NJ/NY Gotham FC (“Gotham FC” or “the Club”) is a National Women’s Soccer League (“NWSL”) team representing New Jersey and New York. The team plays at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, NJ. At Gotham FC, we don’t just play soccer; we set trends, challenge the status quo, and lead with bold creativity. While our roots are grounded in the tradition of the beautiful game, everything else about us is fiercely original. We’re here to redefine expectations, break boundaries, and build something that hasn’t been done before. If you’re ready to push the limits and make an impact, you belong at Gotham FC.
The Role:
Gotham FC is seeking a Director, People & Culture who will report directly to the Vice President, People & Culture. This role will serve as a key leader within the People & Culture function, providing strategic and operational support across the Club. The Director will lead core People & Culture functions, including HRIS management, compensation & benefits administration, process & policy development, P&C analytics, and employee engagement initiatives, while partnering closely with the VP, People & Culture on strategic priorities.
The successful candidate will be a hands-on leader with strong operational expertise, a data-driven mindset, and a collaborative approach. They will have a passion for women’s sports and/or soccer, the ability to work non-traditional hours as needed, and reside within the NJ/NY market.
Key Responsibilities:
- Serve as operational lead for core People & Culture functions, ensuring efficient, compliant, and people-centered processes.
- Manage and optimize the Club’s HRIS platform, including system administration, data integrity, reporting, process automation, and vendor partnership.
- Oversee benefits administration, including annual renewals, open enrollment, employee communications, and day-to-day inquiries in partnership with external brokers and vendors.
- Lead the drafting, updating, and implementation of People & Culture policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws (NJ & NY).
- Develop and deliver P&C analytics and reporting dashboards to inform business decisions, workforce planning, and organizational strategy.
- Support compensation planning and strategy, including market benchmarking, development of salary bands, and analysis to ensure competitive and equitable pay practices.
- Partner with leadership to design and execute employee engagement initiatives, surveys, action planning, and culture-building programs.
- Lead the development and implementation of internal culture and employee experience initiatives, and other programming that strengthen engagement and organizational culture.
- Partner with department leaders to support organizational effectiveness and key People & Culture priorities across the Club
- Oversee onboarding and offboarding processes to ensure a positive and compliant employee lifecycle experience, inclusive of partnering with third-party IT vendors.
- Assist in performance management cycles, talent planning, and organizational development initiatives.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Soccer Operations and Business Operations to ensure consistent People & Culture practices across the Club.
- Provide support on employee relations and change management initiatives as needed
- Partner with hiring managers & help support full-cycle recruitment effort as needed
- Support oversight of the People & Culture budget
- Maintain accurate employee records and ensure compliance with league (NWSL), state, and federal requirements.
- Contribute to the continuous improvement of People & Culture programs, systems, and workflows.
Qualifications:
- 7–10+ years of progressive experience in Human Resources, People Operations, or People & Culture roles.
- Prior experience in P&C leadership or senior People operations roles required.
- Strong working knowledge of employment laws and P&C compliance requirements in NJ and NY.
- Demonstrated experience managing HRIS systems and P&C data/reporting.
- Experience overseeing benefits administration and vendor management.
- Proven ability to draft policies and create structured, scalable P&C processes.
- Experience supporting employee engagement initiatives and organizational change.
- Excellent interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- High level of discretion and ability to handle confidential information.
- Experience in professional sports, entertainment, or fast-paced environments is a plus.
Capability & Other Characteristics:
- Strategic thinker with strong operational execution skills.
- Highly organized and detail-oriented with strong project management capabilities.
- Collaborative and team-oriented, with the ability to build trust across departments.
- Data-driven mindset with comfort analyzing metrics and translating insights into action.
- Adaptable and comfortable working in a dynamic, growth-oriented environment.
- Passionate about fostering an inclusive, equitable, and high-performance culture.
- Legally authorized to work in the United States.
Location:
Based at Gotham FC’s business office, which is located at 15 Exchange Place Jersey City, New Jersey, on a hybrid working schedule which consists of three core in-office/in-person days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and two non-core days (Monday and Friday), with the option of being in the business office or remote. Ability to attend all home games and any mandatory events as well as away games, as necessary. A willingness to travel for other business-related needs, as they arise. Ability to work at the team’s soccer operations office in Whippany, New Jersey, as needed. Gotham FC requires its associates to live in its market, that is, within reasonable commuting distance of Gotham FC’s offices, practice facility and Sports Illustrated Stadium.
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Gotham FC is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team. We are committed to broadening the pool of qualified talent for consideration, including those who have been historically underrepresented. We strongly encourage people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and non-binary people, veterans, parents, and individuals with disabilities to apply.
Job type: Full-time, Exempt position
Salary range: $120,000 – $150,000
Benefits: Medical, Dental & Vision benefit plans available for Employee and Family, Employee-funded 401(k) option
This job description is a broad summary of the essential job functions and general duties for this position, the additional job duties that may be required from time to time, the level of knowledge and skill typically required, and the scope of responsibility, but should not be considered an all-inclusive listing of work requirements. The person in this role may be required to and must be willing to perform other duties as assigned, to meet organizational needs. This job description may be modified from time to time, at the sole discretion of Gotham FC.
This employee must follow and enforce all policies and procedures formulated by Gotham FC and be a role model for the organization.
The existence of this job description does not modify the employee’s “at-will” status. That is, unless a signed employment contract specifying a term of employment exists between Gotham FC and the employee or his/her/their representative, both Gotham FC and the employee will have the right to terminate the employment relationship at any time, with or without reason or notice, unless otherwise prohibited by law.
