Job Title
HR Manager
Job Category
M&P - AAPS
Job Family Group
Staff - Non Union
Department
Human Resources Support | Dean's Office | Faculty of Applied Science (Sarah De Vita)
Job End Date
Ongoing
Posting End Date
November 19, 2026
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.
This position is subject to the satisfactory completion of required background checks
At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.
Job Summary
The Faculty of Applied Science (APSC) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) is a multidisciplinary faculty comprising of six departments, five schools, including one jointly established with the Faculty of Medicine, five research centres, and four multidisciplinary programs. Home to a diverse range of research areas and professional programs, including engineering, nursing, architecture, and planning, APSC is dedicated to shaping the leaders and professions that shape the world. Our core purpose is to discover, design, innovate, and provide top-tier education while championing a community of responsible professionals committed to advancing thriving, sustainable, and healthy communities.
The APSC Shared Services Centre (SSC) is a centralized unit that offers three areas of services: Student Academic Advising, Finance, and Human Resources & Faculty Affairs (HRFA). The SSC-HRFA provides strategic and operational human resources and faculty affairs support across the Faculty. Guided by principles of partnership, service excellence, equity, and respectful engagement, the team delivers clear, consistent, and solutions-focused support to faculty, staff, and leaders. Through a combination of expertise, collaboration, and data-informed decision-making, the team supports all aspects of the staff and faculty lifecycle while fostering an inclusive, high-performing, and service-oriented culture that enables the Faculty's people and programs to thrive.
The HR Manager provides professional human resources and faculty affairs support to an assigned portfolio of departments and/or schools across the Faculty. The role serves as a trusted partner to staff and faculty leadership, providing guidance on staff and faculty lifecycle matters including recruitment, appointments and reappointments, salary administration, organizational changes, performance management, and policy interpretation. Working within a centralized shared service model, the HR Manager ensures the consistent application of policies, procedures, collective agreements, and other terms of employment while balancing the operational needs of the departments, schools, and Faculty. This role also provides leadership to a team of HR administrative professionals and contributes to the ongoing development, standardization, and continuous improvement of HRFA services across the Faculty. The HR Manager is an integral role on the APSC SSC-HRFA team to help build a client-focused, responsive, high quality, and scalable service to support the Faculty's people, priorities, and long-term success.
Organizational Status
This role has a dual report to the Senior Manager, Faculty Affairs regarding faculty matters and Senior Manager, HR regarding staff and student employees and forms part of a team supporting a portfolio of Faculty of Applied Science units. This position partners with staff and faculty leadership in departments and schools and works collaboratively and develops partnerships with colleagues in the Dean's Office, members of the APSC Shared Service Centre Finance Team, Payroll, Central Human Resources and other UBC departments as necessary.
Work Performed
Staff HR Advising
- Acts as a partner to departments and schools providing guidance and advice to leaders, faculty, and staff on the interpretation and application of collective agreements, and other agreements and handbooks that govern conditions of employment, as well as University policies, procedures, best practice and applicable employment legislation.
- Provides guidance on matters of routine to moderate complexity, including workplace conflict, performance concerns, attendance issues, and interpretation of employment terms and conditions. Escalating sensitive, complex, precedent setting, or high-risk matters to the Senior Manager, HR.
- Facilitates the return-to-work and workplace accommodation processes, working collaboratively with employees, managers, and central University partners to identify and implement appropriate solutions. Partners with the Senior Manager, HR on complex medical and accommodation matters.
- Provides advice and guidance on organizational structure changes, position design, reporting relationships, and staffing approaches to support operational effectiveness and service delivery objectives.
- Supports the Senior Manager, HR on employee and labour relations processes through research, documentation, and information gathering, and participates in meetings as appropriate.
- Provides guidance on salary administration including salary increases, employment offers and other employee changes ensuring compliance with applicable agreements, policies, and procedures.
- Provides consultation and support to hiring managers on recruitment strategies, equitable and inclusive hiring practices, candidate assessment and selection processes, and promotes a positive candidate experience and consistent recruitment practices through the application of service standards and recruitment best practices.
- Partners with and/or refers foreign worker matters for both staff and faculty to UBC Housing, Immigration and Relocation Services as required.
