JOB PURPOSE:
The HR Business Partner is the end-to-end people partner for the St. Albans and Waterbury, VT factories, enabling business growth, productivity, and reliability through a values-led culture, strong union partnership, and workforce readiness for transformation aligned to The Magnum Ice Cream Company ways of working and guided by Ben & Jerry’s three-part mission (Product, Economic, and Social). This role reports through the HR function and works across global platforms and regional people strategies to deliver strong local factory execution.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Business partner: Own the end-to-end people plan for both sites to drive growth, performance, and linked prosperity connecting the dots between factory needs and the HR function’s priorities through strong cross functional partnership.
• Labor strategy: Build a collaborative partnership with union leadership to advance a shared agenda that improves productivity and operational reliability, strengthens safety and quality, and increases workforce flexibility supporting growth, linked prosperity, and long-term site competitiveness.
• Employee & labor relations: Create the conditions for a fair, respectful workplace: coaching leaders, resolving issues early, and ensuring agreements and policies are applied consistently (including investigations, grievances, and performance support when needed).
• Culture & engagement: Build a values-led, inclusive employee experience that reflects Ben & Jerry’s three-part mission and Magnum IC Behaviors.
• Capability & talent: Grow factory capability through the ICMS People Development (PD) pillar, building clear leader expectations, strengthening career paths, and reinforcing a root-cause problem solving culture that elevates performance and accelerates development.
• Insights: Use people and operational insights enabled by digital tools, automation, and emerging AI to identify root causes, prioritize actions, and measure impact (e.g., retention, attendance, engagement, capability).
• Change & integration: Lead transformation and communications, including automation and digital enablement, aligning to Magnum IC Supply Chain ways of working while stewarding Ben & Jerry’s three-part mission in how we lead, engage, and develop our people; ensure workforce readiness through skills, adoption, and change support.
WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED:
Skills, Experiences & Qualifications:
• 8+ years of progressive HR experience, ideally as an HRBP in manufacturing with strong business partnering and operational acumen (union experience preferred).
• Proven ability to build collaborative relationships and deliver outcomes across productivity, reliability, safety, quality, and flexibility.
• Experience building factory capability through structured people systems (e.g., ICMS People Development), career paths, and a root-cause problem-solving mindset.
• Strong working knowledge of U.S. labor and employment law, including investigations, discipline, and consistent policy/application in a union environment; working knowledge of payroll fundamentals (wage & hour, timekeeping, and pay practices) preferred.
• Proven ability to lead in a highly collaborative organization aligning global platforms and regional strategies while owning end-to-end local site delivery.
• Comfort using data, digital tools, and new technology (including automation/AI-enabled insights) to diagnose root causes and improve people and business outcomes.
• Experience supporting multiple sites and navigating ambiguity in a fast-paced, frontline operating environment preferred.
• Willingness to work on-site regularly at both Vermont locations, with periodic travel as needed (expected ~1x per quarter).
Ben & Jerry’s has a long-standing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of our Social Mission and our business values. We remain dedicated to creating a workplace and business that reflect the communities where we live and work. We are actively working to advance equity across our workforce, franchise network, and supplier base through evolving strategies that remove barriers, increase access to opportunity, and foster belonging.
