Find & Apply For Human Resources Manager Jobs in Corona, California

THE COMPANY

Our client is an established global organization in the consumer products and manufacturing sector, recognized for its commitment to product quality, skilled craftsmanship, and operational excellence. With an international presence and a strong manufacturing heritage, the organization is focused on strengthening its workforce capabilities, improving operational performance, and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement. We have been retained to identify a strategic and hands-on Director of Human Resources - Manufacturing to support manufacturing and distribution operations in Southern California. This highly visible leadership opportunity combines strategic HR partnership with workforce transformation, talent development, operational productivity, and organizational effectiveness.

THE POSITION

This is a highly visible, strategic leadership role. Reporting to the Interim Chief Talent Officer, the Director, Human Resources - Manufacturing is the senior HR partner embedded with plant and distribution leadership in Corona and San Bernardino, leading the onsite HR team and serving as a hands-on, transformational business partner to site leadership and employees. This is not a traditional HR Director role focused primarily on employee relations, compliance, recruiting and benefits. We need a strategic manufacturing HR leader who partners with Operations to transform our workforce, improve factory productivity, build a sustainable talent pipeline, and create a culture of accountability, continuous improvement and employee development. You believe great HR happens as much on the factory floor as in an office.

Essential Functions:

Be a true business partner to Operations and factory leadership. Stay visible on the factory and distribution floors, partner with leaders on workforce metrics (turnover, absenteeism, overtime, earned vs. paid hours), and help connect operational results like labor efficiency, scrap, and rework to their people drivers, such as training, onboarding, staffing, and retention. Lead and develop the manufacturing HR team. Build a high-performing onsite HR team supporting the factory and distribution sites. Serve as the site's connection to Company global HR functions (Compensation, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, and Benefits), bringing manufacturing needs to those teams and delivering their programs consistently at the sites. Lead the people side of operational transformation. Support lean, continuous improvement, automation, and new staffing models through change management, communication, and engagement, helping teams work through resistance while honoring Company's craftsmanship traditions. Shape performance-based incentive programs. Partner with global Compensation, Operations, and Finance to develop individual, team, and gainsharing incentives (including skill-based pay and certification premiums) tied to productivity, quality, and attendance goals set by Operations. Bring the site perspective to program design, lead local rollout and communication, and help measure ROI. Programs should reward quality and safety alongside output and let high performers grow earnings beyond across-the-board increases. Solve our entry-level attraction and retention challenge. In a competitive Southern California labor market, partner with Talent Acquisition, Compensation, and Operations to build a career-based employment proposition: clear progression paths, paid apprenticeships, accelerated wage progression, referral and retention incentives, structured onboarding (30/60/90/180 days), and tools that help supervisors retain new hires. Lead manufacturing skills training at the sites. In partnership with global Learning & Development, Operations, Manufacturing Engineering, and Quality, establish standardized curricula, skills matrices, cross-training, and certification programs for the factory, with Operations and Quality owning technical standards and certification sign-off before employees perform critical processes. Track program effectiveness through time to proficiency, certification rates, and cross-training coverage. Lead workforce planning, talent pipelines, and succession. Partner with Operations to translate production plans into hiring, skill, and retirement forecasts; work with Talent Acquisition to build pipelines through high schools, community colleges, trade schools, and skilled-trade recruiting (woodworking, automotive, machining, aerospace); and help capture craft knowledge through mentorship, apprenticeships, and master craftsperson designations. Enable labor productivity and staffing flexibility. Use workforce analytics to help Operations identify people-related root causes (training, skill gaps, engagement, supervision), build a certified cross-trained workforce that gives Operations more flexibility to reduce bottlenecks and overtime, partner with Quality to link training gaps to defects, and strengthen attendance policies and programs. Strengthen frontline leadership. With global Learning & Development, bring leadership development and clear leadership expectations to supervisors, leads, and managers, focused on coaching, accountability, and continuous improvement, and build internal leadership pipelines at the sites. Build a culture of accountability, engagement, and pride. Establish recognition tied to craftsmanship, quality, and mentorship; partner with Operations on an employee idea program that rewards measurable results; and lead stay interviews, exit analysis, and engagement surveys, all grounded in trust, fairness, and respect. Lead data-driven HR and strong governance. Deliver a manufacturing HR dashboard (turnover, regrettable attrition, absenteeism, overtime, retention by tenure, time to proficiency, skills coverage, promotions), presented alongside key operational measures such as labor productivity, and quantify the financial impact of HR programs. Oversee investigations with Legal, leaves of absence, and workers' compensation, and ensure compliance with California and federal employment law, partnering with the onsite EHS team on OSHA requirements and with Legal on any applicable labor relations obligations.

THE CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate is a commercially minded, transformational HR leader who understands manufacturing operations and can connect talent and organizational decisions to productivity, quality, safety, and cost. This individual will combine executive-level strategic partnership with an approachable, hands-on presence on the factory floor, and will be comfortable challenging conventional HR practices while maintaining rigorous compliance and employee relations standards.

Qualifications:

10+ years of progressive Human Resources experience, including at least 5 years leading HR teams in manufacturing, industrial operations, or similar labor-intensive production environments; experience at larger, complex sites strongly preferred. Proven success supporting manufacturing transformation, turnaround, productivity, Lean, or continuous improvement initiatives; experience in craftsmanship-intensive sectors is advantageous. Direct experience with incentive programs, skill-based compensation, apprenticeships, structured training, or manufacturing talent pipelines. Deep knowledge of California employment and wage-and-hour laws, employee relations, and applicable federal labor and safety requirements, including OSHA. Ability to partner effectively with plant managers, operations executives, and frontline supervisors, with strong executive presence and a willingness to spend significant time on the manufacturing floor. Hands-on experience with global HR information systems and workforce analytics. Bachelor's degree in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, Organizational/Industrial Psychology, or a related field. PHR, SPHR, GPHR, or similar professional certification strongly preferred; bilingual English/Spanish skills are a plus. Intellectual curiosity, entrepreneurial thinking, creativity, analytical rigor, and a demonstrated ability to lead change with measurable results. A quality- and safety-first mindset, strong coaching ability, proactive communication, and a commitment to trust, fairness, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

Above all, we need someone who is intellectually curious, entrepreneurial, creative, analytical, and willing to challenge conventional HR practices.

The ideal candidate:

Thinks like an operator as much as an HR leader, connecting people decisions to throughput, quality, safety, and cost, with a Quality and Safety-first mentality. Builds credibility quickly as a proactive business partner, not a policy enforcer, and can lead a room and coach leaders and employees. Moves fast through transformational change while keeping stakeholders informed and without cutting corners on compliance or employee relations rigor. Brings a continuous improvement mindset to HR itself and has led manufacturing change with measurable outcomes. This is an opportunity to shape the people strategy for complex manufacturing and distribution operations, build leadership and workforce capability, and deliver measurable business results through effective HR partnership.