You’re a seasoned HR professional with 7+ years of progressive experience and a strong concentration in employee relations — ideally with a background supporting franchise, agency, independent-contractor, or other distributed workforce models. You have deep skill managing complex, sensitive employee relations issues with professionalism, objectivity, and sound legal judgment, and a strong grasp of employment law and co-employment risk that lets you protect both the employee and PLACE as employer of record. You know how to influence without authority — coaching and guiding non-employee business owners on people practices even without direct organizational control over them. You’re comfortable leading structured onboarding and orientation sessions, and you have a track record of coaching leaders and owners through conflict toward stronger engagement. You’ve built or governed a CoE-style program before — whether engagement, performance management, onboarding, or compliance — and you bring sharp analytical instincts, turning data into clear action plans. You communicate with excellence across audiences, building trust with both employees and independent operators alike, and you’re comfortable exercising sound judgment and discretion in ambiguous situations. A PHR, SPHR, or equivalent certification is a strong plus, and familiarity with HRIS, engagement survey platforms, and reporting systems (ADP experience a bonus) rounds out your toolkit.