Job Category: Human Resources (HR)

Chief People Officer

  • Location: Mendota Heights, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52515

The Chief People Officer (CPO) is a core member of the Senior Executive Team at Restaurant Technologies, responsible for leading the people strategy in direct support of the company’s business priorities, operating model, and long-term performance.
This role requires a leader who deeply understands how the business works and can translate strategy into people decisions that materially improve execution, leadership effectiveness, and results. At the same time, the CPO must be a steady, authentic presence for an organization that has experienced meaningful change – someone who builds trust, provides clarity, and helps teams navigate ambiguity with confidence.
The CPO partners closely with the CEO and senior leadership team to balance performance and growth with care, accountability with humility, and rigor with empathy—ensuring the organization remains resilient, engaged, and focused on what matters most.
As with all leaders at Restaurant Technologies, the CPO is expected to demonstrate the company’s values of Customer, Character, Commitment, Community, and Courage through actions, decisions, and leadership behaviors.

Enterprise Business Leadership & Partnership
Business-Focused Advisor: Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive team, providing clear, practical guidance on workforce strategy, leadership effectiveness, organization design, and talent tradeoffs grounded in business realities.
Business Acumen: Understand how the company creates value (growth drivers, margin pressures, operational challenges) and aligns people priorities directly to those dynamics.
Executive Partnership: Contribute as a full enterprise leader, influencing decisions beyond traditional HR topics when people, structure, or leadership choices affect outcomes.
Operating with Ambiguity: Help leaders and teams navigate periods of change and transformation with thoughtfulness, clarity, and calm leadership.
 
Human Capital & Functional Excellence
End to End People Leadership: Lead all core people functions including talent acquisition, talent management, compensation and benefits, learning and development, employee relations, HR operations, and HR technology.
Scalable Foundations: Ensure people processes and systems are practical, effective, and scalable – supporting growth without unnecessary complexity.
Compliance & Sound Judgment: Maintain compliance with employment laws and regulations while exercising judgment in complex or nuanced situations.
Data-Informed Decisions: Use people data, analytics, and technology to inform priorities, measure impact, and continuously improve outcomes.

Talent, Leadership & Capability Enablement
Talent Strategy with Purpose: Focus talent investments on the roles and capabilities most critical to executing strategy and driving value.
Succession & Continuity: Lead succession planning and leadership pipeline efforts to ensure organizational stability and readiness.
Performance & Accountability: Design and sustain performance management approaches that reinforce clarity, fairness, and accountability.
Leadership Development: Strengthen leader and manager effectiveness so expectations are clear, feedback is consistent, and teams are supported.
 
Culture, Change & Employee Impact
Cultural Stewardship: Reinforce a culture grounded in trust, respect, accountability, and shared purpose – protecting what works while evolving what no longer serves the business.
Change Leadership: Support and guide the organization through change by strengthening communication, building leadership capability, and addressing employee concerns proactively.
Employee Impact: Shape an employee experience where people feel informed, respected, and equipped to do their best work.
Listening to Learn: Use engagement data and employee feedback to identify real issues, take action, and measure improvement.
  
 
 Board & Stakeholder Engagement
Board Partnership: Provide clear, relevant updates to the Board on talent, leadership, engagement, succession, and workforce risks—framed through a business lens. Leads Compensation & Talent Committee.
Stakeholder Alignment: Partner effectively with key stakeholders to ensure people strategies support enterprise priorities.
External Representation: Represent Restaurant Technologies in a way that reflects credibility, integrity, and leadership maturity.
 

 
 

Strategic HR Business Partner

  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52513

SkyWater is partnering with a leading multi-state energy organization to hire a strategic HR Business Partner. This role partners closely with senior leadership to align business strategy with people strategy. Acting as a trusted advisor, this individual will serve as the connective tissue between the HR Centers of Excellence and their respective business groups to deliver high-impact talent solutions and facilitate cyclical talent programs. 

This is a hybrid role with the opportunity to work remotely on Mondays and Fridays and the remainder of the week onsite in Minneapolis. 

