Manager, People and Culture

WHO WE ARE

At Thousand Currents, we believe the people most affected by injustice are the ones already building the solutions. Around the world, peasant farmers, Indigenous communities, women's collectives, and grassroots movements are organizing across borders to transform food, energy, and the commons as  well as the underlying economic systems. Our role is to back them with flexible funding, with the relationships and platforms that amplify their leadership, and with the long-term solidarity that movement-building requires. 

Thousand Currents funds, connects, and supports visionary grassroots groups and movements leading solutions in food, climate, and the economy.

We support our movement partners in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific with core, flexible, long-term grants and value-added services. 

OUR VALUES

At Thousand Currents, we envision a world in which self-determined and connected peoples share and uphold the abundance of life. To realize this vision, we embrace and practice a clear set of values: 

• Courage - We confront injustice and inequality with love, strength, conviction, and integrity.
• Humility - We are part of a greater whole. We are one among many currents. We recognize our place among many forces for good and change that exist in the world.
• Experimentation - In order to take principled actions together, we prioritize learning, commit to self-reflection, embrace trial and error, and honor multiple ways of knowing.
• Creative collaboration - We share power, practices, and resources to reimagine new ways of living.
• Interdependence - With our futures intertwined, we respect all beings and build authentic relationships to move forward together.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

The Manager, People & Culture will support our people practices, systems, this role will help ensure the smooth operation of core People & Culture functions, including recruitment, onboarding, benefits administration, compliance, performance management, and staff development, while helping cultivate a thriving, values-aligned workplace across our global, virtual team.

The ideal candidate brings strong operational HR experience, excellent judgment, and a people-centered approach, with particular strength in supporting U.S.-based employment practices and benefits administration. This includes familiarity with employment best practices related to hiring, onboarding, leave administration, employee relations, benefits coordination, and offboarding, in partnership with external service providers.

This role will also contribute to improving clarity and consistency in people practices, and supporting systems and processes that enable staff and managers to thrive.

Deadline to Apply:By 5pm ET, JUNE 25, 2026

Key Details: Compensation, Location, Travel, & Benefits
Title:  Manager, People & Culture
Position: Full time, Exempt
Team: Global Operations
Location: Remote/US based
Supervises: No direct reports at this time
Travel: Up to 5%

Position Reports to: Director, People & Culture, 

Compensation: $97,000 USD annually

Benefits: 

• 100% of employee and dependent cost for Health, Dental, and Vision for employee + medical travel insurance for employee 
• 10 paid annual holidays + open paid time off policy allowing flexible time off 
• Up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave
• Up to $1,000 stipend to set up work space, $2,000 per year wellness stipend, $1,500 per year work from home expenses, and up to $2,000 per year for learning and development 
• Retirement contribution allowance of 4% of gross salary 
• Life Insurance + Long and Short Term disability insurance 
• Possibility of sabbatical leave after seven years of employment

Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship or relocation assistance. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Employee Life Cycle (25%)

• Support recruitment and hiring processes in close collaboration with hiring managers, providing guidance on job descriptions, role scope, candidate assessment, and equitable hiring practices aligned with organizational values and workforce needs.
• Coordinate  onboarding processes and schedules, supporting hiring managers and co-workers in understanding and fulfilling their roles, ensuring new staff feel welcomed and confident in completing required onboarding responsibilities. 
• Collaborate with hiring managers to ensure job descriptions remain current, clearly scoped, and aligned with evolving responsibilities and organizational needs.
• Approach current people & culture processes with an eye for simplicity, clarity and continuous improvement by  collecting feedback, conducting best practice research, and proposing improvements. 
• Support human centric and values aligned offboarding processes. 
• Capitalize on available data to surface trends and inform employee retention efforts, employee experience improvements  and organisational culture initiatives. 

HR Administration (50%)

• Support the Director, People & Culture in addressing employee relations matters, HR inquiries and day to day People & Culture needs for all employees, escalating matters to the Director, People & Culture as necessary.
• Oversee administration of the human resources information system (HRIS, currently Bamboo HR), ensuring staff records are secure, organized, and accessible at the appropriate level, and personnel data is up-to-date. 
• Support day-to-day coordination of employee benefits programs, including for U.S.-based staff, enrollment support, qualifying life events, annual Open Enrollment, benefits communication, and partnership with external benefits administrators and brokers.
• Provide bi-weekly payroll updates to the Finance team and support timely personnel updates across all relevant platforms (HRIS, payroll, benefits, etc.) 
• In collaboration with appropriate operations and technology staff, ensure People & Culture tools, resources, documents, and data are securely stored, easily searchable, and maintained in accordance with record retention laws and requirements.  
• Ensure relevant HR dates, deadlines, and processes are communicated to staff, and information regarding people and culture processes flows smoothly. 
• Track key employee and contractor dates, prompting timely action on renewals or position updates, while ensuring impacted staff remain informed. 
• Support strategies to improve employee engagement, celebration, and foster a collaborative, aligned, and joyful work environment. 
• Champion and integrate organization values into daily operations, implementing programs and providing resources to support employee well-being and work-life balance. 

