People & Culture Partner

The Banner is a nonprofit, digital local news organization dedicated to strengthening the Baltimore region through independent, high-quality journalism. We are building a mission-driven team committed to serving our community, telling important stories, and creating a workplace where talented people can thrive. As we continue to grow, we are looking for a thoughtful, experienced, and hands-on People & Culture Partner to help support our employees, strengthen our people practices, and contribute to a healthy, inclusive, and high-performing culture.

About the Role

The People & Culture Partner will serve as a trusted advisor to employees and managers across The Banner. This role supports the full employee lifecycle and works across talent acquisition, onboarding, employee relations, performance management, learning and development, compensation, benefits, compliance, engagement, and organizational effectiveness.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced HR generalist or People Partner who enjoys both strategy and execution. The right candidate will be comfortable coaching managers, supporting employees, improving systems and processes, and helping build scalable people practices in a growing, mission-driven organization.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with managers and employees across the organization to provide guidance, coaching, and support on people-related matters.
• Advise managers on employee relations, performance concerns, feedback, team dynamics, conflict resolution, and employee development.
• Support talent acquisition efforts, including job description development, structured hiring practices, interview processes, and candidate experience.
• Help execute onboarding practices so new employees feel welcomed, informed, and set up for success.
• Support performance management processes, including goal-setting, feedback cycles, performance reviews, and development planning.
• Coach managers on effective leadership practices, communication, accountability, and inclusive team management.
• Partner on compensation, promotions, role design, internal equity, and total rewards-related conversations.
• Support benefits education, open enrollment, and employee questions in partnership with internal stakeholders and external vendors.
• Use people data and employee feedback to identify trends, surface insights, and recommend practical solutions.
• Help maintain and improve people policies, workflows, tools, templates, and employee-facing resources.
• Support employee engagement, retention, and culture-building initiatives across the organization.
• Ensure People & Culture practices are compliant, consistent, equitable, and aligned with The Banner’s mission and values.
• Contribute to organizational change efforts with clear communication, strong judgment, and care for the employee experience.

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years of progressive experience in Human Resources, People Operations, Talent Management, or a related field.
• Experience serving as a HR Business Partner, or senior HR generalist supporting managers and employees across functions.
• Strong coaching, communication, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to build trust at all levels of an organization.
• Demonstrated ability to handle employee relations matters with sound judgment, discretion, empathy, and professionalism.
• Working knowledge of employment law, HR compliance, policy interpretation, and people operations best practices.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, manage competing priorities, and move projects forward in a fast-paced environment.
• Comfort using HR systems, people data, and reporting to identify trends and support informed decision-making.
• Commitment to inclusive, equitable, and mission-aligned workplace practices.
• Experience in a nonprofit, media, startup, or growing organization is a plus.
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR, or SPHR certification is a plus, but not required.

Salary Range: $80,000 - $95,000. Individual pay may vary from the target range and is determined by several factors, including experience, internal pay equity, and other relevant business considerations. This role is not eligible for corporate bonus opportunity. We constantly review all teammate pay to ensure a great compensation package that is fair and equitable across the board.

The Venetoulis Institute embraces diversity and inclusion, and we are wholeheartedly committed to being proactive in inspiring a culture of inclusion across our organization. We are dedicated to establishing an organization that reflects the fundamental respect for different ways of working and living. We assure every employee the opportunity to reach their full potential.

We are dedicated to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodation due to a disability to participate in the application process, please contact [email protected] to request accommodation. Reasonable accommodations may include, but are not limited to, adjustments in the application process, modifications or assistance regarding job interviews, and accommodations to enable access to our facilities. We appreciate the value that individuals with disabilities bring to our workforce and encourage applicants with disabilities to disclose their needs for accommodation to facilitate a smooth and inclusive recruitment experience.