applying for our People and Culture Manager position. Inter Pares is a social justice organization based in Canada.  To globalize equality, Inter Pares collaborates with people and organizations who are dedicated to building more just societies and creating positive change.

As part of our institutional co-management team, the successful candidate will be expected to share responsibility for Inter Pares’ financial, administrative, and political wellbeing and direction. The co-management team operates on a parity basis – equal salary, equal responsibility – guided by principles of consensus-based decision-making. All co-managers participate in management committees, administration, raising funds, donor relations, board relations, external representation, and public engagement.

The People and Culture Manager position

Inter Pares aims to live out its politics and values in its institutional structure, policy, and processes, and the People and Culture Manager will play a coordinating role in ensuring this integration. This co-manager will be responsible for leading the human resources and related backbone systems work at Inter Pares, as well as coordinating staff learning and organizational processes on anti-racism, anti-oppression, Indigenous rights, PSEAH, and staff wellbeing. They will work alongside other co-managers in the development and implementation of policies and procedures. This position is full-time, based in Ottawa.

Responsibilities of the People and Culture Manager

• Monitors HR legislation and Global Affairs Canada’s policy requirements to ensure compliance
• Leads the writing of HR policies and procedures, in coordination with other co-managers
• Ensures Inter Pares has all the backbone systems and processes required to maintain a healthy and safe workplace that includes staff engagement, healthy co-management, and staff wellbeing
• Coordinates the annual salary review process
• Liaises with the Board of Directors around HR policies that require Board approval
• Administers our Citation Canada account (formerly HR Downloads)
• Drafts LOEs, LOUs, and other documents related to hiring and staff leaves
• Coordinates recruitment, hiring, and integration processes
• Coordinates the peer-driven annual staff evaluation process
• Coordinates well-being initiatives as well as an annual survey on staff well-being
• Coordinates internal capacity-building and reflection opportunities for staff and the Board of Directors (e.g. on conflict resolution, consensus practices, PSEAH, anti-racism and anti-oppression, Indigenous rights)
• Leads the PSEAH workplanning, implementation, monitoring, and sectoral engagement
• Leads the Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression workplanning, coordination of implementation, and monitoring
• Leads the workplanning, coordination of implementation, and monitoring of the Indigenous Rights Action Plan
• Leads and/or participates in the following management committees: HR, Anti-Oppression, Health & Safety, Indigenous Rights, Coordinating Group

The candidate should have the following experience, skills, and attributes:

• Solid experience and/or aptitudes in all or most of the above responsibilities
• Demonstrable commitment to social justice, intersectional feminist principles, equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression
• Demonstrated HR experience (either relevant education or work experiences), including knowledge of HR legislation, policy and procedure drafting, hiring, integration, evaluations, resignations, and protected leaves
• Good interpersonal skills and experience with and/or enthusiasm for consensus decision-making and group process
• Experience nurturing, supporting, and/or developing a work environment that prioritizes well-being promotion and burn-out prevention
• Commitment to collective work and the ability to work in a team and without direct supervision; experience in a non-hierarchical structure a major asset
• Experience working in a values-led organization
• Excellent writing skills and attention to detail
• Analytical abilities and capacity to think and work strategically and creatively
• Financial management, administrative, and organizational skills
• Experience with HR management platforms (especially Citation Canada) an asset

Language requirements

• Good listening, speaking, and writing skills in English are required
• Good listening skills in French are required
• Excellent writing, speaking, and editing skills in either English or French are required
• Good to excellent speaking skills in French are a major asset
• Excellent writing and editing skills in French are an asset

Salary and benefits

Inter Pares’ 2024 co-management salary starts at $78,166. 2025 salary levels are pending approval by the Board of Directors, and will be in place prior to the position’s start date. The position also comes with a generous benefits package that includes extended health and dental coverage, life insurance, retirement planning benefits, and a staff wellbeing fund. All new staff begin with four weeks of vacation, which increases with seniority.

Location of work

The position is based in our office in Ottawa, which is centrally located close to downtown and is readily accessed by public transit and bike lanes. (Note that the building is not currently fully wheelchair-accessible, but the upper floor is accessible via an elevator lift.) Inter Pares has a hybrid work model. For newly hired staff, in-office presence is required for 30 days during the first 60 business days (three months) of onboarding. In-office presence is required for all staff at least five days per month (excepting summers), which must include all in-person program and staff meetings (these occur on the first and third Wednesday of each month).

Start date:

April 1st, 2025 (to be negotiated with the successful candidate)             

Application process

Candidates must have legal permission to work in Canada. Interested persons should submit their CV and a cover letter in English elaborating why they are interested in working at Inter Pares and the skills and experience they would contribute. Please send this by e-mail to info@interpares.ca, with the subject: Co-Manager, People & Culture – FIRST NAME LAST NAME.

Candidates must be available for interviews the week of March 3, 2025. As Inter Pares uses consensus-based decision-making, the shortlisted candidate will then have an additional 5-8 small-group conversations with the rest of the co-management team prior to a final hiring decision. These are two-way conversations, so that the candidate can also ask questions and learn more before deciding to join, if invited.

The primary interview will be in English and will include some questions asked in French. The interview will also include a writing and/or comprehension test in both English and French, depending on language profile. We are happy to provide an accessible interview and employment environment and accommodation if required. Inter Pares assumes reasonable interview-related expenses; as compensation for their investment in our interview process, all candidates who reach the interview stage will also be paid for their time spent in interviews/meetings, commensurate with the current co-management salary, prorated by the hour. 

Inter Pares strives to work within an intersectional anti-racism, anti-oppression, and anti-colonial framework, and recognizes that systemic privilege and oppression have impacted and shaped staffing patterns in international cooperation. We strongly encourage applications from women, racialized people, Indigenous people, people with migrant experience, people with marginalized sexual or gender identities, and people living with disabilities. We invite candidates to share how they personally identify in their application if they wish to do so.

Inter Pares is located in Ottawa, on unceded and unsurrendered Algonquin Anishinaabe territory, part of the Indigenous lands currently known as Canada. We are committed to building relationships with Indigenous-led justice movements and supporting connections between Indigenous struggles in Canada and those abroad. We welcome the resistance and resurgence of Indigenous Peoples as part of the decolonizing process. To learn more about our commitment to decolonization, please consult Inter Pares' Action Plan for Working in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.