Director of Learning & Development (L&D)

  • Location: Lakeville, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52448

Director of Learning & Development
Location: Lakeville, MN or Detroit Lakes, MN (Hybrid/Onsite)
Travel: Multi-site (4 locations across 3 states; heavier in year one)
Compensation: Competitive base salary (midpoint ~$170K) + annual bonus

About the Opportunity
We are partnering with a growing, multi-site manufacturing organization to identify a Director of Learning & Development to build and lead enterprise-wide L&D strategy. This is a highly visible role with executive exposure and the opportunity to shape leadership capability, workforce development, and organizational effectiveness across a complex, operationally driven environment.

This leader will play a critical role in elevating how learning shows up across the business, supporting frontline employees, developing leaders at all levels, and aligning talent strategy to business performance.

The Role
The Director of Learning & Development will design, implement, and scale learning strategies that drive capability, leadership effectiveness, and operational excellence across multiple manufacturing sites.

This role partners closely with operations, safety, and HR leadership to ensure learning solutions are practical, relevant, and accessible across multi-shift environments.

Key Responsibilities

  • Build and execute an enterprise L&D strategy aligned to business and operational priorities
  • Partner with manufacturing and operations leaders to support safety, productivity, quality, and leadership effectiveness
  • Lead and evolve leadership development programs for frontline leaders through senior leadership
  • Ensure learning is accessible and effective across all shifts, including nights and weekends
  • Develop career pathways, succession planning frameworks, and high-potential programs
  • Lead, coach, and grow the L&D team, with the opportunity to hire additional team members over time
  • Oversee L&D systems, budget, and external vendor partnerships
  • Establish metrics to measure learning effectiveness and business impact
  • Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on workforce capability and development

What We’re Looking For

  • 7–10+ years of progressive Learning & Development experience
  • Strong background in manufacturing or similarly operational environments
  • Proven experience supporting multi-shift, frontline and hourly workforces
  • Demonstrated success building and delivering leadership development programs
  • Ability to translate business needs into practical, scalable learning solutions
  • Strong executive presence, facilitation, and stakeholder partnership skills
  • Experience leading teams and building L&D functions

Why This Role

  • High visibility with executive leadership
  • Opportunity to build and shape L&D strategy, delivery, and a team from the ground up
  • Direct impact on leadership capability and organizational performance
  • Multi-site exposure with meaningful influence across the business

HR Generalist

  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52435

HR Generalist (Onsite | Manufacturing Environment)

Location: Twin Cities Area
Compensation: $70,000 – $80,000 base
Schedule: 100% onsite (5 days/week)

About the Opportunity

We’re partnering with a well-established, family-owned manufacturing organization to hire a hands-on HR Generalist. This role is open due to a long-tenured employee retirement and is critical in maintaining the day-to-day HR function.

This is a true HR operations role, ideal for someone who enjoys being close to the business, supporting employees and leaders directly, and owning execution across the employee lifecycle.

What You’ll Do

You’ll serve as the primary operational resource for HR, ensuring processes are executed accurately, consistently, and in compliance.

Key responsibilities include:

  • Own full-cycle recruiting (job postings, scheduling, offers, onboarding coordination)
  • Manage FMLA / PFML / leave administration (tracking, documentation, coordination with payroll/vendors)
  • Serve as the first point of contact for employee and manager HR questions
  • Support employee relations and frontline supervisor guidance
  • Administer benefits processes (enrollments, changes, open enrollment support)
  • Maintain HRIS data, employee records, and compliance documentation
  • Support reporting and compliance (EEO-1, OSHA, unemployment, audits, etc.)
  • Partner closely with payroll on employee changes and leave tracking
  • Help bring structure to HR operations by documenting processes and creating SOPs

What Success Looks Like (First 3–6 Months)

  • Independently managing day-to-day HR operations
  • Confidently handling FMLA/PFML and leave-related questions
  • Keeping recruiting moving with minimal oversight
  • Building trust with employees and leaders across the organization
  • Bringing organization and structure to existing HR processes

What You Bring

  • 5+ years of broad HR Generalist experience
  • Strong end-to-end recruiting ownership
  • Deep knowledge of FMLA, PFML, and leave administration
  • Experience supporting employee relations in a hands-on environment
  • Ability to manage a high-volume, transactional workload with strong follow-through
  • Strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills
  • Experience with HRIS systems (ADP preferred) and Excel
  • Manufacturing or similar environment experience strongly preferred

