Assistant Vice Chancellor & USC Upstate HR Business Partner

Edtech.com's Summary

University of South Carolina is hiring an Assistant Vice Chancellor & USC Upstate HR Business Partner. This role serves as a strategic HR partner to USC Upstate leadership, managing HR functions including workforce planning, recruitment, employee relations, compensation, benefits administration, and organizational development. The HR Business Partner leads a team of HR professionals and collaborates with institutional HR divisions to enhance talent management, inclusivity, and employee wellness.

Highlights

Advise senior leadership on HR strategy, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.
Oversee recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and talent acquisition strategies.
Manage compensation practices aligning with system-wide structures and ensure compliance with regulations.
Administer benefits including open enrollment, leave programs, and related employee counseling.
Provide oversight on employee relations, conflict resolution, EEO and Title IX compliance.
Lead training, performance management, and organizational development initiatives.
Use HR analytics for workforce planning and transition management.
Supervise, coach, and develop a team of HR professionals.
Require bachelor’s degree and minimum of 8 years HR experience with managerial responsibilities; master’s degree and HR certification preferred.
Salary range $107,351 - $115,000 commensurate with education and experience.

Assistant Vice Chancellor & USC Upstate HR Business Partner Full Description

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Please see Special Instructions for more details.

The application must be completed including all current and previous work history and education. A resume may be attached, but not substituted for completing work history and education sections of the application.

USC Upstate offers a valuable benefits package including but not limited to:

Health and Life Insurance
Retirement Programs
Paid Tuition Program
Dependent Scholarships
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Annual Leave
Sick Leave
13 Paid Holidays (including an extended December holiday)
Paid Parental Leave
Professional Development Opportunities

Posting Details

Posting Summary

Logo
Posting Number	STA00324PO26
Job Family	Human Resources
Job Function	General Human Resources
USC Market Title	HR Business Partner (System Institution)
Link to USC Market Title	https://uscjobs.sc.edu/titles/194395
Job Level	E0 - Directors and Executives
Business Title (Internal Title)	Assistant Vice Chancellor & USC Upstate HR Business Partner
Campus	Upstate
Work County	Spartanburg
College/Division	USC Upstate College/Division Level
Department	UPS Human Resources
State Pay Range	G13
USC Market Range	MRM - $107,351 $136,872 $166,394
Anticipated Hiring Range	$107,351 - $115,000;Salary commensurate with education and experience.
Location of Vacancy	USC Upstate, Spartanburg, SC
Part/Full Time	Full Time
Hours per Week	37.5
Work Schedule	Monday – Friday; 8:30am – 5pm; Some evenings and weekends as needed are required.
Basis	12 months
Job Search Category	Human Resources/Legal

About USC

About University of South Carolina	From the Upstate to the Lowcountry, the University of South Carolina system is transforming the lives of South Carolinians through the impact of our eight institutions and 20 locations throughout the state. More than 50,000 students are enrolled at one of eight institutions, including the research campus in Columbia and comprehensive four-year universities in Aiken, Upstate and Beaufort. In addition, our Palmetto College campuses in Salkehatchie, Union, Lancaster and Sumter enable students to earn associate or bachelor’s degrees through a combination of in-person, online or blended learning. All of our system institutions place strong emphasis on service — helping to build healthier, more educated communities in South Carolina and beyond.
Veterans' Preference Statement	The University of South Carolina is committed to equal opportunity and proudly values the skills and experience military veterans bring to our workforce. Across South Carolina, we are making veterans a priority for employment and recognize their vital contributions to our state and our communities.

About University of South Carolina

From the Upstate to the Lowcountry, the University of South Carolina system is transforming the lives of South Carolinians through the impact of our eight institutions and 20 locations throughout the state. More than 50,000 students are enrolled at one of eight institutions, including the research campus in Columbia and comprehensive four-year universities in Aiken, Upstate and Beaufort. In addition, our Palmetto College campuses in Salkehatchie, Union, Lancaster and Sumter enable students to earn associate or bachelor’s degrees through a combination of in-person, online or blended learning. All of our system institutions place strong emphasis on service — helping to build healthier, more educated communities in South Carolina and beyond.

Veterans' Preference Statement

The University of South Carolina is committed to equal opportunity and proudly values the skills and experience military veterans bring to our workforce. Across South Carolina, we are making veterans a priority for employment and recognize their vital contributions to our state and our communities.

