HR Generalist

About ERMCO

Electric Research and Manufacturing Cooperative, Inc. (ERMCO) is the leading manufacturer of distribution transformers and engineered electrical solutions, serving electric utilities, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and industrial customers across North America. Headquartered in Dyersburg, Tenn., ERMCO delivers reliable, high-quality products that power homes, businesses, and communities across North America.

With a commitment to safety, operational excellence, and continuous improvement, ERMCO is at the forefront of supporting grid modernization and energy transition. Our vertically integrated operations, customer-focused culture, and investment in people and technology make ERMCO the Most Valued Partner for delivering resilient, sustainable power infrastructure for the future.

Job Summary

To excel as a Senior Human Resources Generalist supporting our R&D Engineering organization, you will be a collaborative, proactive, and solutions-oriented HR professional who understands that effective Human Resources support extends beyond administration. You will stay attuned to the pulse of the business, its people, culture, technical capabilities, and organizational priorities while building trusted partnerships across all levels of the organization.

You will work closely with engineering leaders, people managers, employees, and the broader Human Resources team to create an environment where highly skilled technical talent can perform, develop, innovate, and grow. Success requires intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, confidentiality, and the ability to use workforce data and employee insights to anticipate needs and help leaders make informed people decisions. You will independently resolve routine HR matters while appropriately escalating complex, sensitive, high-risk, or precedent-setting situations.

This role will be onsite in Raleigh, NC. Relocation assistance is available. 

Business Partnership & Frontline Leadership Coaching

• Develop a strong understanding of R&D Engineering objectives, technical disciplines, project priorities, staffing requirements, workforce capabilities, and emerging talent challenges.
• Build trusted relationships with engineering leaders and employees and translate business needs into practical, consistent HR actions and solutions.
• Coach supervisors and managers on attendance, performance, employee relations, policy application, communication, corrective action, and effective people leadership.
• Help leaders prepare for difficult conversations, establish clear expectations, provide timely feedback, and address concerns promptly, respectfully, and consistently.
• Identify recurring leadership or organizational capability gaps and partner with HR leadership and Talent Development on appropriate coaching, training, or development solutions.

Employee Relations & Escalation Judgment

• Serve as an accessible and trusted HR resource for employees and managers regarding workplace concerns, policies, performance, interpersonal issues, and general employment matters.
• Independently assess and resolve routine employee-relations matters while escalating complex, sensitive, high-risk, or precedent-setting matters to HR leadership, Legal, or the appropriate Center of Excellence.
• Lead or support workplace investigations, including interviews, fact gathering, documentation, findings, and recommended next steps in partnership with HR leadership and Legal, as appropriate.
• Support disciplinary discussions, corrective actions, performance-related conversations, and employment decisions while promoting consistency, fairness, and appropriate documentation.
• Identify patterns in employee-relations activity and recommend proactive interventions when issues indicate broader leadership, cultural, process, or organizational concerns.

Performance & Talent Management

• Support performance management, including goal setting, performance reviews, coaching, development planning, corrective action, and performance improvement.
• Coach managers in identifying and addressing performance, capability, behavioral, and employee-relations concerns with appropriate and consistent solutions.
• Partner with leaders on talent reviews, succession planning, career development, and identification of high-potential and critical technical talent.
• Identify technical and leadership capability gaps and support development, mentoring, knowledge transfer, and career progression strategies.
• Monitor performance and talent activities for quality, consistency, and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Identify retention risks for critical talent and partner with leaders and HR Centers of Excellence on targeted strategies.

Workforce Planning, Attendance & Organizational Trends

• Monitor staffing levels, vacancies, turnover, retention, attendance, leave utilization, overtime where applicable, internal movement, and other relevant workforce indicators.
• Partner with engineering leadership to understand resource requirements associated with project demands, organizational growth, new technical capabilities, and changing business priorities.
• Analyze attendance, overtime, turnover, absenteeism, and staffing trends; identify root causes and partner with leaders on corrective or preventive strategies.
• Support workforce planning by providing insights regarding staffing, skills, succession risk, organizational capability, and talent availability.

Employee Engagement & Retention

• Analyze employee feedback, turnover information, exit data, engagement results, and employee-relations trends to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with leaders to develop practical action plans addressing engagement, retention, communication, leadership, recognition, and workplace-culture opportunities.
• Support employee listening initiatives, recognition programs, focus groups, surveys, and other engagement activities; monitor progress and reinforce leader accountability for agreed actions.

Change Management & Organizational Effectiveness

• Support organizational changes involving structure, leadership, processes, policies, technology, staffing, or ways of working.
• Partner with leaders and HR leadership to assess people impacts, identify risks, prepare managers, support communications, address employee questions, and reinforce change adoption.
• Collect feedback following implementation and help leaders evaluate whether changes are achieving intended workforce and organizational outcomes.

Recruitment, Onboarding & Integration

• Partner with Talent Acquisition and hiring leaders to support recruiting, interviewing, candidate assessment, and workforce priorities for engineering and assigned roles.
• Support onboarding, internal transfers, promotions, organizational moves, and offboarding, ensuring employees have clear responsibilities, performance expectations, and development objectives.
• Monitor the early employee experience and recommend improvements that strengthen integration, engagement, and retention.

HR Operations, Compliance, & Analytics

• Provide guidance on HR programs, including benefits, leave, payroll, timekeeping, HR systems, and employee records, partnering with Centers of Excellence as needed.
• Maintain accurate employee data and documentation while leveraging HRIS technology to improve reporting, data integrity, and process efficiency.
• Monitor and analyze workforce metrics, including turnover, retention, staffing, performance, employee relations, attendance, and engagement, to identify trends, risks, and opportunities.
• Translate workforce data into actionable insights and recommendations that support informed business and talent decisions.
• Prepare recurring and ad hoc workforce analyses and presentations while maintaining high standards for HR data integrity and confidentiality.
• Maintain working knowledge of applicable employment laws, HR practices, and compliance requirements while ensuring confidentiality of employee and organizational information.

Decision-Making & Escalation Expectations

• The HR Generalist is expected to exercise sound independent judgment when addressing routine HR and employee matters by considering the facts, applicable policies, prior practices, business context, employee impact, and organizational risk. Significant legal or employee-relations risk, senior-leadership matters, harassment or discrimination allegations, significant policy exceptions, potential precedent, complex accommodation or leave matters, organizational restructuring, significant compensation matters, and other highly sensitive circumstances should be appropriately escalated. The expectation is to assess the issue, identify options and risks, and provide a thoughtful recommendation when escalation is warranted.

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related discipline preferred.
• Minimum of 3-5 years of progressively responsible Human Resources experience, including employee relations, performance management, investigations, policy interpretation, and manager coaching.
• Working knowledge of federal and state employment laws and regulations, including EEO, FMLA, ADA/ADAAA, and other applicable employment requirements.
• Experience utilizing HRIS platforms and workforce data to identify trends, investigate root causes, and support decisions; proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent judgment, problem-solving, critical-thinking, decision-making, interpersonal, consultation, negotiation, conflict-resolution, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to build credibility with employees and leaders, manage multiple priorities, maintain confidentiality, and learn the R&D Engineering business and its technical talent requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification.
• Previous HR experience supporting Engineering, R&D, Technology, Product Development, Manufacturing Engineering, or another highly technical employee population.
• Experience with talent reviews, succession planning, workforce planning, employee engagement, organizational change, and retention strategies for specialized talent.
• Experience using UKG or comparable HRIS/payroll platforms and developing or interpreting HR dashboards and workforce analytics.

Let’s Build the Future Together 

Join ERMCO and TRANSFORM your career!