Work Environment

  • 100% onsite, this is a highly employee-facing role
  • Manufacturing setting with both office and production floor interaction
  • Occasional flexibility needed to support different shifts
  • Collaborative, team-oriented, and non-corporate culture

What Makes This Role Unique

  • High visibility within a small HR team (HR Leader + Payroll + this role)
  • Opportunity to own and stabilize HR operations
  • Work in a values-driven, family-owned environment where relationships matter
  • Ideal for someone who prefers hands-on execution over strategy

Who This Role Is (and Isn’t) For

You enjoy being in the details and making HR run smoothly
You like being onsite, building relationships, and solving issues in real time
You take ownership and don’t need heavy structure to be successful

*Not a fit for someone seeking a remote or hybrid, highly strategic, or heavily resourced HR role

Chief Human Resources Officer

  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Remote: Remote
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52433

I have been retained by one of my industry leading industrial manufacturing clients to help them find their next Chief Human Resources Officer.  The company is private equity backed and an event will take place over the next couple of years.  Reporting to the CEO, this person may be based either in the Twin Cities or Milwaukee, WI.  The company measures its sales in the hundreds of millions and is in a significant growth period…they expect a 70% increase in revenue over the next two years based upon current booked business.  This role is critical to the company’s success, and this person will own both the strategy and execution of aggressive hiring plans including 50+ direct labor positions by midsummer, that are necessary to keep up with growth.  This person will have responsibility for delivering full-scope HR services and for leading the development and execution of the human resource strategic and tactical/operating plans that supports the company’s strategic plans, growth objectives, and leadership principles. This position is an integral and highly visible member of the company’s senior leadership team, building a strong and inclusive culture and human resource capability to make the company an employer of choice and highly successful growth enterprise. 

The Chief Human Resources Officer directs overall HR functions in accordance with the objectives and practices of the company and has essential accountabilities for Human Resource Planning and Strategy; Executive and Manager Partnership; Recruitment and On-boarding; Talent Management; Employee Development; Compliance; Payroll and Benefits; and Compensation. Together with the leadership team, this person will work tirelessly to make the organization a great place to work.

This job requires a person who is willing to roll up their sleeves and be hands on with their approach providing coaching and leadership to their team. Travel will be roughly one trip per month to their various site locations. The position offers a base salary, bonus plan and equity tied to the event in 2027.  

Executive Assistant

  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52420

Executive Assistant to Senior Leader

Are you someone who thrives in a people-centered, mission-driven environment? We’re looking for an exceptional Executive Assistant to partner closely with a senior leader who is deeply engaged with a broad community of stakeholders.

This is a highly visible and relationship-driven role, where you’ll serve as a trusted right hand, helping manage a dynamic schedule, coordinate meaningful interactions, and ensure day-to-day operations run seamlessly.

VP of People and Culture

  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52401

A growing, distinctive consumer brand is seeking a Vice President, People & Culture to lead the people strategy and day-to-day HR function for a private equity-backed organization. This leader will serve as the company’s senior HR partner, working closely with the CEO, executive team, and broader leadership group to shape talent, culture, organizational effectiveness, and employee experience.

This is a highly visible, hands-on leadership role. While the position carries meaningful strategic responsibility, the current scope is also operational and requires a leader who is comfortable rolling up their sleeves. The right person will be equally credible coaching executives, leading talent and organizational work, supporting recruiting, and managing the tactical realities of a lean HR function.

Why This Role Is Compelling

  • Opportunity to shape the people agenda for a distinctive, growing consumer brand with strong leadership access and influence
  • Broad scope across HR strategy, talent acquisition, performance management, engagement, organizational development, and leadership support
  • Visible seat at the table with the ability to influence how the company scales, collaborates, and develops talent
  • A culture that values partnership, practical problem solving, and leaders who build credibility through action

Ideal Candidate Profile

  • Broad HR athlete with strong business partnership skills and the ability to shift between strategic thinking and tactical execution
  • Credible with senior leaders yet practical and approachable with employees and managers across the organization
  • Comfortable in lean, evolving environments where priorities shift and not every process is fully built
  • Strong talent assessor who can support recruiting, evaluate fit, and help leaders raise the bar on hiring and performance
  • Able to introduce the right amount of structure without becoming overly bureaucratic or heavy-handed

