Diversity & Inclusion Officer

The Office of Human Resources supports PPPL’s mission by providing expertise and guidance to enable recruitment, retention, and development of a highly skilled, diverse, and vibrant workforce. Reporting to the Executive Director of Human Resources, the Diversity & Inclusion Officer (DIO) will establish the diversity, inclusion, and equity strategy for PPPL and lead the design, delivery, implementation, and analysis initiatives that support PPPL. The DIO is a key member of the Office of Human Resources (HR) and works closely with the leadership of PPPL and Princeton University key resources to enhance the PPPL staff experience.

The incumbent must have demonstrable skills for engaging and collaborating with organization leaders, staff and other stakeholders in STEM fields to inspire and influence a diverse group of colleagues in focusing attention on diversity and inclusion, achieving measurable results by providing thoughtful leadership and guidance about drivers, strategies, and goals. The incumbent will benchmark across industries including R&D environment and those involving significant STEM fields to bring contemporary best practices to PPPL. This position is critical in managing the change process necessary to improve diversity and inclusion results and operationalize the link between diversity and excellence. This position is critical to growing and sustaining the diversity efforts and is expected to demonstrate progressive management values and standards to inform transformative inclusion and equity.

The position requires a broad range of diversity, inclusion, organizational development experience and competencies including strong experience in communication, influencing without direct authority, strategic analysis, thinking and planning, organizational effectiveness, creative problem-solving, and consulting. This person must be adept at working in a matrixed organization and must be able to excel both as a member and a decisive leader in a collaborative, team-oriented structure.

Enhance and lead the implementation of the diversity and inclusion strategy, including development and oversight of the annual Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Plan.

Inclusive Culture:

• Develop and clearly communicate efforts to institutionalize the diversity strategy to the internal and external stakeholder communities, influencing and guiding senior staff and supervisors.
• Assess impact of D&I strategic programs and measure progress; provide written and verbal updates to various audiences including the PPPL leadership, supervisors, staff, DOE Site Office, Princeton University collaborators and other key stakeholders.
• Hold regular meetings and workshops with work groups to support development and implementation of D&I goals and initiatives throughout the organization.
• Coordinate and support central efforts to improve inclusion, diversity, and equity services and programs related to strategic planning and change management, learning and development, and employee engagement including but not limited to oversight for employee resource groups; providing subject matter expertise and creating solutions and ideas towards diversity interests.
• Develop and lead implementation of policies and programs to attract, retain and promote a diverse workforce. Partnering with the Talent Acquisition Specialist and Director of HR, determine most strategic investments of outreach dollars. May attend diversity events, career fairs, and travel to colleges and universities to build relationships.

• Work with research leadership to build effective Post Doc pipeline, ensuring diversity of applicants.

• Recommend new approaches, policies and procedures to effect continuous improvement (Best Practices) of employment and diversity processes.

Diversity Analytics:

• Oversee the analysis and presentation of diversity related data; use data to effectively show status, report progress, and inform decision-making.
• Analyze and offer solutions to improve D&I Dashboard metrics and provide regular updates to senior leadership via key performance indicators (KPIs) for D&I at PPPL, outlining performance to goals, such as applicant flow, hiring and exits trends, and adverse impact analysis.
• Recognize themes from diversity and inclusion plan initiatives; share best practices and coordinate centralized support to address interests and needs.
• Develop creative communication methods to highlight and showcase diversity and inclusion efforts and interests.
• Acts as a subject matter expert (SME) to internal and external partners on diversity and inclusion best practices, offering trainings and consulting to supervisors.

Employee Engagement:

• Assist in developing retention strategies, including onboarding, mentoring and developmental opportunities.

• Lead the development and implementation of D&I education and training initiatives.

• Design and execute diversity workforce management programs, which may include work and family policies and programs which may include partnering with Princeton University.

• In partnership with the Executive Director of HR, develop and implement programs consistent with the goals and objectives of the Laboratory’s D&I plan.

• Recommend new approaches, policies and procedures to effect continuous improvement of employment and diversity processes.

• Serve as the liaison to employee affinity groups, inform management of progress and provide solutions for continued success.

*Other duties may be assigned

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field (Organizational Development, HR, etc.) and a minimum of seven to ten years of demonstrable experience leading diversity and inclusion improvements.

• Advanced degree, certification(s), or advanced training in diversity related fields preferred; experience in developing and delivering D&I training and experience in diversity research a plus.

• Demonstrated emotional intelligence and experience with and a personal orientation towards a collaborative approach to work and the ability to influence an outcome through a consultative methodology; ability to work independently and to work effectively as leader or member in teams, on taskforces, and committees; strong commitment to client focused, relationship-based service.

• Exceptional consultative and facilitation skills; strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills; proven ability to develop and foster relationships including ability to establish rapport and credibility with a wide-range of constituencies; ability to navigate conflict effectively and influence without authority across all levels of an organization.

• Understanding of organizational development and effectiveness methodologies and practical approaches; demonstrated maturity, persistence, and patience necessary to work towards diversity and inclusion goals effectively.

• Ability to balance strategic thinking with tactical implementation; excellent change management, project management and process improvement skills; ability to prioritize and manage multiple complex initiatives and projects serving various customers with available resources; ability to respond quickly to changing business needs and priorities.

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite of applications required.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to articulate PPPL's mission, core values, and excellence in operations with enthusiasm, energy, and creativity and to apply knowledge of business and the marketplace to achieve the mission outcomes; ability to assess and connect business strategies to the diversity and inclusion strategy.

• Effective in building formal and informal relationship networks, internal and external to the Lab.

• Excellent business writing and communication skills; strong platform and presentation skills.

• Discretion, good judgment and ability to handle confidential information appropriately and with tact.

• Commitment to the value that diverse perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.
• Demonstrated ability to deal with ambiguity and confidentiality.
• Ability to effectively navigate formal and informal networks; demonstrates political savvy and professionalism.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. EEO IS THE LAW

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