Benefits for FTE Positions

The University of South Carolina (USC), through the State of SC and Public Employee Benefit Authority (PEBA), offers employees a valuable benefits package, including health and life insurance, generous paid leave and retirement programs. To learn more about USC benefits, access the "Working at USC" section on the Applicant Portal at https://uscjobs.sc.edu. Research Grant or Time-limited positions may be eligible for all, some, or no benefits, based on the grant or project funding.

Position Description

Advertised Job Summary	Assistant Vice Chancellor and USC Upstate HR Business Partner University of South Carolina Upstate STA00324PO26 Spartanburg, SC The Assistant Vice Chancellor and USC Upstate HR Business Partner (AVC/UPSHRBP) will serve as a strategic partner to USC Upstate leadership in support of HR-related matters. The HRBP will help advance leadership’s people priorities, including matters associated with the employee life cycle from initial recruitment through transition from the University of South Carolina. The AVC/UPSHRBP oversees a team of HR professionals. The HRBP will collaborate with Division of HR Expert Teams and Upstate leadership to provide exceptional HR services to employees. The HRBP will be responsible for creating an environment that values, supports, and encourages a culture of talent management, retention, inclusivity, professional development, and wellness. The HRBP oversees a team of HR professionals.
Job Related Minimum Required Education and Experience	Requires a bachelor’s degree in a job related field and at least 8 years of job related experience, including some prior management experience.
Required Certification, Licensure/Other Credentials
Preferred Qualifications	Master’s preferred; Certiﬁcation in HR (e.g., SHRM-SCP, SPHR). Higher education experience.
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities	Skills and Abilities • Build and maintain effective and constructive relationships with internal and external stakeholders • Effectively lead and manage a team of HR professionals • Persist positively in the face of unexpected diﬃculties • Demonstrate honesty and integrity in dealing with people • Coach leaders and employees on performance and career development • Lead and manage change initiatives • Understanding and ability to apply HR knowledge and to stay updated on leading practices • Conﬂict resolution and mediation skills • Project management skills Demonstrated Knowledge • Employment law and federal regulations • Compensation frameworks and methodologies • Change management methodologies • HR systems and technologies • Organizational design and workforce planning • Engagement and retention strategies • Proven experience with HR technologies and workforce analytics tools

Job Duties

Job Duty	Strategic Partner • Serves as the senior HR officer for USC Upstate, advising the Chancellor’s Cabinet and senior leaders on HR strategy, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness • Operates under a dotted-line reporting structure, receiving strategic direction from the USC Upstate Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs and functional guidance from the HR Business Partner Leader, providing guidance on people strategy and institutional HR priorities • Serves as a trusted advisor and strategic partner to USC Upstate senior leaders, providing HR guidance on key people decisions and initiatives • Recognizes and understands USC Upstate priorities and needs and develops HR strategies to address them effectively, collaborate with the Division of HR as appropriate • Collaborates with USC Upstate leaders to inﬂuence people strategy based on deep understanding of USC Upstate needs and implications for the university • Acts as a sounding board, coach, and collaborator to managers to support effective leadership and people management practices • Proactively recognizes problems and issues and proposes and implements effective solutions • Translates Division of HR initiatives (e.g., leadership development programs, workforce readiness, performance management) into tailored solutions that address the speciﬁc needs and priorities of USC Upstate • Provides feedback and input to Division of HR regarding system-wide HR initiatives and strategies • Leverages data driven insights and HR analytics to assess readiness, inform workforce planning, succession planning, and/or decision-making • Develop and implement long-term workforce strategies that align with growth and transformation initiatives • Partner with senior leaders to inﬂuence strategy while ensuring HR initiatives proactively support innovation, effectiveness, and scalability • Develops and fosters partnerships with key cross-functional stakeholders across USC Upstate and USC system • Upholds and enforces USC system policies as well as local and federal laws • Works with leadership to identify and implement appropriate organizational structures
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	15

Job Duty	Recruiting, Hiring, and Onboarding • Oversees the development and implementation of USC Upstate specific recruiting and talent marketing strategies, ensuring alignment with institutional goals • Provides strategic oversight of the USC Upstate Employer Brand and Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and ensures that units effectively articulate and maintain their unique branding and value messaging • Ensures search committees receive appropriate guidance and support, establishing expectations for compliance, best practices, and inclusive hiring standards • Provides leadership and oversight for the recruitment process, setting direction, reviewing outcomes, and ensuring that talent acquisition practices remain effective and competitive • Monitors labor market and talent acquisition trends and ensures USC Upstate leaders receive timely strategic consultation to respond to changing market conditions, in collaboration with the Division of HR • Oversees relationships with external recruitment partners and stakeholders, ensuring partnerships align with institutional hiring needs and objectives • Provides feedback and input into barriers for recruitment • Oversees onboarding locally at the USC Upstate level • Ensures offer letter development processes are consistently applied, accurate, and aligned with institutional policy and compensation guidelines • Oversees the processes and protocols for addressing search challenges, ensuring that units receive appropriate guidance and that strategies are in place to prevent or mitigate search failures
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	15