Primary Responsibilities

HR Leadership and Business Partnership

  • Serve as the senior HR leader, partnering closely with the CEO and leadership team on organization, talent, culture, and people-related business decisions
  • Provide practical, high-judgment counsel on employee relations, performance issues, organizational changes, leadership effectiveness, and team dynamics
  • Represent the people and culture perspective in leadership discussions while balancing business needs, scalability, and employee experience

Talent Management and Leadership Development

  • Lead performance management, talent review, calibration, and succession-related discussions across the company
  • Strengthen leadership capability through coaching, tools, frameworks, and development support
  • Partner with leaders to identify top talent, address performance gaps, and create development plans

Talent Acquisition and Workforce Planning

  • Play an active role in recruiting for professional and leadership positions, including role definition, job specification development, candidate assessment, and hiring manager partnership
  • Support workforce planning tied to company growth, organizational design, and evolving capability needs
  • Ensure recruiting processes are disciplined, well-calibrated, and aligned with future talent needs

HR Operations, Rewards, and Infrastructure

  • Oversee core HR processes including onboarding, offboarding, leaves, compliance, communications, and HR administration
  • Partner on benefits, compensation, and HR systems, including future benchmarking and pay structure work
  • Improve HR infrastructure and process efficiency

Culture, Engagement, and Organizational Effectiveness

  • Guide engagement efforts, survey follow-up, and employee listening mechanisms
  • Support initiatives that reinforce culture, values, and community impact
  • Contribute to leadership team effectiveness and cross-functional collaboration

Experience and Requirements

  • 10+ years of progressive Human Resources experience across multiple disciplines
  • Experience partnering closely with a CEO and/or executive leadership team in a growth-oriented environment
  • Proven ability to operate as a hands-on HR leader in a lean setting
  • Experience leading performance management, talent assessment, and leadership development processes
  • Strong recruiting capability and partnership with hiring leaders
  • Experience improving HR processes, systems, and operating cadence
  • Experience in consumer, retail, branded products, manufacturing, or similarly fast-paced environments is helpful but not required
  • Experience with ADP or similar HRIS platforms preferred

Personal Attributes

  • Builder mentality with low ego and high accountability
  • Strong listener with sound judgment and the ability to influence
  • Resilient and comfortable navigating ambiguity and change
  • Commercially minded and able to connect people decisions to business priorities

This role is based in the Minneapolis area, with a hybrid model and an expectation of regular in-office presence to support leadership visibility and team engagement.

Administrative Assistant & Program Coordinator

  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52295

SkyWater Search Partners is representing a long-standing, highly-respected institution in Minneapolis as they look to hire a highly organized and proactive Senior Administrative Assistant to support senior leadership and help coordinate a wide range of programs, events, and operational initiatives. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys balancing administrative excellence with meaningful, people-focused work.  This role will require an equal balance of organization skills, business communication, creativity and community building.

This is a fully onsite role in Minneapolis that follows typical core business hours, with the occasional Sunday participation.

Executive Assistant

  • Location: Plymouth, Minnesota
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52294

SkyWater Search Partners is seeking a highly capable and proactive Executive Assistant to serve as a trusted partner to our client’s CEO and Executive Team. This is a critical, high-impact role responsible for ensuring seamless day-to-day operations, supporting strategic initiatives, and acting as a central point of coordination across leadership.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced environment, anticipates needs, and operates with a high level of professionalism, discretion, and ownership.

Why this role?

  • Established, stable company with 100+ years of success

  • Strong culture with long-tenured employees

  • Meaningful, high-impact work supporting executive leadership

  • Competitive benefits and a collaborative environment

Head of Human Resources

  • Location: Brooklyn Park
  • Type: Direct Hire
  • Job #52239

Our firm has been retained by a growing medical device organization entering an exciting phase of growth as it continues delivering innovative solutions that improve patient outcomes. As the company expands its capabilities across engineering, manufacturing, and commercialization, we are seeking a Head of Human Resources to lead the people strategy supporting the organization’s next stage of growth.

Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, the Head of Human Resources is a critical hire responsible for building the HR function and establishing the people processes, systems, and practices that will support the company’s continued expansion. This is a newly created, highly operational role for a builder — someone energized by ambiguity, comfortable rolling up their sleeves, and excited by the opportunity to create something meaningful within a rapidly scaling organization.