Staff growth and learning (15%)

• In coordination with the Director, People & Culture, proactively engage staff to support strong working relationships, morale, and retention.  
• Coordinate implementation of performance review and goal-setting processes, helping ensure they are clear, timely, developmental, and aligned with organizational values and competencies.
• Support administration of staff development initiatives, learning opportunities, and development stipends ensuring a culture of continued learning. 

Organization-Wide Activities & Administrative Efficiency (10%)

• Show up fully for organizational activities, including staff meetings, retreats and training.
• Enable appropriate information-sharing and work collaboratively with colleagues as necessary for cross program activities and functions.
• Pitch in when needed for organization-wide activities, such as the Thousand Currents Academy, annual events, fundraising drives, etc.
• Manage regular personal administration, including timely submission of receipts, reimbursement requests, scheduling, travel planning, filing HR paperwork etc.
  
  

Thousand Currents is a dynamic organization committed to responding flexibly to changing circumstances and priorities.  This role reflects essential functions, but know that responsibilities may evolve with the needs of the team and the moment.

Role Requirements

• Alignment with Thousand Currents’ values and mission, including a strong commitment to social and/or environmental justice and equity, with experience in feminist, community-centered, or social justice-oriented people & culture approaches.  
• Five or more years of relevant, comparable professional HR experience, including a track record of progressive growth in responsibilities, in a systems change focused nonprofit or philanthropic intermediary.  SHRM certification is considered an asset.   
• Required experience supporting U.S.-based employees, including administration and coordination of employee benefits programs, benefits communication, annual open enrollment, qualifying life events, and partnership with external benefits brokers and providers. 
• Familiarity with U.S. employment practices and HR compliance requirements is essential.
• Cross-cultural competency, prior HR experience in and with multi-national or international non-profits is considered an asset.  
• Highly approachable, trustworthy, and skilled in building authentic relationships across diverse identities and cultures while operating in a remote environment across multiple timezones.  
• Strong judgment and discretion in dealing with sensitive information. 
• Able to travel internationally - approximately 2 weeks/year - and work occasional irregular hours to accommodate staff time zones.
• Written and spoken English fluency required and proficiency in additional language(s) is an asset.
• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent experience.

The following skills are highly desirable

• Experience working in a Mac-based environment and proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.
• Experience using Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), preferably BambooHR, to maintain employee records, support employee lifecycle processes, generate reports, and manage HR workflows.
• Experience using project management and collaboration tools, preferably Asana, to coordinate work, manage deadlines, and track projects across teams.
• Comfortable and confident working independently in a remote environment while also contributing effectively as part of a collaborative, globally distributed team.
• Oriented to solving problems and identifying new and clever ways to improve systems and processes. 
• Excellent planning, organization, and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines effectively.
• High learning orientation, sound judgment, attention to detail, and openness to feedback.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, remote, and geographically dispersed work environment.
• Excellent internal communication and collaboration skills across teams and time zones.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands of this position are light and may require walking or standing to a significant degree.  The position requires frequent computer use at a workstation. As Thousand Currents staff work in a number of locations and come together for meetings on occasion, all staff must be able to travel by car and plane to meetings at locations nationally and internationally. Availability to travel and maintenance of a valid passport is required. National or international travel represents approximately 5% of the time for this position. Thousand Currents will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This job description and its physical requirements will be reviewed periodically as duties and responsibilities change with business necessity.  Essential and marginal job functions are subject to modification.

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Thousand Currents is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, color, marital status, or medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditions.

To Apply
Thousand Currents is interested in building a high-performing diverse team. Please submit your CV and a short cover letter (maximum 300 words). In your cover letter we ask that you share concise, evidence-based examples of your experience. In the application you will also respond to a series of short question prompts. 

If you are in need of any accommodations during the application or recruitment process please let us know by emailing hr@thousandcurrents.org. 

To support the integrity and fairness of our recruitment process, we kindly ask candidates not to contact team members directly regarding this role. All applications and inquiries should be shared through the formal recruitment process