Job Duty	Compensation • Provides strategic oversight and direction for the Compensation function, ensuring practices align with the system-wide compensation structure • Oversees the evaluation and selection of compensation tools, ensuring their appropriateness, effectiveness, and alignment with the needs of USC Upstate •Collaborate with the Division of HR for FLSA administration and compliance, FTE reconciliation, and monitoring. Ensures the education of leadership on compensation tools by the Division of HR • Provides oversight of staff compensation management within the Pay Evaluator framework, ensuring proper application and compliance • Oversees the education of leadership on compensation tools and frameworks, ensuring leaders understand and effectively use compensation resources to support recruitment and retention • Provides oversight of pay related issue resolution, ensuring coordination with Payroll and timely troubleshooting.
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	10

Job Duty	Beneﬁts • Oversees and manages all Beneﬁts Administration for the campus to include open enrollment periods, insurance/retirement orientations, enrolling new hires into beneﬁt plans, and leave administration • Oversees the processes for timely and accurate communication of benefits information to employees across the campus • Provides oversight for the resolution of employee benefits inquiries, ensuring issues are addressed professionally, accurately, and in accordance with established policies. • Oversees collaboration with the Benefits Expert Team, ensuring appropriate escalation and coordination on complex benefits matters • Provides oversight for counseling procedures and documentation processing related to employee leave programs (e.g., FMLA, disability retirement), ensuring compliance and consistency
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	10

Job Duty	Employee Relations • Provides oversight of processes for supporting employees in resolving interpersonal issues and workplace challenges, ensuring appropriate resources and guidelines are in place. • Oversees the framework through which supervisors and managers receive guidance on addressing performance issues, ensuring consistency, compliance, and adherence to institutional standards. • Provides strategic oversight for the management of confidential and complex employee relations matters within the established tiered framework, ensuring proper handling and escalation. Oversees the escalation protocols for employee relations issues, ensuring matters are routed to the Expert Team appropriately and in a timely manner. • Oversees collaboration between the USC Upstate and Expert Teams on initiatives related to cost savings programs, ensuring alignment with institutional goals and compliance requirements. • Provides oversight of coordination between the USC Upstate and Expert Teams on ADA accommodation processes, ensuring consistent application, proper documentation, and compliance with legal and institutional standards. EEO and Title IX • Provides oversight to ensure university compliance with all state and federal equal opportunity laws and regulations, establishing and maintaining appropriate policies, processes, and monitoring mechanisms. • Oversees the analysis and interpretation of data used to evaluate the effectiveness of campus EEO and Title IX programs, ensuring findings inform continuous improvement. • Provides oversight for the communication and promotion of EEO and Title IX policies and procedures, ensuring that all campus employees receive clear, accurate, and consistent information
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	15

Job Duty	Training and Organizational Development • Provides oversight for the monitoring, support, and coaching of talent across the division, ensuring that USC Upstate leaders have the guidance and frameworks needed to design effective organizational structures, develop high performing teams, identify top talent, and align HR practices with USC Upstate strategies • Oversees collaboration with Expert Teams to co-develop, refine, and implement talent management frameworks, ensuring alignment with enterprise-wide strategies and compliance with institutional policies • Oversees the employee performance management process for all staff positions and provides guidance and support as needed
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	10

Job Duty	Engagement and Culture • Leads culture change and helps employees understand processes, and dynamics to become stewards of change • Champions change management and develops key change management strategies (communications and training plans, stakeholder assessments, project management plans), by rallying support for successful change implementation • Drives employee engagement strategies leveraging feedback from surveys and other sources to implement action plans Oversees and executes the implementation HR and/or USC Upstate initiatives
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	5

Job Duty	Workforce Planning • Leverages data to identify trends and address challenges with onboarding and offboarding processes • Uses workforce data and analytics to identify trends, forecast talent needs, and recommend solutions to address gaps and areas of need throughout the employee life cycle Transitions • Oversees the offboarding process
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	10