This individual will design and implement the foundational processes, policies, and programs needed to support growth, including onboarding, performance management, compensation frameworks, employee relations, and workforce planning.

Day to day, this role is primarily operational, focused on building and running the HR function with limited infrastructure currently in place. The individual who succeeds here will bring both a strategic mindset and strong executional instincts and will have the opportunity over time to grow into a more senior HR leadership role as the function matures and the organization continues to scale.

Duties and Responsibilities

HR Function Build-Out

• Build the HR function by designing and implementing foundational infrastructure, processes, and programs, including onboarding, performance management, job architecture, and compliance frameworks.
• Assess the current state of HR processes, systems, and practices across the organization and establish consistent, scalable approaches where needed while improving or formalizing informal practices.
• Serve as a pragmatic partner to managers and leaders across the company, helping them build capability, navigate people challenges, and make thoughtful talent decisions.
• Own day-to-day management of HR vendor relationships including payroll, HRIS, benefits administration, and recruiting platforms, evaluating and implementing vendors where gaps exist.
• Lead the annual benefits renewal cycle, including working with brokers, benchmarking competitiveness, managing carrier negotiations, and overseeing open enrollment.

Talent Acquisition and Development

• Lead talent acquisition efforts to attract high-caliber talent across engineering, manufacturing, quality, and corporate functions.
• Develop leadership development and succession planning initiatives that strengthen the company’s leadership pipeline.
• Establish talent management strategies and processes needed to achieve organizational objectives, including succession planning, workforce planning, and pipeline recruiting.

Culture and Employee Engagement

• Champion a high-performing, collaborative culture that reflects the organization’s values and supports innovation and accountability.
• Drive initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, reinforce leadership expectations, and enhance the employee experience.
• Develop and implement energizing employee communication plans that reach all levels of the organization.

Organizational Design and Workforce Planning

• Partner with leadership to evaluate and evolve organizational structures to support growth and operational effectiveness.
• Lead workforce planning efforts to ensure the organization has the capabilities and talent needed to execute its strategic priorities.

HR Operations and Compliance

• Provide hands-on leadership across core HR functions including employee relations, performance management, compliance, payroll, benefits, and HR policy development.
• Lead the development and implementation of competitive health, retirement, wellness, and benefits programs.
• Respond to employee relations matters with urgency while identifying trends and implementing proactive initiatives.

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Board Engagement

• Partner with executive leadership and private equity partners to support potential mergers and acquisitions, contributing to diligence related to organizational structure, leadership capability, culture, and talent risk.
• Lead post-acquisition integration efforts including alignment of people processes, organizational design, leadership structure, and culture.
• As appropriate, attend and present at Board of Directors meetings regarding people strategies, organizational performance, and HR initiatives.

Candidate Requirements

The successful candidate will bring strong ethical, intellectual, professional, and personal values along with the following qualifications:

• Experience in medical device, life sciences, manufacturing, or another regulated industry strongly preferred.
• 10–15 years of progressive HR leadership experience, ideally within growth-oriented or entrepreneurial environments. Experience building or significantly strengthening an HR function is highly valued.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with senior leaders to align people strategies with business objectives.
• Experience across talent acquisition, leadership development, employee relations, and organizational design.
• Strong work ethic and willingness to operate in a hands-on capacity within a scaling environment.
• High energy, self-motivated, and operationally oriented with a data-driven approach to decision making.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and energized by building new capabilities and infrastructure.
• High level of self-awareness and ability to build credible relationships across the organization.
• Strong business acumen with a bias for practical, effective action.
• Strategic thinker with excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Experience supporting or leading M&A diligence and post-acquisition integration efforts is preferred.
• Ability to travel as needed.

Education

Bachelor’s degree required.

Compensation and Benefits

This role reports directly to the Chief Financial Officer and offers a competitive salary and performance-based bonus opportunity. The organization provides comprehensive health benefits, a 401(k) program with company match, and additional benefits designed to support employee wellbeing.

Location

The organization is headquartered in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area and values an in-person environment that supports collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurial energy. The Head of Human Resources will maintain a strong onsite presence and engage closely with leaders and teams across the organization.

visit us

601 Carlson Parkway | Suite 900 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55305

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952-767-9000

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