How to apply for The Opportunity Network Director of People and Culture

About Positively Partners

The Opportunity Network (OppNet) is a nationally recognized nonprofit that has supported over 1,000 New York City students annually since 2003, with a 98% six-year college graduation rate and 91% of Fellows securing meaningful employment or graduate school within six months. Its Career Fluency® Partnerships program reaches 100,000 students across 20 cities, and Opportunity Ignited trains employers to build equitable talent pipelines. Working here means joining a data-driven, equity-focused organization at a pivotal moment—welcoming a new CEO in early 2027 and scaling its impact nationwide.

About the role

As Director of People and Culture, you will own the full people function at OppNet during a major leadership transition, including onboarding and integrating a new CEO, guiding staff through change, and building scalable HR practices that sustain a high-performing, mission-driven culture. You will also oversee talent development, retention, and culture initiatives for a remote-first, geographically dispersed team. This is a rare chance to shape the people strategy of a growing nonprofit at a defining inflection point.

A typical day

Your day might start with a check-in with the interim leadership team on CEO transition planning, followed by a one-on-one with a staff member navigating change. You might then facilitate a remote team-building session, analyze engagement survey data, and refine a manager training program. Expect a mix of strategic planning, hands-on HR work, and culture-building in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.

Who Positively Partners is looking for

• Proven experience leading HR or people operations in a nonprofit or mission-driven organization, ideally during a leadership transition or period of rapid growth.
• Deep expertise in change management, executive onboarding, and culture-building for remote or hybrid teams.
• Strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, with a track record of embedding equity into people systems and practices.
• Strategic and hands-on: able to design high-level people strategy while also executing day-to-day HR tasks in a lean environment.

Tips for this application

• Highlight any experience you have supporting a CEO transition or executive onboarding—this is the immediate priority for the role.
• Quantify your impact in people operations (e.g., retention improvements, engagement scores, DEI metrics) to show you are results-oriented.
• Demonstrate familiarity with OppNet's programs (Fellows, Career Fluency®, Opportunity Ignited) and how people strategy enables their mission.
• Address the remote-first context: show how you have built culture and community across distributed teams.
• Use the cover letter to explain why this specific moment at OppNet excites you, not just why you want a people leadership role.

What to cover in your cover letter

['Your direct experience with change management and executive transitions, and how you would welcome and integrate a new CEO.', 'Concrete examples of building people systems and culture in a remote or hybrid nonprofit environment.', 'Your commitment to equity and how you have operationalized DEI in prior people roles.', "Why OppNet's mission and current chapter (new CEO, national growth) align with your career goals and values."]

Research before applying

• Read OppNet's annual reports and program evaluations to understand their impact model and recent growth.
• Learn about the Career Fluency® Partnerships program and Opportunity Ignited—know how they fit into the broader people strategy.
• Research the incoming CEO (if announced) and any public statements about OppNet's future direction.
• Explore Positively Partners' approach to talent acquisition to understand what they value in candidates.

Likely interview topics

Based on the job description, expect questions about:

• How would you approach onboarding a new CEO while maintaining staff morale and organizational stability?
• Describe a time you led a people initiative during a major organizational change. What was the outcome?
• How do you build and sustain culture in a remote-first organization?
• What metrics do you use to measure the success of people and culture initiatives?
• How would you ensure OppNet's people practices reflect its commitment to equity and inclusion?

Common mistakes to avoid

• Focusing only on traditional HR tasks (benefits, compliance) without addressing culture and change leadership.
• Ignoring the remote-first context or assuming a co-located team dynamic.
• Failing to connect people strategy to OppNet's mission and the specific challenge of a CEO transition.