Job Duty	AVC/UPSHRBP Unit Management • Supervises a supporting team of HR professionals in carrying out the responsibilities of the HRBP function • Serves as an escalation point for complex HR matters ensuring timely and effective resolution • Foster a high-performance HR team culture that aligns with organizational values and objectives • Manages unit-based HR budgets, resources, and strategic planning efforts to maximize eﬃciency and impact of HR teams and organizations in alignment with Division of HR strategic priorities, goals, objectives, and policies • Hires and trains HR professionals • Leads, coaches and develops an HR team by providing HR competency and growth guidance, development plans, one-on-one coaching, team meetings, and other forms of engagement to drive continuous improvement and business goal achievement both within the HR function
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	5

Job Duty	Other • Provides excellent customer service and administers HR services eﬃciently within the guidelines of the University system • Responds to FOIA request as necessary in coordination with designated person in Division of HR and the FOIA Coordinator • Proactively reviews and reﬁnes HR processes and tools to enhance eﬃciency, employee experience, and alignment with USC Upstate needs • Oversees the reconciliation of HR actions • Oversees the hiring, onboarding, and other employment-related support of student workers • Oversees and partners with appropriate stakeholders regarding the hiring, onboarding, and other employment-related support of student workers
Essential Function	Yes
Percentage of Time	5

Position Attributes

Employees in Safety-Sensitive or Security-Sensitive positions will be subject to pre-employment and post-employment drug testing in accordance with University policy HR 1.95 Drug and Alcohol Testing.

Safety Sensitive or Security Sensitive	No
Hazardous weather category	Essential

Posting Detail Information

Number of Vacancies	1
Desired Start Date	07/01/2026
Job Open Date	05/08/2026
Job Close Date
Open Until Filled	Yes
Special Instructions to Applicant	The application must be completed including all current and previous work history and education. A resume may be attached, but not substituted for completing work history and education sections of the application. USC Upstate offers a valuable benefits package including but not limited to: Health and Life Insurance Retirement Programs Paid Tuition Program Dependent Scholarships Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Annual Leave Sick Leave 13 Paid Holidays (including an extended December holiday) Paid Parental Leave Professional Development Opportunities
Quicklink for Posting	https://uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/205884
EEO Statement	The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, ethnicity, familial status, gender (including transgender), gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDs status, military status, national origin, pregnancy (false pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, childbirth, recovery therefrom or related medical conditions, breastfeeding), race, religion (including religious dress and grooming practices), sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other bases under federal, state, local law, or regulations.

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

* This is a fully onsite position located at University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Do you wish to continue applying for this position?
- Yes
- No
* Are you willing and able to submit to a pre-employment background check that may include, but it is not limited to, criminal history, national sex offender search and motor vehicle history as a condition of hire?
- Yes
- No
* Do you have at least a bachelor’s degree in a related field and 8 years of Human Resources experience with increasing levels of responsibility including support for senior level business leaders in a complex environment?
- Yes
- No
* The salary range for this position is $107,351 - $115,000 based on education and experience. Is this salary range acceptable to you?
- Yes
- No
* Describe how you led or provided strategic oversight for the full employment life cycle—including workforce planning, recruitment, classification and compensation, onboarding, performance management, employee relations, and separation—in a higher education or similarly complex public-sector environment? What areas were you directly responsible for? What was the impact to the organization?
(Open Ended Question)
* Share an experience ensuring compliance across multiple stages of the employment life cycle with federal and state regulations such as FLSA, FMLA, ACA, IRCA, ADA, EEO, ER, and Title IX?
(Open Ended Question)
* Describe how you partnered with executive leadership to align HR strategies (e.g., staffing models, compensation decisions, succession planning, or voluntary separation initiatives) with institutional or organizational goals? What recommendation(s) did you make and what was the result?
(Open Ended Question)
* Describe your experience designing, delivering, or supporting training and organizational or manager development initiatives in a higher education or similarly complex organization. Include the audience served, your role, and how you evaluated effectiveness.
(Open Ended Question)
* Provide an example of how you have supported workforce or position planning (e.g., position design, classification, succession planning, or staffing analysis). What data or inputs did you use, and what was the outcome?
(Open Ended Question)
* Explain your experience supporting EEO and/or Title IX compliance, including advising leaders, handling complaints or inquiries, supporting investigations, or ensuring equitable HR practices.
(Open Ended Question)

Applicant Documents

Required Documents

Cover Letter
Resume

Optional Documents

Other Supporting Documents
List of References and Contact Information

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Original Job Description