Zocalo

Director of Human Resources

Organization: Cooke School & Institute

Location: 1713 Madison Avenue, New York, NY (East Harlem Campus)

Position Type: Full-time, Exempt, Onsite

Salary Range: $150,000 – $180,000

Reports To: Head of School (CEO)

About Cooke School & Institute

Cooke School & Institute is NYC's premier independent school educating neurodivergent students and those with mild to moderate cognitive or developmental disabilities ages 5-21. We operate three distinct educational programs—Lower & Middle School, Upper School, and a Transitions program for 18 to 21-year-old students—across campuses in East Harlem and SoHo. Cooke envisions a world in which all people with disabilities are included as valued members of their communities, leading independent and purposeful lives.

To learn more about Cooke School & Institute please check out our website, magazine, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Position Summary

Cooke School & Institute is seeking a strategic and experienced Director of Human Resources to lead and modernize our HR function. Reporting directly to the Head of School (CEO), the Director will transition the department from a tactical, reactive unit into a proactive, strategic partnership. This position is fully in-person and based out of Cooke's Madison Avenue campus in East Harlem.

You will manage a lean internal team (1-2 direct reports) and oversee critical external HR service vendors. Because human infrastructure and financial health are deeply interconnected, this role requires close, ongoing collaboration with the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Department of Finance to ensure the flawless execution of payroll and benefits management. As a senior advisor to the leadership team, you will navigate all personnel operations with an expert calibration of priority—skillfully balancing the unique needs of individual employees with institutional policies, broader organizational goals, and legal compliance. Operating with a high degree of discretion and maintaining absolute confidentiality across all workplace matters and reporting pipelines is fundamental to success in this seat.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Development

• Partner with the COO and Head of School to align HR strategy with Cooke's broader institutional goals and mission.
• Assess current HR workflows and implement structural solutions to improve responsiveness, efficiency, and staff trust.
• Manage and coach managers around the employee experience of a diverse workforce of educators, therapists, administrative, and support personnel, ensuring a balanced approach that respects individual needs while maintaining institutional alignment.
• Support and advance the school's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives by actively integrating them into recruitment, retention, and policy development.
• Proactively benchmark Cooke's HR practices against nonprofit and industry standards, identifying and recommending improvements before they are escalated by staff or leadership.
• Support workforce planning tied to Cooke's growth trajectory, including anticipated hiring needs from the upcoming building acquisition and long-term expansion plans.

  Operational Execution, Finance Collaboration & Vendor Management

• Collaborate tightly with the CFO and the Finance Department to ensure absolute accuracy and frictionless execution regarding payroll processing, benefits funding, and compensation modeling. Proactively reconcile payroll and benefits data ahead of month-end close rather than waiting for Finance to flag discrepancies; maintain working knowledge of retirement-plan compliance, including SECURE 2.0 implications and benefits eligibility rules.
• Oversee and optimize the performance of external HR service vendors, managing the relationships and technical integrations surrounding benefits administration and HRIS platforms.
• Supervise, train, and develop 1-2 direct HR reports, ensuring the daily workflow of the department is executed with accuracy and clarity.
• Direct the annual benefits open enrollment process, actively educating employees to maximize the value of their total compensation packages.
• Support multi-year personnel cost forecasting, particularly in light of Cooke's upcoming building acquisition and growth plans.
• Establish and meet clear response-time standards for staff and hiring-manager inquiries.

  Talent Acquisition & Retention

• Own end-to-end recruitment for administrative and operations roles; for clinical and educational roles, provide operational recruitment support to the Associate Heads — postings, system administration, sourcing assistance, and timely salary-quote turnaround — while hiring decisions remain with the Associate Heads.
• Standardize the employee onboarding experience to ensure new hires are integrated seamlessly and understand baseline performance expectations- including a substantive culture component, not logistics alone.
• Develop data-driven retention initiatives, utilizing engagement surveys and stay/exit interviews to identify opportunities for structural improvement.
• Design and implement a standardized performance review process — tools, timelines, and manager guidance — to replace the current program-by-program inconsistency.

  Compliance, Employee Relations, & Risk Mitigation

• Maintain strict compliance with all federal, New York State, and New York City employment laws, continuously reviewing and adapting school policies to mitigate risk.
• Handle all employee relations matters, investigations, and confidential reporting with an exceptional level of discretion, sensitivity, and professional integrity.
• Serve as the definitive escalation point for complex employee relations matters, facilitating conflict resolution with empathy, fairness, and legal rigor.
• Manage the administration of FMLA, ADA accommodations, workers' compensation, and all other leave programs.
• Develop and periodically benchmark compensation strategy against comparable employers, including NYC DOE, to support recruitment and retention.
• Prepare and deliver quarterly HR reporting to the Board (headcount, turnover, compliance status, and compensation strategy).

  Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Leadership, or a related field; Master's degree preferred.
• Minimum of 10+ years of dedicated, progressive human resources experience, demonstrating a clear trajectory from tactical execution to strategic leadership.
• Must be fully able to work full-time in person, without restriction, in New York City, based daily at Cooke School's Madison Avenue campus in East Harlem.
• Experience in nonprofit, mission-driven, or broader education-sector organizations is important; independent-school background specifically is not required. A nonprofit, standalone-organization mindset is essential.
• Exposure to, and genuine empathy for, a workforce supporting individuals with a wide range of cognitive, developmental, and physical disabilities; understanding of how HR policy and practice intersect with that context.
• Comfort with HRIS platforms and a systems-oriented, tech-forward approach to HR service delivery; AI and efficiency literacy is a plus.
• Proven track record of managing HR vendor relationships and collaborating with internal Finance departments on payroll and benefits architecture.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain absolute confidentiality and exercise impeccable judgment when handling sensitive, high-discretion personnel matters.
• Proven success balancing employee-centric advocacy with institutional policies, organizational goals, and compliance requirements.
• Exceptional communication skills with a demonstrated ability to translate complex organizational challenges into actionable solutions for both staff and executive leadership.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or PHR certification is a plus.

  TO APPLY

  Kimberly Aguilera of Zocalo has been exclusively retained for this search. To apply for this role please submit your materials through this link. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.?

  Zocalo is a premier executive recruiting firm operating at the intersection of creativity, culture, and impact. We specialize in retained and embedded search, partnering with purpose-driven leaders to build high-performing teams that fuel transformative growth.