- Provides guidance regarding employee versus independent contractor assessments and works with appropriate stakeholders to ensure compliance with University requirements
Faculty Affairs Advising and Administration
- Provides advice and administrative support on faculty appointment types/ranks and related matters, ensuring compliance with the Faculty Association agreements, University and Faculty policies, procedures, and best practices.
- Provides guidance on faculty employment processes and policy interpretation, referring complex or precedent-setting matters to the Senior Manager, Faculty Affairs as appropriate.
- Manages paid and unpaid term faculty processes, including appointments, reappointments, job changes, and leaves.
- Reviews and advises on offer letters, reappointment letters and other employment documentation for non-bargaining unit term faculty and sessional lecturers to ensure accuracy, consistency, and compliance.
- In collaboration with internal partners and clients, creates and posts faculty job advertisements and manages the recruitment process for bargaining and non-bargaining faculty members.
- Drafts offer letters, reappointment letters and other employment documentation for tenure-track and tenured faculty members, lecturers and administrative/leadership appointments.
- Manages the paperwork for LMIA/LMIA exemption and BC PNP employer support letter/documentation for tenure-track and tenured faculty members and submits them to Faculty Relations or HR Immigration as appropriate.
- Reviews and approves Workday transactions related to term faculty appointments and employee life cycle changes for non-bargaining unit faculty members, lecturers, and sessional lecturers.
- Oversees immigration and work authorization processes related to faculty appointments in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
- Partners with and/or refers foreign worker matters to UBC Housing, Immigration and Relocation Services as required.
- Participates in the design and delivery of workshops, presentations, meetings, and project initiatives with respect to non-bargaining unit faculty and sessional lecturer appointments.
- Liaises with administrative staff in Departments and Schools, Payroll, Faculty Relations, Housing and Relocation Services, and the Provost Office to resolve discrepancies on non-bargaining unit faculty and sessional lecturer appointments, requests and issues.
- Determines the need for a variety of statistical database reports related to this portfolio.
Team Leadership and Service Delivery
- Provides day to day leadership, management, and support to HR Assistants responsible for SSC-HRFA operational and transactional services.
- Assigns work, establishes priorities, monitors service levels, and coordinates workload distribution in collaboration with Senior Managers to ensure timely, accurate, and responsive service delivery.
- Recruits, trains, coaches, and develops staff, providing ongoing feedback, performance management and professional development.
- Participates in the implementation and ongoing enhancement of the Faculty's shared service model, identifying opportunities for operational improvement, recommending enhancements to processes, systems, workflows, and service delivery practices.
- Participates in developing and delivering training, communications, and resource materials related to HRFA programs, processes, and initiatives.
- May participate on committees, working groups, and project teams representing to contribute to Faculty and/or University initiatives related to HRFA.
- Provides cross-coverage and support to other team members on the SSC team.
- Performs other related duties as required.
Consequence of Error/Judgment
Inappropriate advice or inaccurate information provided to clients may result in the filing of grievances, arbitration processes, or the initiation of litigation. Any of these outcomes may have significant financial consequences for client departments, may have a negative impact on the University s relationship with unions and associations and/or may contribute to an unfavorable public image of the University. Failure to deliver services to departments in a timely manner may result in a disruption of client department operations.
Supervision Received
Works autonomously with minimal supervision from the Senior Manager, Faculty Affairs and Senior Manager, HR. Assesses situations, identifies needs and problems, and takes timely and appropriate corrective actions.
Supervision Given
Manages a team unionized staff.
Minimum Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of three years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in a complex, unionized and/or academic environment would be a strong asset.
- Experience leading and managing teams.
- Thorough knowledge of current Human Resources Management practices. Knowledge of provincial and federal legislation governing employers' Human Resources practices.
- Knowledge and experience with a coaching model to influence and advise client units.
- Working knowledge of Workday an asset.
- Ability to maintain accuracy and attention to detail.
- Effective oral and written communication skills.
- Proven ability to work in a team and collaborate with others.
- Ability to establish and maintain supportive working relationships with client departments, union and association representatives.
- Ability to exercise tact, discretion, and judgment required. Proven ability to be flexible, confident and self-motivated.
- Ability to prioritize and work effectively under pressure to meet deadlines.
- Ability to deal with a diversity of people in a calm, courteous, and effective manner.
- Ability to analyze problems, identify key information and issues, and effectively resolve.
- Ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities.
