Workforce Planning Development Jobs in Michigan (NOW HIRING)

Primary Responsibilities

Employee & Labor Relations Leadership

• Develop and execute labor and employee relations priorities aligned with business objectives, workforce requirements, and operational needs.
• Identify labor-related barriers to business execution and lead cross-functional efforts to develop practical, sustainable solutions.
• Partner with the Vice Presidents of Employee & Labor Relations to establish priorities, sequence major initiatives, and align resources to the Company’s highest-value business objectives.
• Balance immediate operational demands with longer-term organizational priorities to sustain progress on enterprise labor initiatives.

Collective Bargaining & Labor Programs

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight for Skilled Trades, apprenticeship programs, New Technology, collective bargaining with trade unions, and other designated labor initiatives, ensuring consistent governance, business alignment, and effective execution.
• Support the development and execution of collective bargaining strategies aligned with the Company’s business objectives.
• Coordinate national collective bargaining preparation, including project planning, issue development, proposal tracking, stakeholder alignment, training, executive materials, and bargaining readiness.
• Lead the coordination and oversight of local contract collective bargaining activities to ensure consistent governance, disciplined execution, and alignment with national bargaining strategy.
• Lead assigned bargaining subcommittees or workstreams and participate as a member of the national bargaining team.
• Support the negotiation of Memorandums of Understanding, side letters, and other agreements tied to operational change, technology, workforce transformation, and enterprise priorities.
• Manage internal investigations of fraud and misconduct and coordinate discipline policy and administration.

Organizational Capability & Modernization

• Drive training and development initiatives that enhance organizational capability and strengthen core labor and employee relations skills.
• Lead process improvement, analytics, knowledge management, data governance, and AI-enabled initiatives that improve the effectiveness and scalability of the function.
• Translate modernization priorities into clear project plans, milestones, ownership, decision points, and measurable outcomes.
• Promote continuous improvement, simplification, and greater consistency across the Employee & Labor Relations organization.

Enterprise Execution & Leadership Support

• Lead complex labor relations projects from concept through execution, driving accountability, removing barriers, resolving critical issues, and ensuring timely delivery of priority initiatives.
• Serve as the integration point for U.S. LR/ER initiatives, ensuring business objectives, contractual obligations, stakeholder expectations, and execution activities remain aligned.
• Establish reporting, governance, and executive-review routines that provide visibility into progress, risks, dependencies, business impact, and required decisions.
• Prepare executive presentations, recommendations, decision materials, and status updates for senior leadership and governance forums.
• Maintain focus and follow-through on major organizational priorities in support of the Vice Presidents of Employee & Labor Relations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; JD or Masters degree preferred.
• Minimum of 10–15 years of progressive labor and employee relations experience in a large, complex, unionized environment.
• Significant experience in collective bargaining (1st chair), negotiations preparation, local bargaining, and labor contract administration.
• Demonstrated success leading major labor initiatives, organizational transformation, and complex cross-functional projects in a matrixed organization.
• Strong understanding of manufacturing operations, workforce planning, labor economics, and business strategy.
• Experience building organizational capability through training, processes, governance, tools, and leadership development.
• Strong executive communication, negotiation, influence, and stakeholder-management capability.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in automotive, manufacturing, industrial, transportation, logistics, or another heavily unionized operating environment.
• Experience serving as first-chair negotiator in collective bargaining, including multi-site or national negotiations, and leading bargaining subcommittees or negotiations workstreams.
• Experience with Skilled Trades, apprenticeship programs, New Technology obligations, IUOE, or other specialized labor programs.
• Experience with data analytics, process improvement, knowledge management, AI-enabled tools, or technology-driven labor transformation.
• Demonstrated ability to advise senior executives and convert strategic direction into disciplined organizational execution.

Measures of Success

• Accelerates execution of the Employee & Labor Relations agenda and removes barriers to business performance.
• Improves national and local bargaining readiness, consistency, and governance.
• Advances enterprise labor initiatives from planning through implementation.
• Strengthens organizational capability, succession depth, and bargaining bench strength.
• Improves cross-functional alignment, executive visibility, and decision-making.
• Builds scalable processes, tools, governance, and technology that increase the effectiveness of the Employee & Labor Relations organization.